There is a lot positive things to say about netbooks, but few manufacturers have provided any real news or innovation with their “own” netbook models. That is why most netbooks look pretty much the same, both on the outside and the inside. We have seen some fresh thinking in the form of pivoting displays and higher resolutions, but no one comes even close to what Sharp has done. Now that it has launched the Mebius NJ70A netbook on paper it looks like pretty much any netbook, but when you open it up you get a surprise.
Sharp has swapped the ordinary touchpad for a 4″ LCD with touch technology that not only works as a regular touchpad but also works as a secondary display. With 854×480 pixel resolution it offers almost as much space as the 10″ standard display.
With LED backlighting the image quality becomes top notch and it hardly hurts that the display can read regular text with help from a digital pen.
Other than that it is the same netbook with Intel’s Atom processor and 945GSE chipset for the graphics. Sharp gets a big shiny gold star for its innovative thinking.
The price will be around 700€, but when and if it reaches outside of Asia remains to be seen.
