Cheaper and smaller PCs are dominating the world’s second largest computer fair, Computex, in Taipei this week.

Cheaper and smaller PCs are dominating the world’s second largest computer fair, Computex, in Taipei this week.

With the global credit crunch and downturn in many economies, particularly in the US, PC makers say businesses and consumers are looking to cut costs and are now looking for lower-cost PCs such as the Eee from Asus, to keep growth on track.

The cheaper models are set to share the stage with a line of eco-friendly computers with slimmer, energy-efficient displays and solar-power systems, designed to cut power consumption.

Along with Asus, which plans to display new, wider-screen models of its Eee device, Acer is expected to show similar low-cost PCs, including its Aspire Mini-Note.

The show’s organisers expect a total of 1725 exhibitors at the show, up 29 percent from last year.

Intel vice president Sean Maloney, delivering the keynote address, promised early delivery of new versions of Intel’s Atom processors for compact, easy-to-use devices he called “netbooks” and “nettops”. Maloney claimed they would bring the Internet to new users, opening up a new US$10 billion market.

He also unveiled new chipsets that make high-definition images on a desktop computer screen look more realistic, and predicted a big future for WiMax, the wireless broadband system that has been languishing while 3G HSPA networks have proliferated.

The show has also seen emergence of a new processor from graphics chipmaker Nvidia, aimed at going head to head with Intel’s Atom in the race to produce chips for netbooks and mobile Internet devices (MIDs).

Nvidia describes its Tegra as a “computer on a chip”. General manager Mike Rayfield says it will outperform the Atom: devices that use it could play 26 hours of high-definition video on a single battery charge, he says.