High-Tech Low-Cost Displays Enable a New Class of Inexpensive Notebook PCs

摘要

A hot emerging product category is cheap notebook PCs. Market research firm IDC predicts the Netbook/Nettop market could be worth US$3 billion by 2012, but Intel CEO Paul Otellini has predicted the market will be much larger. Because the display industry is not known for ignoring popular new applications, display makers are enthusiastically gearing up to produce more of the 7-, 8.9-, and 10-in. displays favored by manufacturers of these new systems. Taiwan's Asustek Computer has an early success in this category with its Eee PC, which consists of a 7-in. LCD, 802.1 lb/g WiFi, 10/100 LAN interfaces, 512 MB of memory, a 4-GB flash drive, built-in Webcam, 40 built-in applications, and Linux OS. In early June, this 2-lb. package was selling for $399 at J&R Electronics in New York.