Taiwan's FIC to debut ultraportable PC

Taiwan's First International Computer (FIC) will unveil an ultraportable PC at the Computex show this week in Taipei.

The CE260 is based on a 1.2GHz C7-M processor from Via Technologies, has a 7-inch touchscreen display with 800 pixels by 480 pixels resolution, and boasts a five-hour battery life, the company said in a statement.

Weighing in at just under 1 kilogram, the machine packs 802.11b/g wireless networking, a wired LAN port, and a 4-in-1 card reader slot.

FIC is a contract PC maker and doesn't sell machines under its own brand. The CE260 will be on show at Computex in front of buyers from the world's PC vendors and available to them to customize and market under their own brand. Possible additions to the base specification include a detachable clock/calendar, Skype phone, DVB-T digital TV Tuner or GPS (global positioning system) module.

Taiwan is a major manufacturer of PC and consumer electronics goods and Computex, which takes place annually in Taipei, brings the island's IT manufacturers together with buyers from big-name electronics brands and retailers from around the world.

Ever since Intel unveiled its ultramobile PC platform at Cebit 2006 and Samsung Electronics took the wraps off the first machine based on that platform, the Q1, there has been increased interest in the market for sub-notebook-size laptops.

Machines matching the form factor are expected to be a big theme of Computex 2007.