Mini-notebook shipments to cross 5m in 2008

Worldwide mini-notebook shipments are set to reach 5.2 million units this year, and eight million in 2009, according to Gartner.

This figure could reach as much as 50 million by 2012, the analyst firm claims.

"The demand for mini-notebooks will be driven by several factors: by their small form factor and small screen, their light weight, their price, their ease of use and their basic, but sufficient, PC functionality," said Annette Jump, research director at Gartner.

Mini-notebooks are mobile computing devices with a screen size of five inches to ten inches that run a full version of client operating system (OS), such as Windows XP or Linux.

They do not include microinformation devices (MIDs), which according to Gartner definitions are a separate product category and include mobile computing devices with a screen size of three inches to five inches.

From 2011, they could significantly boost business PC shipments if their performance should increase substantially and they prove attractive to general business users, Gartner says.

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