New Laptops Take Mini to the Max

I told you mini-laptops were hot.

Beginning with the first Asus Eee PC model announced just a year ago, the market for small, lightweight, super-portable computers has exploded.

Don't take my word for it. The Financial Times says these little laptops, also known as "netbooks," are all the rage. They're talking sales of nearly 11 million units this year and sales projections of more than 20 million units in 2009. Analysts say these low priced units are making it easier for families to own more than one computer. Microsoft (MSFT Quote) told the FT that virtually all new PC sales growth in the developed world in recent months has come from mini-laptops.

According to Wikipedia, the first "netbook" was released back in 1997 as the H-P (HPQ Quote) Omnibook 800. It ran on Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system. The British firm Psion, whose Symbian operating system is now owned by Nokia (NOK Quote), originally coined the phrase "netbook."

In recent history, Asus was first to market a modern-day netbook and has now been joined by nearly every other laptop manufacturer on the planet. Dell (DELL Quote), Lenovo, Acer and MSI will soon be joined by a terrific-looking line of new models by H-P. For the record, the MSI Wind, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and H-P 2133 are all made by one of the largest computer makers on the planet, Compal Electronics of Taiwan. The OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) computer is also considered a netbook and should soon be able to run a special version of Windows XP as well as its standard Linux OS.