Mini laptops have been a thing for the last 2 or 3 years thanks to companies such as GPD and OneNote. However, most of the models rely on fairly powerful and expensive low-power processors from Comet Lake and Amber Lake families, and that may be fine if you want a versatile, ultra-portable machine as your main driver, but not everybody wants to spend $700-$1,000 on this type of device.
In the recent past, we’ve seen a couple of cheaper Intel Cherry Trail mini laptops such as Pretech F700mi and Peakago. But the former does not appear to be for sale, and the latter was offered for $269 and the company decided to upgrade it to an Intel Celeron N4100 processor. Peakago is still not available, as Indiegogo backers are still waiting for their perks. So if you’re looking for an entry-level mini laptop NANOTE appears to be a better option as the 7″ mini laptop will sell for 19,800 yen, or about $185, once it launches on May 1st.
- SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 quad-core Cherry Trail processor @ up to 1.92GHz with Intel HD graphics
- System Memory – 4GB RAM
- Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot up to 256GB
- Display – 7″ touchscreen display with 1920×1200 resolution, 360-degree hinge
- Video Output – micro HDMI port
- Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, digital audio via HDMI port
- Camera – 0.3MP webcam
- Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.0
- USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB Type-C port for power, and data
- User Input – QWERTY (Japanese) keyboard and optical touch sensor
- Battery – 5,000 mAh battery.
- Dimensions – 181 x 113.6 x 19.6mm
- Weight – 520 grams
NANOTE will ship with Windows 10 Home pre-installed.
The (PDF) press release indicates the company behind the device is called PPIH (Pan Pacific International Holdings) which will sell it from its Don Quijote-affiliated stores, so it’s unclear if it will ever be sold out of Japan.
But wait a minute… The specs look eerily similar to the ones for Pretech 700mi laptop we mentioned in the introduction, and even the dimensions are the same to the tenth of millimeters. So it looks like Pretech found a customer in PPIH. So while it’s quite likely NANOTE won’t be sold outside of Japan, different brands may sell the mini laptop under a different model name in other countries.
Via Liliputing and PCWatch
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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