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Here are a few stories I came across this weekend about the companies that make our beloved mini-laptops.

Asus to layoff up to 500 employees

Earlier this year Asus announced plans to layoff several hundred workers as part of an effort to save money and restructure the business. While those layoffs were delayed a bit, DigiTimes reports that by the end of July, as many as 500 Asus employees will be gone.

Netbooks help Quanta stay competitive

Business Week has an interview with Quanta Computers chairman Barry Lam about the company’s growth in the age of netbooks. Quanta partnered with Nicholas Negroponte on the first OLPC XO Laptop, and has been working with Acer and other computer makers on consumer oriented netbooks. Quanta’s earnings rose by 10% in 2008.

Computex rumors

Sascha from Netbook News.de is in Taiwan in advance of the Computex trade show, and he’s picked up a few intriguing rumors about devices that could be on display. That includes an Asus Eee PC prototype built around a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU instead of the Intel Atom processor, an NVIDIA ION demonstration using a VIA Nano CPU instead of Intel Atom, and Disney-branded netbook. These are just rumors, so take them all with a grain of salt. Or a few tablespoons. Your choice.