The customer challenges have always been fun to do. A challenge for me, good to talk about in the comments and usually, good feedback from the potential customer but it’s been a while since I’ve been able to do it due to other commitments. I’m also having to turn email requests away too which I feel really bad about so in order to redress the balance, I’m going to dedicate a lot of time to it next week and see how many customer challenges I can get through. Its going to be Chippy’s Customer Challenge Week.
If you’re wondering what ultra mobile, netbook or MID device fits your needs then simply contact me and include the following information:
- Price range
- Form factor (MID, mini notebook, tablet)
- Usage scenarios (E.g. Table, car, multi-use)
- Top three applications (e.g. browser, office)
Think also about the following features. 3G, touchscreen, battery life, specialist port requirements, performance.
Starting from next Monday, I’ll pick interesting challenges from the list and work my way through as many as I can and try and provide a Top-3 shortlist for each request. All you need to do is send your requirements, keep an eye out for the article and the interesting discussion that always results from the proposals.
Price Range: Up to $1000, more for the ideal device
Form Factor: MID or mini notebook (~7.5 X 4 inch)
Usage Scenarios: Table or lap (95%) plus handheld
Top four applications: PIM, email, Office, browser
Other needs (ideals): Instant on, touch keyboard, 5-hour battery life, synchronize with MS Outlook.
Other values (wants): PMP (music & video), thin and light.
One more thing: The screen should come as close as possible to filling up the whole footprint. One of my pet peeves is these machines with screens that only use about half the available real estate. There are lots of UMPCs and MIDs that are approximately 7 X 4 inches but they only have a 4.8-inch screen. The engineers put buttons and graphics and other useless stuff around the edges of these puny little screens to fill up the unused space, but the user ends up working through a keyhole. What’s up with that? I know larger screens use more power, but in the end, it’s all about the view, isn’t it? Why did the iPhone make such a splash? It isn’t because everyone loves doing business with Apple. In the end it’s the ratio of screen size to footprint (handprint?). That’s the main event, and the market’s reaction to the all-screen, no-buttons iPhone seems to be demonstrating that.
Resolution: 1280×800 (or similar; greater than 1024×600 anyway..))
Form factor: Any (don’t mind a big netbook as long as it’s a tiny laptop?)
Battery life: 4hrs+ (6 cell preferably)
Equal or better performance than Eee 1000h (i.e. HP MiniNote won’t cut it..)
– I guess I will wait until 2009 or later..
Lastly, has anybody run a VM (Virtual PC or VMWare) off a netbook with any success? I haven’t had the luxury of experimenting to see if any would actually do for emergency work on the road…
thanks!
gus
okay, it wasn’t really clear whether the question was directed towards people seeking a device (seeking for advice),or for statistical purposes.
In case of statistical purposes (or UMPC customer feedback)here are mine (but in case it’s for advice you can ignore the rest of this mail, since I’m quite updated about the last UMPC’s):
Price range :
under $650
Form factor:
Mini notebook
Usage scenarios:
car, public transport, plane, trian, travel, Wifi hotspots like Starbucks and Mc Donald’s or malls: All in one desktop/laptop replacement.
Top3 applications:
Browsing Internet(Firefox), Download client(bit torrent, P2P, Chat client), Office application(Word, Excel,Visual Basic (VB=programming)).
additional requirements:
– 7,9″-9,5″ 1280×720 pix (Normal HD playback)
– LED LCD (lower power consumption, brighter settings)
– 2x Sodimm RAM slot (2GB RAM)
– 5+ hours of battery
– 3xUSB
– LAN
– Wireless B/G/N
– Mouse pad with normal buttons (not on Left and right of touch pad)
– Intel Atom processor
– Preferably a 16GB SLC SSD(or otherwise a 20GB or more HD that is easily user replaceable with a fast SLC SSD drive: Zif, Sata, or Mini PCIe)
– Win XP
– Mic in / headphones out
– SDHC slot (upto 16 or 32GB?)
– Extra power save options
– Flexible Bios, booting from USB allowed
– Keyboard larger than EeePc 701, but not as large as EeePc 1000.
– 100Mbit / 1Gbit LAN connection.
Optional extra’s:
– Touchscreen
– Digital VGA out or separate docking station
– LCD with deeper colors and extra bright/low light settings, and perhaps B/W setting with reflective back of screen for use in sunlight like OLPC and old Nintendo gameboy’s had (save power)
– 1.3Mpix webcam & internal Webcam mic
– Over/under clock the Atom soft.
– under 1,5 pounds will be nice!
– Tablet mode seems nice
– Mechanical volume knob and Wifi switch would be very welcome
– Preferably 12V DC chargeable (works with car lighter / Plane cigarette lighter plug)
– Extension batteries able to purchase (somewhere)
– Also nice to have some Linux drivers just in case… Linux Ubuntu drivers of the PC or something…
Items that I don’t need:
– 3G
– Bluetooth
– Kingston lock
– Quick boot like Asus’ express gate
– Vista
– MLC SSD drives
– More than 1 internal HD or SSD
– Soldered RAM
–
Hmm.
Price range: $2000 for the optimal device, $1500 for something suboptimal
Form factor: Mini notebook or convertible tablet
Usage scenario: Multi-use
Top three applications: Browser, SSH, light gaming
Oh, and here’s a requirement that’s not in that list. 1280×800 (or similar) resolution. I’m a resolution whore. Heck, there’s times that I think the 1400×1050 resolution on my X61 Tablet isn’t enough.
OS must be XP Pro or Tablet, meaning a machine with a Vista Business license.
RAM… preferably 2 GB, must be at least 1 GB.
I’d also like at least 4 hours battery life.
I think I’m quickly painting myself into a corner made of the Fujitsu P16x0 series with an extended battery, but I’m not sure. If the U820 weren’t too small, that could be considered, but I’d HAVE to see one in person – and based on the U810, I’m afraid the U820 would be too small.
Yes, there’s the Gigabyte M912, but that has a CCFL backlight on the high-res screen. And, I am used to the X61t’s Core 2 Duo, which the P1620 and P1630 have…
And, yes, there’s the Kohjinsha SC3, but that’s not sold in the US, which means I’d have to go through an importer for any service…
Man,where do you get such a poor settings for such a price?
We’re in the mini-notebook segment, prices are going down dude!
Look at the Eee2G, and how much it sells, and it’s still being produced today!
Boost up the Eee2G specs and you’ll have what you want for well under $1000;well under 800 even!
I should’ve clarified that I’m used to the C2D, and the Atom would be a downgrade.
If I got an Atom machine, it’d be a secondary machine.
If I got a C2D, it’d replace my current machine.
OK Chippy, try this one:
Price range:less than $1300
Form factor: Vista MID ~5in screen (smaller=better)/ Touchscreen – no keboard required – inking a must/ 60GB HD min/ GPS if possible
Usage scenarios:Mainly hand held/take written notes in meetings/ read ebooks while using the potty/ travel computer/ PMP/ PIM
Top three applications: Office (word,excel)/ DVD-rip-play(any)/ ebook reader
Notes: Vista preferred because of inking capability and faster wake up time but alternatives acceptable if justified. 60GB minimum HDD or SSD bacause vista will probably take up 20GB and expect to load 33GB or more of movies, photos, etc. and don’t want to use 32GB SDHC for file storage. Must have USB, bluetooth, 802.11b
Hey man, for you and your requirements the Sony UX line seams to fit pretty close to what you want. You can pick a used one in very good condition on ebay for under $1300 easy. Processors include 1.2 core solo and 1.33 core solo’s with 1 gig of ram and 40-60 gig hard drives. You can get versions running both Xp and Business. The screen is 4.8in with the same res that most netbooks are today(1024×600). It does have a slide keyboard that’s supposed to not be very good…but if your not going to use it, then that’s just fine!(although if your in a situation where its hard to tap the screen and you need to input just a little text, a physical back lit screen sure would come in handy)
It does have bluetooth and wifi, but no GPS…but you can always add a USB gps doggle or bluetooth GPS
TimJDav86:
Yeah, I went to the store a while back and held a UX in my hand back when they were out of my price range. Tempting and very sweet, but I kind of want to hold out for one of the cutting edge ATOM products. I expect to buy something next March (read Birthday). Just for reference the unit topping my current wish list is the Digifriends MID.
Browse, IMAP email with Thunderbird & Sync Kolab Extension to store Contacts and Calander up on IMAP server (resolution better than 1024×600), OpenOffice 3.x (works with data from Thunderbird contact list, and more, etc), K3B, old 2.x Gwenview with Kipi Plugins, Some media editing (Ubuntu Studio stuff)…
NO MONO at all (subject to MS patents = very bad),
NO .NET at all (again MS lock-in again = very bad)!
NO Silverlight at all (again MS lock-in, not needed)!
NO Vista.
Everun Note size, with Q-external portable keyboard (for road/nightstand/desk use.
Long Long Long Battery Life (user replace-able $10 OLPC battery technology).
Sunlight readable dual mode screen.
Good Keyboard.
FAST SSD (dual boot multiple OS’s, even Windows maybe)
USB bootable
USB powered devices (cd/dvd burner/player)
USB powered external hard drive that does Raid 1 see:
http://www.addonics.com/products/enclosures/AE25RDESU.asp
Ubuntu Mobile (with codecs and DVD player software)
—> Also Areca, JAVA multi-OS based software that does any backups (including delta and encrypted to FTP):
h__ttp://areca.sourceforge.net/
for kids – MESH NETWORKING to interface with OLPC XO (why not do this)? Why not? OLPC XO powering of WireLess Network also was designed to save power (why not use this for netbooks and mids etc)?
3G for those that need that too (can be by USB or other attachment, or uSIM card to internal (switchable on/off) device.
Price: don’t care
The primary usage scenario is very quick one shot web activity around the house. Turn it on, open the browser, go to wikipedia or google to answer a question or check a price, then turn it off. Other things to do on the web: watch a youtube video, adjust netflix queue, renew library books, read the latest news. I want the overall experience to be superior in every way (quicker, easier, more fun) than using on my desktop computer.
netbook like MSI Wind U90 or U100 but 900 g for 3 cell battery or 1 kg for 6 cell
built-in wimax/EDGE is good but not obligatory
OK, I think we should call a halt to the requests now.
I’ve got a good 25 to work through next week now via comments and the contact form so thanks for the input.
Starting from Monday i’ll see what I can come up with as recommendations.
Regards
Steve.
I need a MID, which is a around 500. Good with storage and better for games on the go. I am thinking of games which are like psp on emulator. I can have a psp and computer in one. The MID must have a touch screen because i don’t want my hands to be tired scrolling the ting.
Ok. Let me think…
Basic:
Price: around 800,- U$S in USA or similar Europe.
8.9″ LED LCD monitor
1 Gb RAM
SSD 32Gb
Keyboard: ASUS 900 size
Atom
Win XP Home
MS Office (Word and Excel)
SDHC card reader
4 hours battery life (mid use)
WIFI
Better if we have:
Up to 2 Gb Ram (or more)
10″ (but no more than 11″)
SSD 64Gb or more (Pcie or SATA)
Keyboard: MSI 100 o Asus 1000 size
Centrino Atom
Win XP Pro
Ms Office (full)
CF card reader
5 hours or more battery life (full use)
WIFI N
All this with one more request.
I like to use this “ideal Netbook” to work here (Argentina).
I´m Tax Specialist.
Dayly use AFIP (Argentinian IRS) programs to settle Taxs.
This programs and AFIP´s Web Site ONLY runs under XP and IE.
Thank Chippy.
A couple more thinks.
Basics:
– Should allow to keep open and operative an minimun of two Excel sheets (heave ones), a couple of sites (two EI6 or two tab on IE7) and MSN.
– Mouse pad should be big
– Web cam
Better:
– WIMAX or 3G (Option available; WIMAX prefer)
– More than 1.3 mp Web cam
– Bluetooth
Thanks (again)