Two more big names in computers and electronics could be preparing to release low-cost mini-laptops. APC Magazine is reporting that Toshiba Australia general manager Mark Whittard says the company will have a ULPC, or ultra low-cost PC available soon.
Aside from the fact that the machine will have a 9 inch or larger screen, that’s about all we know at the moment. But Toshiba has a history of successfully making and marketing tiny laptops. The company’s Libretto series was years ahead of its time.
It also looks like LG is planning to launch a netbook soon. According to DigiTimes, the company will likely contract with MSI to manufacture a PC that will be sold under the LG brand (so I wouldn’t be surprised if it looks a lot like the MSI Wind). The computer is rumored to have a 120GB hard drive, an 8.9 inch display, and 2GB of RAM. It will run Windows XP and LG may also offer a Linux model.
German news site Notebook Journal suggests the LG computer will cost 399 Euros, while a model with an HSDPA card will run 499 Euros, or about $628 to $785 US.
I’m not particularly excited about the LG announcement. It sounds like yet another rebranded MSI Wind. But I am curious to see what Toshiba has to offer.
[via Eee PC.net]
I thought Microsoft would not allow 2 GB of RAM on UMPCs running XP. Am I wrong?
Microsoft has some pretty odd rules in place for this. On the one hand, you
need to have 1GB of RAM or less, a slow CPU, and I think 80GB of hard drive
space or less to qualify for a cheap XP license. But perhaps companies will
get around this by offering Windows Vista with downgrade rights. Or perhaps
Microsoft is loosening its restrictions for some PC makers in an effort to
convince them to sell computers with Windows instead of (or at least in
addition to) Linux.
The rebranded MSI Wind that should be sold as Mivvy M310 in the Czech Republic starting in August also has 2GB of RAM and 120 GB of HDD, and is going to be offered with Windows XP as one of the options…
https://www.mivvy.eu/index.php?page=m310