It's remarkable how many computer makers there are that I've never heard of. And all of them seem to be launching an Eee PC competitor. The latest is 3K, a subsidiary of Florida Micro. The company has just announced plans to release the Longitude 300 Mini Notebook PC.

So how does it stack up against all the other $400 mini-notebooks hitting the streets these days? Well, it's got a 7-inch screen, but there's no mention of the display resolution. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess 800 x 480. It's got an Ethernet Port, and WiFi, SD card reader, and 3 USB ports.

The 3K Longtitude also has a "full size keyboard," and weighs less than 2 pounds. It runs a "Genuine Linux Operating System," and not one of those cheap knockoffs, and ships with AbiWord and Gnumeric instead of OpenOffice.org. That's probably because OpenOffice.org takes up a few hundred MB, and the Longitude has a tiny 1GB solid state disk for all... I mean, none of your storage needs. And did I mention the CPU? This little guy is rocking a blazing slow "energy saving" 400MHz CPU.

Overall, I have to say, this is the new mini-laptop I'm least looking forward to. The Longitude should be available in May, but the company encourages you to pre-order now due to high demand. Seriously, that's what the press release says.

[via Engadget]