BenQ floods market with product blitz

Stephen Withers
Friday, 11 September 2009 09:20

Your IT - Home IT

And the Joybee mini projector weighs just 640g and plays back movies from USB storage devices with an image size of up to 80in is proving popular in Australia.

The lamp has a 20,000 hour lifetime, so "you can turn it on and forget about the lamp." (If you used it to watch one movie a day, it should last for at least 25 years.)

Turning to netbooks, the new Joybook Lite U121 Eco provides up to eight hours use from a full charge, and a one-hour charge gives up to six hours use.

Chang said the expertise that BenQ developed for mobile phones is being put to use in mobile PCs. In addition to the power issues, BenQ netbooks are subjected to a 76cm drop test and feature anti-scratch surfaces.

BenQ's vision for this market comes from mobile data applications: "Mobile phones give you one sort of connectivity, mobile data gives you something different," said Chang, explaining that phone screens are too small, but conventional notebooks are too heavy.

What's called for is a device that weighs less than 1kg with an 8-12in screen, a long-life battery, and instant-on operation. "We are working in that direction," he said, adding that it will arrive "in a very short period of time."

Chang also stressed BenQ's emphasis on 'eco' matters. Among other measures, the company requires its suppliers to meet certain green standards not just in the items they sell to BenQ, but in their general operations.

And BenQ's LCD factory was the first in the world to receive the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold award. The site is 100% green, he said, down to the street lights that are either solar or wind powered. Rainwater is captured, and waste water is recycled.

Since BenQ uses 1% of all the electricity consumed in Taiwan, it is in a position to make a difference.