A Gartner study estimates 5.2 million mini-notebooks will ship this year, rising to 8 million units in 2009. Gartner pegs Linux and Windows XP as the two dominant operating systems (OSes) in the segment, which could hit 50 million shipments annually by 2012, says Gartner.
In "Dataquest Insight: Forecast Scenarios for Mini-notebooks, Worldwide," Gartner defines mini-notebooks as having a screen size of 5 to 10 inches, similar to the general definition being bandied about for the "netbook" category. The netbook-like mini-notebooks are further defined as running a full client OS, and as being larger than the 3-5-inch display MIDs, which Gartner refers to as "micro-information devices."
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