Microsoft eases hard drive capacity restriction for netbooks

section: microsoft, for your questions: KezNews forum, 3.9.2008

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Microsoft has officially eased the restriction of the standard specification for netbooks using the Windows XP operation system by increasing the allowable hard drive capacity from 80GB to 160GB, according to sources in the channel.

In line with the new policy, Micro-Star International (MSI) launched a 160GB version of its Wind Notebook U100 with a price set around NT$17,900-18,900 (US$562-594), while Asustek Computer will launch its 160GB Eee PC 1000H on September 3 with a price of NT$18,988.

The sources believe the increase of hard drive capacity will boost demand for netbooks, and they noted that it could impact the sale of the netbooks adopting solid state drive (SSD) and 80GB hard drives, as pricing will not be much different for the 160GB devices. However, the sources added that changing hard drive densities will not be a major driver of demand, in contrast to a major boost in processing power.

In addition, sources noted that Intel also still controls how netbooks are deployed in the market as well, especially concerning how big netbooks can be. Sources at notebook vendors noted that since Intel still owns controls over 85% of the notebook market, the company is unlikely to ease its restriction over netbook panel size to satisfy its partners' demand. Intel currently is planning to make clear separation over market position and price/performance ratio between its Centrino platform and Atom netbooks to prevent overlap of the netbook's original meaning of low-cost and what the company considers standard performance devices.

source: digitimes.com
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