Sep 23 2009
How Mini Notebooks Came To Be
People love miniature versions of the real thing, and now there has been a boom in portable technology. Think back to some of the first instances of portable technology. One of the first was the CD player. When these first were introduced, no one wanted to listen to CDs at home, anymore. What about popcorn chicken, or Pop Tarts, or iPods? These are all examples of things humans changed to take them on the go.
And up next, the mini notebook ” a smaller, lighter notebook (sometimes called a netbook) which leans more toward the wireless internet side of laptop usage rather than its program capability. This new craze is sweeping the nation. And rightfully so. These new notebooks are lighter, cheaper, and much faster than anyone had anticipated years ago. With the coolest sounding processor in recent memory, the Intel Atom has created a new way of thinking about computers with its high speed on such a low-cost/small-sized device.
The Network Computer In the 1990s, Oracle developed a desktop computer which relied solely on programming. It had no external drives or disk inputs whatsoever. They called it the Network Computer. This was the predecessor for the netbook. Unfortunately, this idea was much too ahead of its time being that Internet speeds only ran at 28.8 kb/s. Its slow speed made the Network Computer seemingly useless and therefore it was eventually scrapped.
One Laptop Per Child The One Laptop Per Child organization was founded in 2005. Its goal was to create an affordable laptop to educate children in developing countries. After a few years, and funding from many major corporations, they were able to create the XO-1 laptop and released it by Christmas, 2007. It was made to be extremely durable and have a long battery life. It ended up costing 188 dollars per unit, when purchased by the thousand. The XO-1 was the first mini-notebook, and more were to come.
Eee PC Around that time, ASUS delivered what became the standard in mini notebooks, the Eee PC. It weighed about 2 pounds with a 10 inch screen and a keyboard about 85% normal size. Shortly after, Everex, MSI, Dell, and HP all developed their own mini notebooks and by late 2008, mini notebooks were starting to take money away from normal laptop sales.
The craze has just begun, and with the world’s love for portability, we can assume that we have much more in store. Laptops will continue to get smaller and lighter and faster because we are living on the cutting edge of technology.