Going Mobile with Mini
Most
PC players believe that small has big market. HP is one of them. It has
unveiled a new HP Mini designed for mobile professionals and students.
The HP Mini 2140 Notebook PC features an all-aluminum case for a
lightweight design. Starting at 2.6 pounds, its U.S. price will start
from $499.
According to HP, the product features a large 10.1-inch diagonal
scratch-resistant HP Illumi-Lite LED display available in standard or
high-definition resolutions, a user-friendly 92% of full-size QWERTY
keyboard, and a range of hard-drive options including an optional
high-capacity 80-gigabyte (GB) solid-state drive.
Others
are planning
low-cost models of mini PCs. Freescale
Semiconductor, for example, has announced its plans to offer a solution
based on ARM technology to produce netbooks that feature 8.9 inch
displays, deliver eight hours of battery life, and retail at sub-$200
price points.
The HP
Mini 2140 includes a small, low-power Intel Atom processor to enable the
unit to run cooler, use less power and improve battery life. It also
includes a suite of wireless technologies such as integrated Wi-Fi
Certified WLAN and optional Bluetooth 2.0, allowing a variety of ways to
access the Internet for email, instant messaging (IM), chat and blogging.
An
integrated VGA webcam allows for easy still-image capture,
web-conferencing or video-enhanced IM with no additional hardware to buy
or carry, explains HP.
As HP
wants to target the education market with this PC, it says HP Mini 2140
can be used in classrooms. The suite of wireless multimedia and security
capabilities, it says, will allow students to learn wherever they have
Wi-Fi access – from the classroom, to the library, to their homes.
Today,
big players are targeting student buyers with small computers. Last
year,
Intel joined hands with the Government of Portugal
for an education program that aims to provide 500,000 educational PCs to
Portuguese children. Under a memorandum of understanding, the program
was kicked off by Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates and Intel
chairman Craig Barrett. Termed as the Magellan Initiative ("Iniciativa
Magalhães"), it’ll provide Intel’s classmate PCs to elementary school
children.
Also,
MPC Computers unveiled TXTbook PC, an
inexpensive mobile notebook computer designed primarily for the K-6
education market.
To meet
the needs of both mobile professionals and students, HP reveals that the
mini PC underwent the HP Total Test Process, which included more than
95,000 hours of extensive testing and product validation to ensure
designs, materials and components meet the highest standards.
New
accessories designed for the product include an HP USB Docking Station,
USB-powered HP Mobile Audio Speakers, and HP USB optical disk drive that
can read and write CD and DVD formats, as well as offer HP LightScribe
capability to burn content directly onto discs.
The
company says that a lightweight, functional messenger bag designed
specifically for the HP or a neoprene slip case will provide added
protection for professionals while on the go.
According to researcher Gartner,
the worldwide mini-notebook shipments
will surpass 5 million units in 2008 and the sales will touch 8 million
units in 2009. The market is expected to experience strong growth, as
there could be 50 million mini-notebooks shipped in 2012.
Photo courtesy: Intel
