DIGITAL Equipment Corp has announced the first notebook computers engineered and designed by the firm and which it says are innovative enough to put the company at the top of the notebook market.
The launch, held in San Francisco last week, will be followed by regional launches worldwide during the next two months. A Hong Kong-launch will take place later this month.
The new HiNote and HiNote Ultra machines target the mid to high end of the notebook market and will likely find their main audience in corporations and large organisations where employees need to carry computing power with them.
Digital has incorporated leading-edge technology and innovation to make a product that may be 'the most interesting and provocative announcement from Digital in a decade', according to Frank Fortunato, the company's vice-president and general manager for personal computers in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Winnie Briney, vice-president of mobile products at Digital, the new notebooks are designed to eliminate the common compromises made by the mobile user, including the power versus size dilemma.
'We are freeing notebook users from choosing between power and small size,' she said, adding that among the three design criteria in the new notebooks are form factor and functionality.