Small...And smaller!

[stmok]

Everex Lanches $399 CloudBook: The ASUS Eee PC Finally Meets Its Match
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10293

The performance should be about the same (Celeron-M 630Mhz vs VIA C7 1.2Ghz). Weight and Dimensions are near identical. The Everex solution does have a 30GB hard drive and has a 5 hour battery life.

Both systems use Linux. (Xandros -> EeePC and Ubuntu-variant -> CloudBook)

I wish they would have a 10-inch model of these ultra-small laptops.

Intel's Menlow Revealed: Baby Centrino Gets Ready
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/ ... i=3199&p=1
Menlow is the platform codename.
Silverthorne is the processor codename.
Poulsbo is the chipset codename.

Silverthorne is an x86 solution that should bring the performance of a Pentium-M (from 2004) into a very small package. The article indicates that these can go up to 1.6Ghz while remaining below the 5.5W envelope...Fanless!

Currently, this will be for "Mobile Internet Devices" that will come later in the year. Intel says approx 80% to 90% of them will be Linux based.

It would be awesome to have this in a EeePC/CloudBook-like solution....Well, maybe in a 10inch screen form. Small, but not too small.

[stmok]

Packard Bell Easynote XS video review
http://www.umpcportal.com/modules/news/ ... oryid=1063
Specs
http://www.umpcportal.com/products/product.php?id=122
This will give you an idea of what its like...

NOTE: The Packard Bell Easynote XS is sold in UK and Holland, its also known as Everex Cloudbook in the USA and Asia. The difference is that the Cloudbook has 512MB RAM and Linux by default, where as the Easynote has 1GB with WinXP.

Intel explains: MID vs. UMPC
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/10/inte ... d-vs-umpc/

Meanwhile...
Shuttle launches $199 KPC linux box, $99 barebones kit
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/08/shut ... bones-kit/

Shuttle's $199 Linux PC
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9847365-7.html

The gist of the info...

It'll have an Intel Celeron processor, a 945GC chipset, 512MB of memory and either a 60GB or 80GB hard drive. What it won't have: an optical drive or a PCI Express slot. Despite that, it's a pretty good-looking box, and comes in red, blue, white, and black, each with a different icon stamped on the front.

Shuttle also says there will be a $99 barebones version of the KPC. That version will have the option of upgrading to a Core2Duo processor and 1GB of memory. Both will be available for purchase near the end of the first quarter.

[jerrek]

Some of those above look more decently priced but it seems that some manufacturers just view the segment as a high margin niche. Which it will continue to be.

Not sure i quite understand the market for some of these things. You an get an admittedly low spec laptop of windows for only just more than the cost of one of the new asus mini laptops which are considerably less well speced. Considering the smaller screen and lack of things like DVD drives (hard drives?) they should be much lower p[riced.

I,m all for smaller laptops and the like but i suspect that half of the romance about a small system is not just portability - a smaller price is what people really want.

I kn ow some of them have sold well at the start but i imagine that a lot of people may discover that for them they are rather poor value and won't get another.

[stmok]

Here's some more bits on what Intel is up to.

Intel Shelton'08-based low-cost notebooks to launch in 3Q08
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20080114PD202.html

Monica Chen, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Monday 14 January 2008]

Intel has recently released details of its Shelton'08-based low-cost notebook platform (Basic Platform) to partners and has set the launch schedule for the third quarter this year, according to sources at PC makers.

The platform adopts Intel's single-core Diamondville CPU with a core frequency of 1.6GHz, 533MHz FSB and power consumption of 3.5W. The platform's total power consumption is around 8W, translating to battery usage time of between 3-4 hours.

The platform also consist of a 945GSE chipset, which includes built-in DirectX 9 graphics and supports single channel DDR2 memory. A 802.11g Wi-Fi module, USB/PATA port SSD (solid state drive), and a 7- or 8-inch panel will typically round out the platform, noted the sources.

At initial launch, the notebooks will be priced between NT$10,000-16,000 (US$300-500) depending on final hardware specifications and design. Intel is planning to launch a dual-core version Diamondville CPU in the second or third quarter next year, the sources added.

Currently, Micro-Star International (MSI) and Gigabyte Technology have already started product development, while Dell, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Acer are expected to follow at a later time, noted the sources.

Since the PC makers will all adopt the same basic platform while also facing competition from Asustek Computer's next generation Eee PC, key factors for success will be design, channel marketing and price, according to channel vendors.

Additionally industry sources warned that since the platform is standardized, corresponding components such as medium-size panels and batteries could encounter shortages again as they did in the latter half of 2007.

What the heck is Diamondville?

These articles seem to answer the question.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,14021 ... ticle.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/ ... rne_1.html
http://www.itworld.com/Comp/2076/071203diamondville/

Simply, its a variant of Silverthorne. I suspect with less or no L2 cache like Shelton was to the Pentium-M. The 3.5W power consumption figure is interesting.

Most impressive is the dual-core variant planned for 2009! Now if someone can come up with a 10-inch display version...

[Danny]

I have had a bit of a tinker with the eeepc twice now, and while I am quite impressed with most of what I have seen I still can not help but compare it to 14" laptops. The price is just not cheap enough to warrant a purchase. the cheapest, most gheto LapTop you could buy is far more useful than the EeePC. The only thing the EeePC has to its advantage is battery life and physical attributes. It is small enough to fit in my pocket, and the weight is barely more noticable than my mobile phone.

While I love the "idea" of these superMicroZOMGTINY machines, they are not "there" yet. They are not as useful as a Lappy, and not as "barely there" as even the most bulky PDA. There is definately a market corner for these items, but I can't see it filling out with a decent amount of sales / users until the 10" versions appear, the price falls, and the productivity improves.

When that happens, I will absolutely buy one.. and from that point on it will almost certainly never be further than arms reach from me no matter where I am.

[stmok]

Yeap, these small ultra-portable solutions are really niche products. Not really a capable notebook, and not a PDA.

It appears more and more companies are jumping onto the idea...

Gigabyte to launch low-cost PC in June
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20080116PD217.html

Monica Chen, Taipei; Esther Lam, DIGITIMES [Thursday 17 January 2008]

Gigabyte Technology has join the growing list of companies to jump on the low-cost PC bandwagon with plans to launch its contender for the market in June, company vice president Richard Ma, has revealed.

The low-cost PC will support Intel's Basic Platform and feature a panel size of 7- to 9-inch, Ma detailed. Prior to the launch of the low-cost PC, Ma updated that Gigabyte will roll out Menlow-based mobile Internet device (MID) and ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) products in April. Having its presence in notebooks and portable devices strengthened, Ma said Gigabyte is likely to see its notebook business unit swing to profit in 2008.

Regarding corresponding production partners, Ma said Gigabyte will design and manufacture the low-cost PC itself. Arima Computer will be the OEM for UMPC production and Compal Electronics and Quanta Computer will remain as notebook OEMs, he detailed.

While component shortages previously affected notebook production, Ma indicated that supply for 7- to 9-inch panels is satisfactory, although a shortage of 14- and 15-inch panels is expected this year. Gigabyte is well-prepared in regards to its notebook component inventory and the company is confident that its shipments will not be affected, he stressed.

While planning strong deployment in the notebook segment this year, Ma noted that demand for desktop PCs is still growing, though the magnitude of growth is weaker than that of notebooks. In light of the stable desktop PC growth, Ma said motherboard and graphics cards should see solid demand over the coming three years. For Gigabyte itself, shipments of motherboard and graphics cards should grow by 10% on year in 2008, he added.

Would be nice if we can have some pictures, wouldn't it?

On a side note, more mobile processors from Intel...

Intel to launch 15 Montevina CPUs in May
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20080115PD210.html
I've edited the layout of the original article, so that its easier to interpret...The original was a blob of crap.

Monica Chen, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 15 January 2008]

Intel is planning to launch fifteen 45nm notebook CPUs for its upcoming Centrino platform, Montevina, which is currently scheduled to launch in May this year. Eight of the CPUs will be smaller package size models targeting the small form factor (SFF) market, according to sources at notebook makers.

Intel will launch seven CPUs with a typical package size of 35mm squared for notebooks.

The CPUs (all have 1066MHz FSB) include:

* Core 2 Extreme QX9300 with 12MB L2 cache and TDP of 45W, (the core frequency has not yet been set)
* Core 2 Extreme X9100 (3.06GHz, 6MB and 44W)
* Core 2 Duo T9600 (2.8GHz, 6MB and 35W)
* T9400 (2.53GHz, 6MB and 35W)
* P9500 (2.53GHz, 6MB and 25W)
* P8600 (2.4GHz, 3MB and 25W)
and
* Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26GHz, 3MB and 25W), noted the sources.

The company will also launch eight CPUs with a package size of 22mm squared. These will include:

* SP9400 (2.4GHz, 6MB and 25W, 1066Mhz FSB)
* SP9300 (2.26GHz, 6MB and 25W, 1066MHz FSB)
* SL9400 (1.86GHz, 6MB and 17W, 1066MHz FSB)
* SL9300 (1.6GHz, 6MB and 17W, 1066MHz FSB)
* SU9400 (1.4GHz, 3MB and 10W, 800MHz FSB)
* SU9300 (1.2GHz, 3MB and 10W, 800MHz FSB)
* U3300 (1.2GHz, 3MB and 5.5W, 800MHz FSB)
and
* Celeron 723 (1.2GHz, 1MB and 10W, 800MHz FSB).

With Intel having only recently launched its Santa Rosa Refresh platform-based notebook CPUs on January 6, the planned launch of Montevina in May has lead notebook makers to be cautious over their purchasing of Santa Rosa Refresh CPUs to prevent overstock during the platform transition, added the sources.

Intel declined to comment on unannounced products and could only reveal is that the launch of Montevina is currently scheduled for the first half of 2008.

Hmmm...P9500 seems to perk my interest.

Meanwhile, there's a bigger (9inch) CloudBook on the way...

Everex to make CloudBook UMPC with 9-in. LCD
http://www.computerworld.com/action/art ... geNumber=1
It'll be called DevBook and will have a touch screen. OS will remain the Ubuntu-based gOS. Prices will be below the US$500 mark.

[stmok]

Touch panel component makers sampling for future Eee PCs
http://www.digitimes.com/displays/a20080117PD214.html

Susie Pan, Taipei; Esther Lam, DIGITIMES [Friday 18 January 2008]

Sources at touch panel and related component makers have revealed that companies are currently having their products undergo sampling with Asustek Computer in bids to win orders for next-generation Eee PCs which are set to launch later this year.

The second-generation of Eee PCs will support panel sizes of 8-, 9- and 10-inch, the sources said, of which, the 9-inch panel versions will feature a touch panel.

The 9-inch touch panel-equipped Eee PCs will adopt four-wire resistive touch screen technology. The expected bill of materials (BOM) to add touch panel functions is under US$15 , the sources said.

Although the list of panel partners for the new-generation of Eee PCs has not been finalized, the sources said Asustek will give preference to Taiwan-based vendors. Some industry players estimate that shipments of touch screen Eee PCs will only reach several hundred thousand units in 2008. They noted that if shipments for a specific configuration are too low, not only will the benefits from production scale be limited, but also yields will be affected.

Industry players estimate that Asustek shipped a total of 300,000-400,000 Eee PCs in its first quarter of sales. They project Asustek will ship a total of 4-5 million units in 2008.

Now all we need is a decent ultra-low power processor (dual-core?) and a wallop of RAM (1GB), and away we go!

[stmok]

Ripple-Mini PC Packs an Awful Lot of Computing into $132
http://gizmodo.com/346389/ripple+mini-p ... g-into-132

A barebones kit from South Korea.

[stmok]

More of these "subnotebooks"...

FlipStart
http://www.dynamism.com/flipstart/specs.shtml

Acer is jumping into it...

Acer to launch low-cost notebooks late in 1Q or early 2Q, says paper
http://digitimes.com/systems/a20080116PB204.html

Commercial Times, January 16; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 16 January 2008]

Acer plans to launch low-cost notebooks available with 8- and 9-inch displays late in the first quarter or early second quarter of this year, with the products aimed at competing directly at similar sized Eee PCs from Asustek Computer, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. Prices of Acer's low-cost notebooks will be as competitive as those of the Eee PCs, the paper said.

Acer will outsource the production of its low-cost notebooks to Wistron, while purchasing LCD panels from AU Optronics (AUO), which will produce 8- and 9-inch panels at its fifth-generation (G5) production lines for both Acer and Asustek, the paper indicated.

Everyone is getting involved!

Inventec enters mini notebook market
http://digitimes.com/systems/a20080118PD205.html

Yen Ting Chen, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Friday 18 January 2008]

With the trend of mini notebooks like the Eee PC spreading in the market, Taiwan-based notebook maker Inventec has entered the market with the help of its acquired Japanese brand, KJS, according to sources at the notebook maker.

KJS is a Japanese brand vendor who mainly focuses on mini notebook products, while Inventec is the company's main OEM. With the mini notebooks enjoying strong performance in markets in both Japan and Korea, Inventec has begun to push the brand into other countries including Taiwan.

Taiwan-based channel vendor Synnex has already imported the KJS's SA and SH series mini notebooks to Taiwan.

With increasing notebook orders from Fujitsu-Siemens and Acer in 2008, plus the profits from mini notebook product lines, Inventec's notebook business is expected to rise.

[stmok]

HP had decided to join the party with their own ultraportable.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/19/hps- ... -revealed/
(See link for pictures)

Looks like they've learnt from ASUS's EeePC limitations...HP's solution has a anodized aluminum chassis with 8.9-inch scratch resistant display with a near full size keyboard. No mention of chipset, CPU, RAM or storage capacities or options. You can either have Vista or Linux on it. No mention of price...Looks expensive.

[stmok]

ECS Guns for Eee PC 900 With Sub-$500 G10IL Notebook
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10988
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/06/g10i ... ly-killer/

Not much on specs. We know it has a 11" display.

[Danny]

ok, I admit that the unit looks hella sweet.. but... 11 inches? Arent they straining the seams of Ultraportable just a smidge? Seems most people were a little conscerned by the even slight increase in physical size of the 9" EEEPC, when the same thing could have (apparently?) remained the same size as the 7". This thing is significantly larger. Not sure, really, if these two items are really competing devices. I can't see someone who is interested in one, being interested in the other.

The fashion savvy nerd knows that anything larger than 10" will not fit into the pocket of his happenin' cargo pants.

[stmok]

HP Mini-Note 2133
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/08/hp-m ... -official/
(Its almost perfect, but they compromised by using a VIA C7 chip).

Press release: MSI Wind Notebook
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func ... ews_no=602

[infallable]

too small, laptops give you more bang for buck these days

[stmok]

Dual core Atom 330 leak pics and bench numbers
http://en.expreview.com/2008/09/08/dual ... h-numbers/
http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=43085

And yes, I agree. You are better off investing in Core 2 series if battery life isn't a concern.