Taiwanese OEM Quanta is apparently working on a netbook called the QW6. There’s not much information about it at the moment, but odds are this machine will be released under a different brand name, as Quanta doesn’t sell PCs directly to consumers. But the company does manufacturer notebooks for big name PC makers.

According to an FCC listing, uncovered by Wireless Goodness, the netbook will have HDMI and VGA ports, 3 USB ports, a 1.3MP webcam, and a touchpad that doesn’t seem to have physical left and right buttons. That’s about all the info that’s available — but I”m guessing we’re looking at a machine with NVIDIA ION graphics, otherwise I don’t see the point in the HDMI port.

Taiwanese PC maker Quanta produces computers that are sold by companies ranging from Apple to Lenovo. And that’s why I have no idea what brand name we’ll eventually see on this convertible tablet that popped up at the FCC web site this week. But as Wireless Goodness notes, it appears that the tablet has 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and measures about the size of a 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper.

That could mean it will sport an 11.6 inch screen, but since the measurements aren’t precise, we could also be looking at a ten inch model. It seems that the computer has both a keyboard and a touchscreen display which you can rotate 180 degrees and fold over the keyboard for use in tablet mode.

And that’s about all we know for now.

Update: Mystery probably solved: It certainly looks a lot like a 4th generation Intel Classmate PC, doesn’t it? That means we can probably expect a 10.1 inch touchscreen display and slightly ruggedized case, which explains why this model is a little big for a 10 inch tablet.

Samsung N120 with speakers built into the bezel

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my time writing about computers, it’s that people love to complain about notebooks and tablets with unusually large bezels around the screen. On some systems, such as the Asus Eee PC 701, the bezel makes sense, since the only way to provide a reasonably large keyboard with a 7 inch screen is to pad the space on the sides of the display. But on other models, there’s no good excuse for the black bars that border the display.

DigiTimes reports that a number of Taiwanese PC makers have heard your complaints, and they’re working on slim notebooks with “frameless” screens. The report says Foxconn, Compal, and Quanta are all working on frameless screens.

The article isn’t 100% clear on what constitutes a frameless screen. While I’d like to think we’re talking about displays with no bezels at all, it’s also possible that these ODMs are simply working on displays that feature edge-to-edge glass that sits over a bezel. You know, kind of like the screens HP has been using on some of its mini-laptops for the past year or so.

via Netbooked

As I was wandering past Marvell’s exhibit at CES this weekend, I spotted an incredibly tiny PC called the EBOX connected to a big screen LCD. The display showed that the computer was running Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala and that it could handle 1080p HD video playback.

When I asked if there was a spec sheet, I was told it’s on the web, but I can’t seem to find any information about this prototype online. So here’s all I know about the EBOX at this point: It’s tiny, impossibly light (I’d say under a pound), and the OS is running off of an SD card. There’s no hard drive.

The PC uses a Marvell Armada 510 processor, which is the same chipset that’s powering the smartbook I mentioned earlier this week. The Armada 500 series processors are ARM v7-based chips that can run up to 1.2GHz.

I don’t think the EBOX is actually a finished product that’s ready to come to market yet. Rather, it’s a prototype developed by Quanta. But it’s one of the tiniest computers I’ve ever seen. I seriously thought at first that it was a media player, not a full-fledged computer.

More pictures after the break.

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There’s plenty of non-Intel news going around lately. This time, it’s Quanta with a new smartbook which marries Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor with Google’s Android OS. The demo video reveals 3 USB 2.0 ports, a mini-HDMI connector, microSD reader, and combination microphone/headphone jack.

The battery looks to be fairly small – perhaps a 3-cell – and it doesn’t appear as though there is any access to the system’s internals. Keep in mind, though, that this is a prototype and not a working device.

In terms of its thickness, this thing is about on par with Sony’s Vaio X – though it likely won’t be in the same zip code when it comes to price. Heck, it won’t even be on the same continent.

via Netbook News

Word on the street may be that Acer and Asus aren’t planning on launching any new mini-laptops until 2010, but HP may be another stories.  DigiTimes reports that Taiwanese computer maker Inventec has been tapped to work on an updated 10.1 inch netbook for HP.

There are no details about the new model, but it’s schedueld to begin production at the end of September, which means that it could be scheduled for release in October and outfitted with Windows 7 and/or a next-gen Intel Atom Pineview processor.

DigiTimes says that HP has also hired Quanta to build a new 11.6 inch mini-laptop. It’s not clear whether this machine would be an Intel Atom powered netbook style device, or if it will have a more powerful Intel CULV or AMD Neo processor.

Here are a few stories I came across this weekend about the companies that make our beloved mini-laptops.

Asus to layoff up to 500 employees

Earlier this year Asus announced plans to layoff several hundred workers as part of an effort to save money and restructure the business. While those layoffs were delayed a bit, DigiTimes reports that by the end of July, as many as 500 Asus employees will be gone.

Netbooks help Quanta stay competitive

Business Week has an interview with Quanta Computers chairman Barry Lam about the company’s growth in the age of netbooks. Quanta partnered with Nicholas Negroponte on the first OLPC XO Laptop, and has been working with Acer and other computer makers on consumer oriented netbooks. Quanta’s earnings rose by 10% in 2008.

Computex rumors

Sascha from Netbook News.de is in Taiwan in advance of the Computex trade show, and he’s picked up a few intriguing rumors about devices that could be on display. That includes an Asus Eee PC prototype built around a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU instead of the Intel Atom processor, an NVIDIA ION demonstration using a VIA Nano CPU instead of Intel Atom, and Disney-branded netbook. These are just rumors, so take them all with a grain of salt. Or a few tablespoons. Your choice.

You know that unidentified netbook that our friend Sascha spotted at CeBIT last week? It turns out it’s been identified. It looks like this slim netbook is the Taiwan Mobile W101 we heard about last week.

The Taiwanese wireless carrier is selling the W101 for 180 Euros when you sign up for a 36 month 3G wireless broadband contract. The machine has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 512MB of RAM, an 8GB solid state disk, and an integrated UMTS modem. While the version on display at CeBIT was running Linpus Linux Lite, it looks like the Taiwan Mobile version will run Windows XP.

I suspect we’ll see an identical netbook sold under a different brand name in the not too distant future, possibly with Linpus for its operating system. The computer itself is made by Taiwanese manufacturer Quanta. And the version on display at CeBIT had a Vodafone sticker on it.

Pundits have been insisting for months that Apple has to produce a netbook. At a time when overall computer sales are shrinking, netbook shipments are growing. Budget machines look awfully attractive in the midst of a recession. But Apple has never been known for making budget machines. In fact, quite the opposite. And so those pundits have been predicting that Apple stands to lose a whole lot of money if it doesn’t produce something that appeals to the same price-conscious shoppers that have been picking up netbooks in droves.

I’ve remained skeptical. After all, Apple customers have shown time and again that they’re more interested in quality than price point. They’ve been willing to pay for hardware and software that they see as superior. If Apple starts making cheap machines now and customers are happy with them, it might be hard to go back to charging premium prices down the road.

But that doesn’t mean Apple isn’t working on a netbook. I’m just going to predict that if and when we see an Apple product with a 10 inch display, it’s going to offer limited functionality. And that’s not because you can’t run a full version of OS X on a small machine with a slow processor. We’ve already seen that you can. It’s because Apple won’t want you to think of its netbook (or Macbook Mini, or iNetbook or whatever Apple will call it) as an alternative to a MacBook, but rather as a complement.

OK, now that I’ve got that out of my system, here’s today’s rumor (based on a bit of a game of telephone). DigiTimes reports that Commercial Times is reporting that Taiwanese company Wintek is producing touch panels for Apple. As if that wasn’t vague enough for you, Wintek says it’s not sure what those panels will be used for. But apparently Commercial Times reports that Apple has tapped Quanta to build a netbook. The Wintek touch panels will ship in the second half of 2009, which means we could see an Apple netbook, tablet, or something else before the end of the year.

Update: The Dow Jones Newswire has confirmed the information from DigiTimes, and reports that the laptops will likely have screens between 9.7 and 10 inches in size.

via Eee PC.net

Linpus is probably best known as the group that makes the Linpus Linux Lite operating system found on the Acer Aspire One netbook. But the copany had another netbook running the operating system on display at CeBIT last week. Sascha from Netbook News.de checked out the unnamed prototype and posted a video which you can find after the break.

Here are some of the highlights. The computer appears to be a prototype from Quanta which will likely be branded and sold by telecoms like Vodafone. It features integrated 3G and there’s a SIM card slot tucked away behind the battery. The netbook is quite slim and has a decent sized keyboard and touchpad, but it has a glossy screen which should limit it’s usefulness outdoors.

The computer has a 10.1 inch display, 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, a solid state disk, 512MB of RAM, and WiFi capabilities. It’s also got 3 USB ports, mic and headphone jacks.

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