Kohjinsha SX mini-note tablet

Japan's been cranking out attractive mini-notebooks with swivling tablet screens for a while now — last September, I briefly considered selling my ticket home for one during a tour of electronics stores in Tokyo — but Kohjinsha's new SX-series looks about as feature packed as you can get without bumping up into full notebook territory. The display is an 8.9-inch tablet while the computer itself is a 1.33GHz Atom processor with 1GB or RAM, a 60GB hard-drive, WiFi, Ethernet, two cameras, an ExpressCard slot, VGA out, a card reader and 2 USB ports.

What really seems to set apart the SX series is that built-in dual layer DVD drive. You just don't see those on Eee-sized mini-notebooks. The battery life is impressive too: 4.2 hours standard, with 8.2 hours extended. Admittedly, it looks dreadfully thick, but it's only about an inch thick... MacBook Pro thickness, in other words, and weighing only half as much. This really isn't all that much bigger than the HP MiniNote.

It'll be available soon in Japan for about $1,000. That certainly crashes through the already stretched membrane of netbook prices, but it's certainly offering a lot more than just e-mail anywhere functionality.

Kohjinsha SX Series [Official Site via Engadget]