If you think that computers can't possibility get any smaller and cheaper than the size of a netbook, then Marvell Technology Group hopes to prove you wrong. Remember those power line networking products that plug directly into power sockets? Well, Marvell has come out with a new category of energy-efficient devices in the same form factor that it is touting simply as "plug computers."

Marvell's own SheevaPlug platform consists of a 1.2 GHz processor and 512MB of RAM, it is currently targeted at customers who are probably programmers or web developers in their day job. Of course, this is not to say that someone will not think of new ways to package the platform to create a bunch of powerful and easy-to-use consumer gear for the masses.

Priced at about $99 at the moment, the company hopes to eventually see $49 plug computers on the market. Its greenness is its chief selling point--a plug computer draws only about 3 watts of electrical power, compared to the 65 to 250 watts of most desktop PCs. Yes, this is even less power than that used by my energy-saving light bulb.

At the moment, a SheevaPlug kit could hardly be called "mobile." Then again, what is there to stop you from plugging one of this energy efficiency hardware directly into a small UPS to cart around?

To read more:
- check out this article from Computerworld

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