IDG news service reports that the netbook market is about to be shaken up by the arrival of a new generation of netbooks that give almost instant access to the internet, booting up in seconds.
As the article says, without the burden of having to load Windows, things get going much, much faster.
Lenovo and Sony demonstrated quick-booting laptops at CES in Las Vegas - QuickStart embedded in an IdeaPad S10 and a fast booting Vaio P respectively.
OS are cluttered with applications and drivers that slow down PC boot times, Anand Nadathur, director of product management at Phoenix Technologies, was quoted saying at CES.
Phoenix introduced its own quick-boot environment for netbooks called HyperSpace Dual at CES. Offered as a quick-boot option to Windows, many of the applications are browser-based. It can be installed on netbooks or laptops, and can be downloaded from Phoenix's website. It is priced at US$39.95(£25) for one year and $99.95(£61) for three years.
Apparently Freescale Semiconductor and Qualcomm also talked about plans to build in quicker boot capabilities at CES. As netbook adoption increases, the devices will need to start as swiftly as smartphones do, the chip makers said.