One more of the world’s biggest technology companies is clamoring to enter the growing market for pint-sized computers targeted mainly for pint-sized customers.
Hewlett-Packard Co, the No. 1 seller of personal computers worldwide, said yesterday it’s throwing its weight behind a new class of miniaturized laptops, a fledgling market already populated with products from Intel Corp, the world’s largest semiconductor company, and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the world’s largest maker of computer motherboards.
The machines are so new the industry has not settled on a name for low-cost and scaled-down laptops used primarily for surfing the Internet and performing other basic functions like word processing.
PHOTO: AP
Intel has labeled them “netbooks,” and it expects more than 50 million netbooks to be in circulation by 2011.
HP executives say their new machines, which go on sale later this month, are an important piece of the Palo Alto-based company’s effort to build market share in schools, where machines had to be smaller and cheaper without losing too many functions.
The companies also expect adults to cotton to the idea of buying two laptops — a lightweight one just for Web browsing on the go and a full-power machine for the home or office.
But industry executives acknowledge that the market is untested and that no one knows what demand will be once the machines are deployed widely.
HP’s foray comes in the form of a new computer called a “Mini-Note” that weighs less than 1.4kg with a screen that measures 22.6cm diagonally. The machines start at under US$500 for a Linux-based model. Prices go up for Windows Vista models with faster processors.
The processors HP is using are made by VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子), the distant third-ranked player in the microprocessor space, and come in clock speeds up to 1.6 gigahertz. The inclusion is a big win for VIA, which trails Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc by a wide margin in the microprocessor market.
HP executives say the only major feature its Mini-Note lacks is an optical drive for ingesting DVDs and CD-ROMs, which can be bought separately. But they say many schools requested the drives be left out to prevent students from playing unauthorized games.
The Mini-Note will compete primarily with Intel’s Classmate PCs — which are designed by Intel and feature Intel chips but are built and branded by other companies — and Asustek’s Eee PC.
To a lesser extent, they also will go up against the XO laptop from the Cambridge, Massachusetts, nonprofit One Laptop per Child (OLPC), which is intended mainly for schoolchildren in developing countries.
Intel says it has sold “tens of thousands” of Classmate PCs since they went on sale last year. And OLPC says it has sold hundreds of thousands of the XO. Figures were not immediately available for sales of the Eee.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), yesterday said it has signed an agreement with Innolux Corp (群創) to acquire the flat-panel display maker’s plant in Tainan for NT$17.14 billion (US$530.6 million) amid supply constraints of its advanced packaging capacity constraints. TSMC plans to use the plant, including buildings and manufacturing facilities, for future operations, the world’s biggest foundry service provider said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The chipmaker did not elaborate on whether it would convert the plant into a new panel-level packaging factory, or expand its advanced packaging chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) capacity. The chipmaker "is working whatever it
As monsoon rains were about to break over Pakistan, 14-year-old Shamila and her 13-year-old sister Amina were married off in exchange for money, a decision their parents made to help the family survive the threat of floods. “I was happy to hear I was getting married... I thought my life would become easier,” Shamila said after her wedding to a man twice her age in hope of a more prosperous life. “But I have nothing more, and with the rain, I fear I will have even less, if that is possible.” Pakistan’s high rate of marriages for underage girls had been inching
Japan has decided to apply foreign trade regulations to chipmaking equipment as part of its efforts to secure stable supply chains, the Japanese Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Foreign investors are now required to give prior notice when conducting direct investment in equipment tied to chipmaking, including when acquiring a 1 percent or bigger stake in a listed company or buying shares in an unlisted company, the ministry said in a statement. The move also aims to address the risk of technology leakage and keep commercial technologies from being used for military purposes, it said. Other products added to the list of
OVERCAPACITY: Countries including Vietnam, Thailand and Turkey have recently responded with trade measures to China’s low-priced steel exports China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s largest steelmaker, yesterday announced that it would cut steel quotation prices for domestic deliveries next month — its first price cut across the board since August last year — as the global steel market grapples with China’s excessive exports of low-priced products. The move also reflects weak sentiment in the market dented by factors such as extreme weather, financial market turmoil and the off-season effect in summer, the Kaohsiung-based company said in a statement. While the prices of iron ore have recently dropped to US$100 per tonne and those of coking coal have fallen to