In recent weeks, and especially during the IFA, ultra-portable type of economic Netbooks were the heart of the news, manufacturers in turn revealing their model. But all share substantially the same configuration, especially a hard drive whose capacity is still limited to 80 GB, and for good reason ... To have the right to deliver their machines running Windows XP rather than Windows Vista, manufacturers must be confined to certain specifications. Microsoft actually imposed restrictions, namely a processor clocked at up to 1.6 GHz, a quantity of RAM to 1 GB ceiling, a screen measuring less than 10.2 inches and a maximum of 80 GB of storage space. Note that it is strange to rely solely on the frequency of the processor architecture since the number of cores and the amount of cache have a significant impact on its performance.



According to sources close to DigiTimes, Microsoft would have eased those restrictions, allowing the delivery of Windows XP on machines equipped with 160 GB of storage. The Redmond company responds to the pressure practiced by many users and by competition from Linux, which suffers about him unrestricted, allowing manufacturers to assemble a range and propose machines more attractive. MSI and Asus are already on the breach, the first immediately announced a 160 GB version of its Wind Notebook U100, formalizing a second Eee PC 1000H equipped with the same amount of storage.

Finally, according to DigiTimes, Intel also monitor its side of the market netbook and in particular the size of the latter. The idea is to create a clear démarquation between computers at low prices in Atom and computers more powerful platform with Centrino. This is a market that would not suffer a little competition!