14 DAY TRIAL // ViewSonic, a leading global provider of visual display products, has announced today, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, a series of new products coming to meet the requirements of the PC market. With the announcement, the company has also introduced its first netbook, an all-in-one PC and an attachable PC, dubbed VieBook, VPC100 ViePC and LinkPC, respectively. All of the aforementioned systems have been designed to take advantage of the computing power of Intel's highly successful Atom processor.
“We are excited to provide our channel partners a new line of products that offer their customers options to upgrade existing equipment and save costs on future deployments,” said Jeff Volpe, vice president and general manager of ViewSonic North America. “Backed by 20 years of display experience and with strong PC partners to deliver computing demands, this powerful combination positions ViewSonic to supply affordable products at excellent quality.”
The first ViewSonic netbook, dubbed VieBook, packs the familiar Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, combined with 1GB of memory, a 160GB hard drive and the usual connectivity options available in most netbooks on the market. With the VieBook, users will be able to take advantage of a 10/100 Ethernet LAN connection, 802.11 b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, 1.3MP webcam and 4-in-1 card reader. ViewSonic has designed the VieBook as a 10.2-inch netbook, coming to compete with similar products on the market. The system runs on Microsoft's Windows XP Home Edition and can provide up to three hours of battery life, all of which will become available in February 2009 at an MSRP of $429.
The company's VPC100 ViePC comes as a new all-in-one PC with a display size of 18.5 inches, featuring a 16:9 aspect ratio LCD screen. The technical specifications of the system are similar to those of the VieBook, but it packs an extra DVD +/- RW and has Gigabit Ethernet. It will also become available in February for an MSRP of $549.
ViewSonic's LinkPC, the last of the company's three new computer systems, has probably been designed as a competitor for ASUS's Eee Box. It is capable of being mounted on the back of VESA compatible monitor, offering a cost effective solution to home computing. The system is also equipped with Intel's Atom platform, providing a specification sheet similar to that of the two systems presented above, and it will become available in March for an MSRP of $399.