Smaller, cheaper laptops take trade fair by storm

By Sheena Lee

TAIPEI (Reuters) - When 17-year old Yuna Hua bought a new notebook computer for school, she chose a smaller, lighter and cheaper one to replace her bulky and expensive laptop.

Like many consumers, Hua reckons she doesn't need a $1,500 laptop for her everyday needs.

"It's a lot less expensive and much easier to use and carry," said Hua, a high school senior, who uses her notebook mostly for homework, surfing the Internet and games.

For around a quarter of the price of a regular notebook, PC makers such as Acer Inc and Asustek Computer displayed simpler laptops -- called Netbooks, or low-cost PCs -- at this year's Computex trade fair in Taiwan, hoping to open up a new market and bolster the fortunes of PC makers as an economic slowdown curbs spending.

Market leaders Hewlett-Packard and Dell are expected to follow suit with similar ultra-portable models in the second half of the year, analysts said.

"You can easily double the market size of notebooks with this device," Acer President Gianfranco Lanci told Reuters.

Some analysts say these low-cost computers, which range from 7-10 inches and weigh about 1 kilo, could end up replacing regular notebook PCs, but they agree these new PCs have also opened up the computer market to more first-time buyers.

"There is now a huge population out there in emerging markets that can afford these laptops. They may be cannibalising some of the current notebook market, but it's also expanding the market very, very quickly," said JP Morgan analyst Alvin Kwock.