NEC Announces Yonah Laptop Plans

Funny how a company can fuel speculation while ostensibly providing information: NEC has revealed details of what might become the first Yonah-powered laptops to market.

In Tokyo, NEC has released some details regarding its forthcoming 2006 computer lineup (Japanese), including the LaVie RX LR900, the company’s first laptop computer to be based on Yonah, Intel’s new dual-core mobile processor.

Like Yonah itself, NEC’s LR900 is scheduled to come to market in the first quarter of 2006. According to NEC, the LR900 will have a 14.1-inch LCD screen capable of 1400 by 1050 display resolution, a DVD burner, WiFi and Bluetooth wireless networking capabilities, and 512 MB of base RAM. The computer will feature four hours of battery life, weigh roughly 4.5 lbs (2 kg) and (oddly) feature Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition. The LR900 will also carry a $1,945 base price tag, which seems high, but it’s not clear from NEC’s information if that’s a retail price intended for the Japanese or North American market; to date, Lavie computers are only sold in the Japanese market, where NEC is the largest PC maker.

However, NEC’s announcement only seems to have added fuel to the fires of speculation about who will actually bring Yonah-based laptops to market first. At the moment, all eyes seem to be on the notoriously tight-lipped Apple, whose switchover to Intel-based Macintosh systems is widely expected to get underway with consumer-oriented laptops at San Francisco’s Macworld Expo in early January.