Asus May Have 13-Inch Android Laptop in the Works

Asus is rumored to be working on making the largest Android laptop to date: a 13-inch device with an attractive price tag under $299 and possibly a quad-core Nvidia processor. This cheap laptop, according to DigiTimes , may be expected as early as the end of 2011. Other computer manufacturers – Samsung, Toshiba, and Acer – are also expected to follow suit in introducing competitively priced ARM-based notebooks.

A laptop running Android may be more viable than Google’s Web-centric Chromebooks, which start at $150 more than the rumored Asus laptop. Asus has already had some success with its keyboard-dockable Android tablet, the Eee Pad Transformer, so it’s not hard to imagine the company wanting to continue riding the Android wave.

There’s no word whether the 13-inch laptop will have a touchscreen. Either way, it would be fantastic to see more cheap laptop options and continued innovation with the Android platform.

Follow Melanie Pinola (@melaniepinola) and Today@PCWorld on Twitter