UGGING around a big-screen MacBook Pro or other large laptop to the local Starbucks may give you a great visual experience on the road, but at close to seven pounds, it could also give you a bad back.
Computer makers are sensing that maybe there is a market opening for smaller laptops. A number of manufacturers have jumped in with what they are calling ultra-mobile PCs or mini-notebooks.
Their creators are hoping to carve out a niche between full-size laptops, which offer large screens, and smartphones, which make up in features and convenience what they lack in size. These computers can do what any other laptop or desktop can do, but they have screens that are not much bigger than a paperback book.
They first gained serious attention last year after Asus began selling its Eee computer. Thanks to its success, a slew of other manufacturers, like Everex, Fujitsu and Hewlett-Packard, have jumped in and are selling minis ranging from $299 to more than $1,000.
Industry analysts expect mini-notebooks to remain a niche category, especially in the United States and Western Europe, where many people can afford to spend a few hundred dollars more for a bigger and speedier portable machine while using a smartphone or other device as an adequate substitute.
“This is for people who would have bought a desktop, but buy this to save money,” said Leslie Fiering, a vice president at the research firm Gartner.
Indeed, their availability in the United States has left some analysts scratching their heads. “Why would you want a PC with stripped-down features that make it harder to do your work?” said Benjamin A. Reitzes, a computer industry analyst at Lehman Brothers.
That raises the question: Is cost the only reason to buy this neither-fish-nor-fowl device? Some people may focus on the small screen as a problem. Others may be concerned because some devices store less data and sometimes run out of battery power faster than larger laptops. But the deciding factor in whether you want to buy a mini may be how well you can type on it.
Anyone who has used the Internet on an iPhone or other smartphone knows how much of an effort that is compared with getting to the same Web site from a PC. The shrunken keyboards on the minis can also be difficult for the sausage-fingered. While it isn’t arduous to type in the name of a restaurant while searching a Google map or dashing off a series of text messages, creating a whole document may not be as easy as on a full-size laptop.
