NEC Launches Hybrid Storage Netbook

This week at Computex, NEC is debuting its first hybrid storage netbook, packing both a 160 HDD and a 16GB SSD. The LaVie light has a 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 LED Display and runs on an N280 Atom Processor with 1GB RAM and an Intel 945GSE Express chipset. It also boasts 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ships with Windows XP Home. Portable Monkey reports that the small computer also has a high capacity battery that sticks out the back and is good for up to 7.4 hours. The standard battery is should last more than 4.

With specs like that, it’s a more than decent netbook and the dual hard drives is a really selling point. That said, there’s always a catch and here, it’s the price. While there’s no word of a US release just yet, this thing will hit the Japanese market this month with a price tag of roughly $700. A little too much for a netbook, we think.

MSI released the first netbook with hybrid storage at the end of 2008. The U115 Hybrid is your bog standard netbook with various combination of 8GB or 16GB for the SSD, and 120 GB or 160 GB for the HDD. The Hybrid uses the SSD for running windows and the HDD for storage, which is akin to users running the operating system on the hard drive with the most RPMs in the box, but going to SSD has the added advantage of power savings. MSI’s Hybrid also boasts an "eco mode" which will temporarily disconnect the HDD to save power, instead to run only with the more efficient SSD.

  • This "Eco Mode"... What if you're in the midst of doing something and happen to leave your comp for a few mins and you lose what you were working on?
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  • Kill@dor
    This hybrid is indeed a hybrid...they still have a long way to go in the atom world. And the prices don't look very promising either...
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  • starryman
    $700 and one gig of ram.
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  • martel80
    Alex285This "Eco Mode"... What if you're in the midst of doing something and happen to leave your comp for a few mins and you lose what you were working on?I guess it will spin up (resume) the drive again as soon as OS tries to access it (with no data loss, of course).
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  • Master Exon
    Alex285This "Eco Mode"... What if you're in the midst of doing something and happen to leave your comp for a few mins and you lose what you were working on?
    Man that would be weird... it would be like starring in one of those sci-fi horror movies where it is clear the director doesn't actually understand how computers work.
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  • grieve
    $700 LOL, buy a laptop!

    Seriously though... $700 it should come with a 128GB SSD and no HDD
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