ANTenna Blog -- Hardware & Software

According to rumors and leaked photographs, Dell and Acer are getting set to jump into the increasingly crowded inexpensive sub-notebook market, joining the genre-defining Asus Eee PC and the recently released HP 2133 Mininote.

Last month, an official at Taiwan's Compal Electronics said that his company would be building an 8.9-inch wide-screen laptop for Dell that would sell for less than $499. Photos have now turned up of the new "mini-Inspiron," which is expected to have come with Windows XP Home or Ubuntu Linux, an 8-in-1 card reader, and an integrated webcam. The mini-notebook is expected to be available as early as June.

Not far behind, according to rumor, is Acer, whose expected "Aspire One" will also have an 8.9-inch screen and ship with Windows XP and some variety of Linux. Expected price is under $500. A photo is posted here.