Tillamook junior chases mini-notebooks

"All of our new processor introductions, going forward, will be 0.25-micron-based," said Frank Spindler, director of marketing for the Santa Clara, Calif., company's mobile and handheld products group. "We will aim for a combination of low power consumption and lower price points."

New Pentium MMX chips based on the 0.25 process will target mini-notebooks, officials said.

"We see the mini-notebook category as a good, healthy growth area for the notebook market," said Spindler. "We've gone from the classic notebook to a variety of ultra-portable or very thin devices. The mini-notebook is just another option for people, especially those looking for a lightweight, easy-to-carry, secondary PC."

Toshiba America Information Systems Inc.'s new Libretto 70CT mini-notebook, announced today, uses the new 120MHz MMX processor. The new Libretto, due to ship in December, also includes a 1.6Gb hard drive and 16Mb of RAM.

Hitachi PC Corp. also announced today that it will get into the mini-notebook space. Its model, the VisionBook Traveler, features a 133MHz MMX processor and an 8.4-inch screen and weighs about 2.7 pounds.