indows 95 applications, appeal to a particular class of user who values portability and remote connectivity, and needs to compute in tight spaces.
However, due to smallish screens and keyboards and other compromises, mini-notebooks have receive
d a lukewarm reception in the U.S. Toshiba sells the Libretto in the U.S. and Japan, but several other companies market their mini-notebooks in Japan only, including IBM, with its ThinkPad 535E, and Panasonic, with its Lets Note Mini. "Hand-held systems like the 535E are more popular in Japan, where space is at a premium," says a spokeswoman for IBM. "Users there don't seem to mind the smaller keyboards as much."
Toshiba officials say Libretto users in the U.S. are typically knowledgeable about notebooks and use the mini-notebook as a remote computing device that complements their primary system.
Toshiba recently improved the Libretto's performance and storage by adding a faster processor (the new Libretto 70 features Intel's 120-MHz Pentium with multimedia extensions [MMX]) and a bigger hard drive (1.6 GB). But newer mini-notebooks that are slightly larger than the Libretto may expand the mini-notebook user base in the U.S. For example, Mitsubishi's Amity CN and Hitachi PC's Mini-Note have 7.5- a
nd 8.4-inch displays, respectively (compared to the Libretto's 6.1-inch LCD), and both are about an inch wider.
One size up from these new mini-notebooks is an intriguing new portable, the ultrathin
Pedion
, from Mitsubishi. Due to its thin LCD screen and keyboard, magnesium body, and other components, the base Pedion weighs just 3.3 pounds and is only 0.7 inch thick. Yet it has a 12.1-inch screen, a 1-GB hard drive, and a 233-MHz Pentium with MMX. The Pedion's base unit doesn't include a CD-ROM drive. A modular docking station, called the multimedia slice, weighs 2 pounds and houses a floppy drive, a 20X CD-ROM drive, I/O ports, and an additional universal serial bus (USB) port. Another slice adds an additional lithium-polymer battery to increase estimated battery life from 2 to 8 hours. At press time, the unit was available only in Japan at a starting price of about $4900, but thanks to an agreement between Mitsubishi and Hewlett-Packard, HP will sell a Pedion-like system in the
U.S. early next year.
Mitsubishi officials say the Pedion was designed with the U.S. market in mind: The screen is much bigger than that of a mini-notebook, and the larger keyboard is designed for touch-typists. "Whether this represents a new category or not is hard to say," says Robert Langerman, marketing manager for HP OmniBooks. "At the least, it is a radical evolution of the ultraportable category, targeting high-level executives who are sensitive about their notebook's size and weight."
New Notebooks Add Power, Ultraportability
