SlashGear Japan
It’s become somewhat traditional to start the week’s review with what’s happening in the netbook world, a niche that’s arguably the fastest developing right now in consumer tech. Fujitsu kicked things off with the proclamation that budget ultraportables “don’t add up” and that the current race to the bottom line doesn’t give manufacturers enough room to make profit; Fujitsu were rumored the week before to be planning a netbook of their own, only with the emphasis on build quality rather than solely the price tag. Sony also picked up a few netbook-in-progress rumors, tipped for Q4 2008, and HP revealed that they’re working on a follow-up to the 2133 Mini-Note that will be less sturdy but also less expensive.
LG, too, are said to have a netbook in the works, with a model tentatively named X110 running Intel’s Atom CPU and made for them by MSI. It’s uncertain whether, if this turns out to be true, the X110 would be a rebadge of the MSI Wind or a whole new design. Finally, ASUS confirmed they wouldn’t be letting up the pressure as firm most associated with the segment; there’s talk of an “all day” battery and cloud storage option for release later on in 2008.
