This is a completely valid and reasonable post about UMPCs and why they don’t fit well into some scenarios.
They are expensive. They are too big for your pocket. The aren’t as good as devices with active digitisers for note-taking. They are an expensive media device. They are an expensive e-book reader and 2hours battery life isn’t good.
I think the point I’d like to make to Tracy is that UMPCs may not be the best at anything at the moment but they are pretty good at processing everything that a normal user does on a normal PC and will get a lot lot better and a lot lot cheaper. You’re not looking at a finished product yet.
I don’t mean that UMPCs will be supporting leading edge gaming or video editing at all! I’m talking about everyday computing activities. Everything from being a low-end desktop/notebook to a mobile productivity device through to carputer, media player, full web browser, email device, and more.
Yes, a tablet PC does these things too but tablet PC’s make a lot of money for specialist resellers in vertical markets. They need a lot of support from software developers and marketing and no one wants to see the prices (or build quality) of tablets come down to consumer levels. The ultra mobile PC however will reach much greater sales numbers and I predict that they will cross-over into the consumer market driving economies of scale, reduced sales margins, stylish designs, novel features and research into ever-smaller and more efficient components.
The small ‘personal processor and data pack’ approach to computing has got to be an advantage to the consumer too. Start with a micro-ultra mobile PC that’s powerful enough to process all your normal computing activities and then add a notebook sleeve, sit it in a docking station, slot it into the car holder, sit it next to the projector and then just pick it up and throw it into your handbag or rucksack to take all your data and processing power with you. Isn’t that better than having four devices with data and different user interfaces spread all over the place? Data and processing mobility is going to really personalise the computer for a lot of people.
I’m sure there are many other opinions for and against the ultra mobile PC but I really feel that one day most of our ‘desktop’ PCs will actually be a ultra mobile PC sitting in a docking station. Give me a reason why not?
Steve / Chippy.
Windows XP is not suitable for the pocket computer.
What you need in the pocket is a ultra light OS and ultra light applications, specially a hardware optimized for multimedia, which the x86 UMPCs are not suitable for.
It might be some people have a soft or two which only exists for Windows XP which they will find a need to have in a near-pocket sub-1000$ device. Though the most effective implementation will always be a port of the most important aspects of the application into a low power, no-bloat, small-screen optimized OS.
I see more use in the Archos 604 Wi-Fi.
Basically it’s just a question of architecture and software. Basically Windows XP architecture and software is not suitable. Linux and other ultra light and simplified software interfaces hold most promize. Since starting next year, Linux laptops will cost 100$, pocket touch-screen Wi-Fi devices will cost 200$, sure you may dock the pocket hard-drive to a big screen to have desktop computer experience, but the Windows XP os is simply too fat for cheap and 100% usefull computing.
Point taken, and I do think it’s getting there, but I guess I just don’t think it’s ready for market. The “normal person” just isn’t computer-based for it to be a real solution, since the masses don’t quite have a real problem yet. I’d personally say they need to wait five years or so and try again, when the AIM and text message generation (my generation and younger) starts graduating and are able to afford these things, then market them towards those people, because those are the ones that already comfortably live in the digital world. They also need to be around $500, but that will of course come with time.
Frankly, Tracy, the entirety of computing isn’t ready for mass adoption yet, either. Not until the AIM and text message generation starts graduating. :) The overwhelming majority of people (which includes “technical” people) have no idea what they’re doing when plopped in front of a monitor. If we waited for them to catch up, my PC-XT with the EGA screen would be state of the art. That being said, won’t it be nice when they do graduate that there’s an option that’s had a few years to mature? Me, I’m watching this blog and biding my time. This is EXACTLY the solution I’ve been waiting for for years, and it’s pretty much ready for me.
As for you, charbax, forget it. Linux is even less ready for general wide-spread adoption than anything else. If you want an “ultra-light OS”, you’re not getting from Linux…unless you disable KDE and Gnome, resort to a barely-functional WM, and eliminate any useful daemons…and even then you’re left with being able to do a tenth of what you could do on a slow XP box. Thanks, but I’ll stay in the 21st century for my computing.