The LG C1 convertible tablet PC is going to be an absolute dream ultra-mobile device for many people. When it appeared on in my RSS reader through jkOnTheRun I marked it as news. Unfortunately I never got round to writing anything about it. At 10.6″ it was just outside my definition of a UMPC. I’m really glad I saw it today though. Having heard about the interest that convertible tablet PCs are getting from some of the resellers and manufacturers and listening to rave reviews about the P1610, I think the 9-11″ spot could be another focal point. As jk said on the last MobileTechRoundup, having the bigger resolution makes a huge difference.
I’m going over some of the specifications again and just the graphics chip alone is hugely impressive. The Nvidia Geforce Go 7300 is going to hit about three times the graphics power of any of the current Intel based GPU solutions in UMPCs. It means Aero Glass on Vista. It means 40-50 FPS on Doom3.(see comments about FPS.) In fact it will probably run most current games. That’s years ahead of the current ultra mobile PC graphics solutions. Some indications of the power are given here. At full tilt you can expect to drain the standard battery pretty quickly!
And the Core Duo processor? I’m not sure exactly how that’s going to affect the standard desktop experience but it will probably enable some pretty heavyweight multitasking. How about some video editing? Certainly high quality mobile video capture is going to be possible. Electronic musicians could also find a use for this as a mobile composition studio, especially with the HD audio and digital audio output. Professional photographers will be able to work with RAW image files via a number of memory card types and you could even consider CAD work with a big external monitor.
The C1 is a little bigger than the P1610. About 15-20mm all round. It heavier too. 30% heavier. That can make a big difference but I will consider adding both the C1 and the Averatec 1100 devices to the ultra mobile PC portal over the next 24 hours.
Steve
No offence Chippy, but the Go 7300 is not going to run “It means 40-50 FPS on Doom3.”.
I own a laptop with a X700 + 128MB dedicated memory, and that’s able to hold those fps ( at 800*600 ). And even then, at times ( not often ) the game will stutter.
The Go 7300 has half the pipes, and looks to be half the speed of a x700. So, don’t get your hopes up to much. Its a improvement, but nowhere near whats needed.
Whats needed is a dual GPU solution. When running 2d ( desktop, video ), the system needs to use the chipsets gpu, when 3d, switch to the dedicated gpu.
Running a heavy dedicated gpu in general just sucks the juse out of any device powered by a battery.
And maybe its me, but in general, i find that the dedicated GPU technology leaps to much behind. They have the tech for 0.80 micron production, use it! Instaid of relying still on 0.13 ( of even higher ) productions.
Now, on a UMPC with a 7″ screen, you can get away at running game at 600*480, this way eliminating the need a bit of a more powerful gpu, but still…
I think we need to define not UMPC specs, but what line we draw for the devices. meeting x criteria it is a UMPC, if it has y then the device is closer to a laptop.
I say that because last year about this time I purchased a (then new) Averatec 2200 laptop. With a 12.1in wide screen and weighing about 4lbs, this was a very mobile device. Or so I thought. It worked just fine for about 6 months. Then the UMPC came out. The idea of mobility in today’s computing realm is something a bit more sleek?
For example in Men’s Health Magazine (I’d picked up the December issue yesterday) they have a tech gift guide. These devices are small, light weight, sleek, and for the most part fit in your pocket. Surprisingly the Zune was the top pick, but I think that trends are making things smaller not larger?
Rant, tirade, I’m not sure what this has come to be, but the more I see on convertible devices the more I think that maybe (just maybe!) Fujitsu’s concept device will be the device which really puts Ultra Mobile devices on the map? http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/fujitsus-umpc-concept
Thanks Anonymous.
I will double check the Doom3 figure. I actually got it from another report but for the time being i’ll remove it. User experiences are more often than not, more accurate than internet reports!!
I’m sill impressed with the C1 though. Very nice.
Regards
Steve.
Interesting ultra portable there, but as someone mentioned here I think the definition of UMPC has to be a bit more tighter to encompass all these new ultra portable laptops. Imo the screen has to be around 6-8″ and if it has a keyboard it better be a very very slim one that you can detatch as well when you dont need a keyboard.