While we’re hearing rumors that HP is already working on its next generation Mini-Note computer, the company has yet to make any official announcements. So we don’t know for certain if the next HP subnotebook will have a larger screen, faster processor, or different type of storage. But it’s a safe bet that it will have at least one or two of the three.
In an interview with PC World, HP’s Phil Devlin said the company is also thinking about adding a touchscreen display. When HP sends Mini-Notes to clients using the computers in educational settings, he says they often come back with fingerprints. That would seem to indicate that people, or kids at least, want to put their fingers on the screen. So why not make sure the screen responds when you do that?
Devlin says the company isn’t committed to touchsreens yet, but he says it is something HP is considering. HP is also thinking about using high capacity solid state disks in lieu of hard drives. Right now HP offers one HP 2133 Mini-Note model with a 4GB SSD. But higher capacity SSDs (think 32GB or 64GB) cost a lot more money and it’s more cost-effective to put a 120GB hard drive in a PC than a 32GB SSD. On the other hand, SSDs have no moving parts which makes them durable and typically much faster than hard drives. And those are features that can be valuable in educational markets.