By Simon Burns
TAIPEI, Taiwan — A new Wintel prototype that openly apes Apple Computer’s popular Mac mini is due out this week, sources told Wired News, giving Intel a showcase to prove its chips are a match for anyone when it comes to tiny PC designs. Working prototypes of the Mac mini look-alike running Microsoft Windows and based on Intel’s Pentium M CPU have already been built by Taiwan PC maker AOpen at Intel’s request, according to two sources in Taiwan’s PC manufacturing industry who have seen them. The prototype is to be unveiled here at the Computex trade show, which runs May 31 through June 4. Apple has been using the Mac mini to encourage users of Intel-based PCs running Windows to “switch,” a campaign Intel hopes to blunt. But analysts said they don’t see big consumer demand for a clone of the stylish and popular box, or much of a threat to Apple.
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