More vendors jump on mini bandwagon

Momentum behind mini laptops is building, with several vendors promising new models over the next few months. But some experts still question whether such compact systems are suited to enterprise buyers.

At last week’s Computex trade show in Taiwan, Asus unveiled three new editions to its groundbreaking Eee PC range. The new models are expected to have a longer battery life than the current Eee PC range, according to Asus, at nearly eight hours.
The new Eee PC 901 has an 8.9in display, while the 1000 and 1000H have a larger 10in screen. The 1000H also features an 80GB hard drive in place of the Flash SSD of other models.

No UK availability date has yet been given.

Meanwhile, Acer unveiled its answer to the Eee PC, the Aspire One. This has a starting weight of about 1kg, an 8.9in screen, and runs Windows XP or Linux. The Windows version of the system has 1GB RAM and an 80GB hard drive, and costs £299. It is expected to ship in July.

But experts maintain that the enterprise usage case is limited for systems with such small screens and keyboards.

“All the interest we’ve seen is from road warriors that travel a lot,” said Matthew McCormack, a consultant at IDC. “They’re not your average user.” But he added that the low cost of many of the models might lead to workers purchasing mini laptops themselves as a secondary device to their office PC.

“It’s very difficult to say where this form factor fits in – it’s early days, and there is an enormous amount of hype behind them,” he said.

Both the Asus and Acer models are based on a new single-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor designed for lightweight mobile devices, which was also officially launched at Computex.

Last month, Dell admitted it was planning to ship its own mini laptop, after chief executive Michael Dell was spotted using one. The company declined to provide specification details, a release date, or even a name for the forthcoming model. The firm would only say it “plans to release a small form factor notebook that will enhance an individual’s digital experience”.