Notebook vendors gawp at AJP 15.1-inch TFT claim

Dell dismissed the product as "niche" and suggested that notebooks with screens that size were "borderline" when it comes to classification of notebook systems.

Toshiba spokeswoman Val Downes said that "the bigger the screen the bigger the box" and that AJP's intended notebook "sounds more like a luggable than a notebook".

UK portable specialist AJP Business Computers announced on Wednesday that it will ship a unit, the 233MHz Pentium MMX-based Series 8500, with a 15.1-inch diagonal TFT LCD capable of at 1024 x 768 internal resolutions, next month.

The screen, made by Hosiden, will demand a case design even larger than that required for 14.1-inch screen notebooks, today's largest format for mainstream designs. The unit will also weigh 4.6Kg. The machine is expected to cost around £2,500.