Last week word broke that Asus was planning on launching a so-called “smartbook” in the first quarter of 2009. Now it looks like the company is either pushing back the release date or hedging its bets. Either way, Register Hardware reports that the machine won’t be available until Q2, 2010.
Although the term “smartbook” isn’t as common as “netbook,” it’s generally understood that smartbooks are small, low power, internet-connected laptops that typically have ARM-based processors. An Asus spokesperson told Register Hardware that they also usually have 5 to 7 inch screens, which means it’s probably a safe bet the Asus smartbook will fall somewhere in that range.
If the machine does have an ARM processor, it also won’t be able to run Windows XP or Windows 7, although it’s not clear if it will run Google Android, Google Chrome or a Linux distribution such as Xandros, Ubuntu, or Moblin.
Based on the story from last week though it looks likely the device will run on Google Android. Also worth noting is that the device’s price point is rumored to be $184 which is much lower than current netbooks, but it will also have less functionality.
It will be interesting to see which version ends up being released in the US and when.
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- Inventec Smartbook hands on
- Google Chrome source code released (7 second boot times, no antivirus needed, and more)
- Google Chrome available for download this week?
- Acer Chrome OS netbook coming soon?
