Freescale, Qualcomm debut 'smartbook'

Bigger than a smart phone, smaller than a notebook, and different to a netbook, is the definition of a smartbook, reports EE Times.

Smartbook is a term Freescale and Qualcomm are minting at Computex for the Arm- and Linux-based portables their customers are designing.

Compared to netbooks, smartbooks will be smaller, cheaper, and have longer battery life and instant-on capabilities, backers say.

Taiwanese firm Acer is focusing on introducing breakthrough technologies even in tough market conditions in a bid to become the world's top notebook vendor by 2011, according to Gulfnews.

"When the rest of the computer manufacturers are cutting costs due to recession, Acer is the only company introducing new technologies at the right time, and investing heavily in product development to make use of the recession and grab maximum market share," says Krishna Murthy, Acer MD of Middle East and Africa, after revealing the new Aspire Timeline notebook.

He added that while the industry outlook is flat, the notebook market will experience double-digit growth fuelled by strong demand for netbooks, while the desktop market will suffer 15% to 20% negative growth.

Patriot Memory, provider of high-performance memory, Nand flash and computer technology, has revealed its XMP certified SODIMMS, TweakTown reports.

Patriot's DDR3 SODIMM is the latest in the family of memory which includes Intel's Extreme Memory Profiles (XMP).

XMP is a performance specification for DDR3 memory SPD settings that act as an integrated 'plug-and-play' over-clocking tool.