Netbooks with 160 GB

Microsoft has officially relaxed the limitations laid down in the specification of netbooks using Windows XP, increasing the allowed hard drive capacity to 160 GB.

The manufacturers immediately took advantage of the relief: Micro-Star International (MSI) announced the release of a 160-GB version of Wind Notebook U100 (worth $ 560-600), and ASUS - 160-GB model Eee PC 1000H ($ 600).

It is assumed that the increase in hard disk drive will boost the demand for netbooks, although at the same time it can reduce sales of models with smaller SSD and hard drives (80 GB), since the difference in price between them and 160 GB models is relatively small. However, a more significant engine of the market than an increase in disk storage could be an increase in computing power.

Industry representatives say that the development process of netbooks "taxis" Intel, in particular, with regard to the size of products. This is easy to do, controlling more than 85% of the market. It is unlikely that the company will weaken the screen size limit, although such a requirement is put forward by its partners. Intel plans to make a clear distinction in market position and price / performance ratio between Centrino and Atom platforms.
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^{Source: ixbt.com}