HP's Eee rival surfaces.

[Iain]

http://www.notebooks.com/2008/04/07/hp-2133-mini-note-videos-specs-photo-gallery/



Yep, that's an 8.9" screen with a 1280x768 resolution.

Looks considerably more substantial than the Eee, more expensive too. The linux option (Suse) is good. I'll be holding fire on this relatively new market until the Intel Atom processors make their way into them, as they inevitably will. The criticism of the Via in the HP is that it runs hot.

It's going to be very interesting to see what other machines get brought to market.

[mtnbkr]

Interesting.  I like the idea of small laptops.  I want to see something like Toshiba's Libretto come back.  That was almost pocketable, but ran Windows 95/98 and Linux, not some pared down OS like Windows Mobile or WinCE.

FWIW, I run Suse linux on my server at home.  It's as good as any of the other Linux offerings I've used (Slackware and Redhat).

Chris

[roo_ster]

Looks pretty darned sweet for such a tiny machine.

Such a tool would be perfect for my wife.  When her current 3YO Averatec compact notebook dies, something like this will be high on the list.

[StopTheGrays]

http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=U810
I have one of these. 5.6" screen.



Great for on the road when combined with my Verizon broadband card for doing remote support.

[Manedwolf]

I still see these as the answer to a question nobody asked.

Probably explains their marketshare. Fujitsu didn't sell many, but they keep trying. Why do they think people want a tiny screen and tiny keyboard?

IMO, people either want a phone-sized device, or a full-sized laptop. How do you carry one of these? In a bag? Why not just have a full-sized laptop, if so?

[MillCreek]

Speaking as someone who travels on business, I would love to have one of these smaller more portable laptops.  I will be looking at the 2133 with great interest, but would likely wait until the Via successor or the Atom gets put into the machines.  And, I would buy it with XP.

[Manedwolf]

But several companies have been making subnotebooks for years, and the market has never gone anywhere. Why is that?

[Iain]

I still see these as the answer to a question nobody asked.

The Eee is selling in large numbers, even with the linux OS. The others are joining in because there is a market there. Acer have one on the way.

According to this, Asus expects to ship 3.8m Eee's this year. The article also says Apple shipped 1.4m total laptops (their whole range) in one quarter last year, so shipping 3.8m units of one model (with a few variations) is not bad.

The market hasn't been huge historically because the machines were very expensive. A friend had a beautiful Sony Vaio years ago, it was tiny and compact and it cost a lot of money. Specs seemed to be more important then too, it was all about mhz, ghz and gb's. Perhaps the market has changed -people like the form factor, but aren't expecting a supercomputer for a low price.

[StopTheGrays]

IMO, people either want a phone-sized device, or a full-sized laptop. How do you carry one of these? In a bag? Why not just have a full-sized laptop, if so?

I cannot put a full size laptop into a golf bag, tackle box or an oversize pocket of one of my jackets. And a phone size device does not give me enough flexibility to let me do my job remotely. I tested an iPhone to see how that would work and it is just not able to do what I need it to do (also, it uses AT&T as a service provider  ).

The Fujitsu u810 I bought was less than $1000 and that included an extra years worth of accidental damage coverage. It has built in wireless, USB and SD slots (one each) as well as a vga/LAN plugin adaptor. As I wrote in an earlier post I can use a wireless USB device to connect to Verizon's broadband service but in future models they are going to have that type of feature embedded into the u810 itself. The AT&T model should either be out now or soon. Other service providers will be added in the near future.


 

[Gewehr98]

There's plenty of market for them.

I loved my Toshiba Libretto.

[zahc]

I have an asus eeepc. I impulse-bought it as a return for $300. I didn't think I'd use it all that much, but it's small enough to fit in my coat pocket, and it's just big enough to type on. I installed Ubuntu 7.10 on it and popped in a $10 2GB SD card. It's basically a 1998 spec laptop in terms of functionality. I use it for spreadsheets, notes, intarwebz, and I've starting taking it to presentations too. A bonus is, although calculators are, laptops aren't allowed in the cleanroom, but the nazi administrator allows it because it 'doesn't count'. It also pulls chicks.

[mtnbkr]

The biggest threat to these subnotebooks are fullsized bargain priced notebooks.  You can get some great deals for about the same price or less compared to these minis.  They need to lower the prices by 1/3 IMO.

That said, until recently, our notebook was a secondary device to our desktop.  The desktop was where all the real work took place and the notebook was taken on trips (when necessary), used from the couch or bedroom, etc.  A submini could fill that role just fine.

Chris

[Firethorn]

The market hasn't been huge historically because the machines were very expensive. A friend had a beautiful Sony Vaio years ago, it was tiny and compact and it cost a lot of money. Specs seemed to be more important then too, it was all about mhz, ghz and gb's. Perhaps the market has changed -people like the form factor, but aren't expecting a supercomputer for a low price.

I think a lot of that is that people aren't expecting them to be 3D game machines as the screen/interface is too small for real immersion, but any bargain machine today is capable of running office apps, email, and basic games like bejeweled just fine.

I wonder how one with a cell card and bluetooth that's somehow setup that the machine can still be mostly off but still allow you to voice dial using a bluetooth headset.  Computer in the backpack, nice huge battery, just do the gabbing on a nice small headset that doesn't need a hand to stay.

I currently have a huge laptop that CAN sorta game(it's old at this point), and I'm seriously considering something like this - I don't need anything too complicated, but the ability to play DVDs, maybe even blue-ray, basic games/timewasters, email and surf.  Oh, and lighter with a longer battery life.

I'll game on the monster tower at home.  People who want one portable machine can go slightly larger.

[Matthew Carberry]

I'm looking at one for travel.  I have a work-issued laptop but I can't get on APS (for instance) nor check my personal emails.

A smallish "personal" sub would give me that functionality and fit in the same bag with my work machine during travel.

[Bogie]

I want something with a hard/tough case (steel/aluminum/alloy) that's about the size of a paperback or smaller. And not Atlas Shrugged, either.
 
Doesn't need mondo memory, but multiple slots for SD cards would be nice. Wifi G support, and a spot for a standard broadband card. Run Windoze XP so I can do email...
 

[Iain]

Seems another company might want a piece of this non-existent market - engadget link

[Matthew Carberry]

Of course tech is one area where demand can be created by new shiny things.

[MillCreek]

And just this morning, Dell announced that they will be coming out with a netbook similar to the HP 2133, although they are expected to use the new Intel Atom processor. An actual product is expected by the summer.