Chinese PC vendor reveals S1 iMini laptop series
Chinese PC vendor Tsinghua Tongfang announced its new S1 iMini laptop series, a family of netbooks with 10.2-inch screens that have a Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic OS or a Linux OS.
The devices also carry 1.6GHz Via C7-M microprocessors, an important design win for Via Technologies of Taiwan. The company has had a tough time battling Intel for market share in the mini-laptop, or netbook segment.
Intel launched the Atom microprocessor earlier this year, scooping up several major design wins, including in Asustek Computer's Eee PC 1000, 1000H and 901, Acer's Aspire one, Lenovo's S-series netbooks, and Micro-Star International's Wind.
Via's biggest customer for netbook microprocessors so far is Hewlett-Packard, with its Mini-Note.
But at a cost of 3998 Chinese yuan (US$586), Tsinghua Tongfang's new netbook appears pricey for the Chinese market.
The specifications of the device are similar to most netbooks, a low-power microprocessor, 1G-byte of DRAM, an 80G-byte hard disk drive, 1.3-megapixel Web cam and either a 3-cell or 6-cell battery.
It is a bit different in offering the Vista OS, although HP's Mini-Note does as well, and Tsinghua's includes a few extra features such as a business card manager, MP3 digital music player, digital photo frame and DVD playback functionality.
Tsinghua Tongfang is positioning the netbook to compete as a standard laptop, according to Li Jianhang, vice president and general manager of the company's computer group.
IDG News Service
Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world
On Twitter now
laptop
Powered by TwitterOn Twitter now
laptop
Brian Proffitt
Microsoft/Novell: Breaking Down the Coupon Numbers
Esther Schindler
Drupal's Dries Buytaert on Building the Next Drupal
Tom Henderson
Top Ten General Operating Systems Rants
pasmith
PS3 motion controller delayed; goes up against Project Natal
sjvn
Neolithic Windows security hole alive and well in Windows 7
claird
Perl source code comparison makes for good reading
mikelgan
Cell phones don't create stress or interrupt much
Sandra Henry-Stocker
How to: The Unix Interview
Where Google Chrome security fails: the password
I heard mention that the Chrome OS will have some sort of encryption available a la bitlocker. If it's possible to encrypt personal data using another password or key, then it may have potential for very secure data.... And Ubuntu has an 'encrypt home directory' option, perhaps google should follow suit.
- Dann
Join the conversation here
Quick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.
- Ubuntu advances: Why Ubuntu server installations will surge in 2010
- Social media marketing: How to make friends with benefits
- More...
Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.






