Coby has officially put an end to the whole will they or won’t they enter the mini-laptop market. They will. Big time. As reported earlier today, Coby has a display case filled with netbooks at CES. But what I didn’t realize until I wandered over to the Coby  area was that there are 6 separate Coby netbook models.

Now here’s the thing. This is a brand new product category for Coby and it appears the company still has a lot of kinks to work out. For instance, all of the product sheets, save one, describe netbooks with 1.6GHz Intel Atom processors. But at least two of the units on display actually had VIA C7-M processors. So take everything you read after the break with a grain of salt.

Also, it’s worth noting that the mythical $100 netbook we first heard about isn’t likely to materialize anytime soon. Instead, Coby is going to bring a rebadged version of the generic Xburst netbook with a 400MHz MIPS-based CPU for about $139. Coby also has several machines with 8, 8.9, and 10 inch displays in its lineup. The top of the line 10 inch models are expected to sell for around $299.

The company is seeking buyers willing to place bulk orders to distribute the machines in the US. The plan is to have some netbooks on the market as soon as March, but it might take a bit longer than that to work out distribution deals. It’s possible that you could see some of these netbooks under the Coby name while some might show up with another brand name if that’s what the customer wants. In fact, one of the models I saw today had the word “Brand” written where you’d normally see, well… a brand name.

You can check out a gallery with a ton of pictures of the netbooks after the break, as well as the specs for each model. Keep in mind, all of these things are subject to change. 

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Just in case you couldn’t tell by the barrage of articles I’ve been posting over the last few days, CES is huge. Like think of a really big convention. Yeah, it’s bigger than that. Anyway, I spent most of my day hanging out in the Las Vegas Convention Center South Halls 3 and 4 today. But tomorrow I hope to work my way down to the Central Hall and a few other locations where I’ll be able to get a closer look at hidden gems like the $200 Coby netbook that Engadget spotted today.

Last month we reported on a rumor that Coby would be entering the netbook game, and then Coby promptly denied it. But then blogger James Kendrick noted that Coby had filed for a trademark for the term “Coby Netbook,” and those filings don’t come cheap, so why seek one for a name you don’t plan to use?

Anyway, Coby reps told Engadget that the models on display at the show represent a “market research product” which means Coby might never actually bring these things to market. But the company does have a good track record of producing cheap if not necessarily high quality devices. I’ll try to get more details tomorrow including possible specs.

Update: I visited the Coby booth today and discovered 6 separate netbook models that the company plans to bring to market, with prices ranging from around $139 to $299. Many details are still up in the air, including the release date, distribution channels, and possibly even the specs on these mini-laptops. But Coby is most certainly dipping its toe in the netbook waters.