[photopress:IT_ee.jpg,full,alignright]Compal Electronics, one of Taiwan`s leading manufacturers of notebook computers, will expand production capacity at its fourth plant in Kunshan of Jiangsu Province, mainland China.
The expanded plant will begin mass production sometime before the middle of the year to facilitate delivery of low-priced PCs ordered by the U.S.-based Dell along with the growth in shipments of notebooks.
Recently, Dell has decided to start selling low-priced PCs following the lead of such as Asustek, Hewlett Packard and Acer. Dell has chosen Compal as its contract manufacturer, with tight production capacity since the endof last year.
The next bit is somewhat debatable. Everyone is talking about the successful introduction of the budget-priced ‘Eee’ PC by Asustek last year and shown here. To meet this publicised — but not proven — success, Hewlett Packard will introduce the US$500 Mini-Note NB equipped with 8.9-inch screen and VIA Technologies` C7-M microprocessor at the end of April; while Acer will debut launch its low-priced, Quanta Computer-manufactured NB equipped with Intel`s ‘Atom’ microprocessor sometime in June.
No solid figures have been produced to prove that this style of machine will be a serious major best-seller and it will be interesting to know what the final figures show. There is at least one computer journalist — me — thinks it will die the death and be on special in two years’ time. What can it offer that you cannot get with an iPhone? Which also looks a lot sexier.
Dell said it would introduce PCs similar to Hewlett Packard`s UMPC-series PCs, with such brand-new PCs to be smaller, lighter, and more powerful in mobile-communication functions, as well as equipped with software developed by Zing, a well-known music broadcaster, so that end-users can access more conveniences in managing music and image files online.
Sounds a lot like an iPhone to me.
Compal president J.T. Chen noted shipment of low-priced PCs would account for less than 10% of the company`s total shipment this year.
Compal shipped more than 23 million PCs last year and will target 32 million units this year which is why the firm is expanding its fourth plant in Kunshan. This will give Compal in China a maximum annual production capacity of about 40 million PCs.
Source: CENS.com
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