14 DAY TRIAL // A while back, rumors began to circulate that BenQ was planning the release of its own small-sized portable system, also meant to compete with all the other netbooks available on the market. However, until now, details about the company's first netbook have been scarce and almost impossible to find on the Internet and other media. This is no longer the case, and we finally have some info on the first Joybook, designed to take on all those Eee PCs and the other netbooks.
However, before you get all your hopes high and start making plans for future purchases, you should know that the details available right now are not that many either, since the company is yet to officially announce the product. And that could actually be sooner than we’d expect as, according to Digitimes, BenQ is planning to release the netbook sometime next month.
The first model to be launched comes with an 8.9-inch design, and will be part of the company's Joybook Lite product lineup. This version is also supposed to come with a monthly shipments target of 3,000 units. In addition, BenQ is expected to release a follow-up to the 8.9-inch model, which will be designed to compete with all the other 10-inch netbooks on the market, including ASUS' Eee PC 1000, MSI’s Wind U100 and Lenovo's S10.
The 10-inch Joybook Lite has a monthly shipments target of 5,000 units and, just like the 8.9-inch model, it will incorporate an Intel Atom processor. Also, as is the case with most other Atom-powered netbooks on the market, the Joybook Lite will run on a Windows XP OS. Unfortunately, details regarding a Linux-enabled version are not available at the moment.
In addition, BenQ also plans to equip the first netbooks with a 3.5G module, which means they will probably end up by being sold as part of a bundle from a network carrier. Estimates say that the expected pricing will be close to NT$15.000, or US$468.