Micro PC Editorial @ [H] Consumer

This is something new we're doing at [H] Consumer. We've given you a number of sproadic editorials over the years, but we want to move into something a bit more steady. We've assembled a very sharp group of people from various backgrounds in our writing staff - including new addition Keith Mullins, author of this article - and we wanted to give them an opportunity to sound off on some consumer issues of note. We hope that this is the first of many to come, and we especially hope that you enjoy reading them.

As mentioned, being connected everywhere is what these computers are made for, but what good is connectivity if you need to bring your laptop along to run all of your applications? This is another major advantage of these new devices. When you are on the road (but please not when you’re driving), you can run the actual tools that you already know from your desktop or laptop and not some barebones approximation of the application. Although the size of the interface is different, using the application is exactly the same. Where before you had to learn a new app (or even OS) for every device, the evolving technology and demands of the marketplace allows users to use their current knowledge of computers so that they can be productive with their new device from day one.

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Thanks for reading!

the high end Dell PDA has a 640x480 res screen and its nice and small. If it was able to run normal windows XP, then it would be nice because u don't have to use stupid windows CE applications and limitations. But in the end of a day, ur always going to need a laptop for anything serious.

Just bought an Asus R2H UMPC last night, I'll try and keep you posted on it, but thus far it seems pretty awesome for a tiny unit. The specific model I have I think is the North American one, at least it was bought at a Canadian store so I would assume so anyways. It's got the 60gb hdd(4200rpm only though) 768mb ram(if the forums are accurate this can be upped to 1.2gb with a 1gb SODIMM module). Also comes with built in GPS and software, as well as bluetooth and WLAN and fingerprint reading as well for logins etc. Oh yeah also three USB 2.0 ports on the unit two of the larger ones and one of the smaller ones. Comes with XP media edition with a free upgrade coupon to Vista. And I think the North American one comes with the extended battery, or so I've heard, haven't checked bat life yet and there are so many options on powersaving, etc. I'm sure I'll figure it out... Anyways, I will play around with it more when I get home, it's the first UMPC I've owned but have liked the idea since the time of the Sony Picturebook and the OQO came out.

Dammit. I'm always a step behind and too poor. I just got my first pda last week and now it's already obsolete because of these.

I think the best device in this category is the Fujitsu p1610. It's a little bit larger than these other devices, but weighs 2.2lbs and is the size of a large paper back book. If you can carry a book around with you, you can carry this computer. Unlike the umpc's or the vaio, It is a full fledged laptop, has a 1280x768 transreflective screen with an actual useable keyboard, yet can flip into a tablet with touch screen if you don't need text input (great for video/net browsing). I tried the whole pocketpc route, it was functional with the right software except for text input (which still has not been solved on these slightly larger devices). The best compromise with those was a folding keyboard to bring with you, but at that point you're carrying 2 devices instead of 1. After having gone down that route, I can honestly say that the p1610 is a vastly superior ultra portable device. Unless you have really fat hands (because I have pretty large hands an it's not a problem), there is no compromise with it. If I didn't already have a p1510 (slightly older version with 1024x600 non-tft screen), I'd have one.

Forgot to add, it has wifi, bluetooth and a full fledged pcmcia slot for a wireless modem, so no connectivity issues.

I would like to see a miniature projector, such as this, integrated into these devices. From the link:

"While having the ability to play videos on your cellphone is cool, who really wants to watch anything longer than a few seconds of video on such a tiny screen? Being able to project the image onto a nearby surface, such as a wall, whiteboard, desktop or your friend’s face, would make it much more watchable and easy to show to others."

I can imagine a Micro PC shaped like a laser gun that fires an image against a wall, sheet of paper or the back of an airline seat. Built-in thumb mouse and right-click trigger.

Now if I can get it past the TSA goons....

I have to second bobzdar on the Fujitsu p1610. I took a class recently where the instructor had the 1510D, and this Christmas I bought the 1610 for my wife so she'd stop kicking me off the PC to check her mail

Seriously, it's a fabulous little machine, and a full-on tablet PC. It's not quite pocket sized, but it's truly no bigger than a hardcover book and weighs 2.2 pounds. The screen resolution is very readable and the keyboard is surprisingly comfortable even though it's undersized. Battery life is 3+ hours with the standard battery and there's a high-capacity model as well. Drawbacks: 4200RPM hard drive and ULV Core Solo CPU are a little slow by notebook standards but compare very favorably with other UMPCs. And of course you pay a premium for the miniturization. Still, it was totally worth it. My wife has it with her at a conference this week--something she'd never do with even a normal sized laptop.

As for that EVE Online console, this unit has the Intel GMA 950 video chipset. It's no GeForce 7800GTX Go, but still decent.

mashie said:

What I would need is something like that Sony but with 1024x768 screen and slightly more 3D graphics power to turn into the perfect portable EVE-Online console.

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Agreed, would be great to be able to talk the corpies, check the market and change skills!

mashie said:

Actually that P1610 would be very suitable for EVE Online as long as you don't undock and have unticked the box for loading the station environment. In that status EVE should behave like a 2D application.

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True, but that's a lot to pay just to do that

"Quaint"?
1. Charmingly odd, especially in an old-fashioned way.
2. Unfamiliar or unusual in character; strange: quaint dialect words. See Synonyms at strange.
3. Cleverly made; artful.
Only the third definition really fits. Little less thesaurus next time, guys

That said - I don't have any use for these gadgets. They're cool, yes, but I'd rather have separate devices for music, phone, email, etc. than one brick-sized device that does all those things... poorly.

For me, the size just kills these things - too big to fit in my pocket means i might as well just have a tablet or a laptop. One more thing to carry is simply not an option.

I use my blackberry a TON. i think the future is in a PDA sized device, with enhanced capabilities. The bottom line is, a PDA isn't intended to do casual, pleasure web surfing or gaming. it's more utility based. The fact that the PDAs store music and photos, and limited websurfing should be more than enough. We're now converging non essentials, which is fine, if we had the fundamentals sorted out in the first place (OS). The answer isn't just in better OS for handhelds/PDAs, it's in better integration. I mean, why the F can't i get a decent PDF viewer for my blackberry? Why the F doesn't it have expandable storage like SD? why isn't there a decent converter for full sized webpages into pda sized (or why don't the big websites, google, smart traveller, hotmail etc) have specific PDA pages yet? Half of the products have half of the damned tools!

We're moving along towards the endgame of true convergence and feasible utility, but i honestly thought we'd be there by now. The size and slim is great, but how about someone get back to a decent word processor? I can type like a maniac on my handheld (without lookign at the keys), so why do they insist on only giving us notepad level word processing?

Bottom line, the micro PC isn't going to work. the PDAs will get there, and make them unnecessary. i don't want a mini computer AND a phone. that's why the Palm Pilots of old have morphed into phones + PDAs.

zv

I have received my new Sony UX390N last night. It is basically the same as the UX280P mentioned in the editorial except the processor is at 1.33GHZ, 1 gig or ram, and of course having a 32gig Flash hard drive there isnt any moving parts in the beast. It also comes with Vista Business instead of XP.

My inital response of the device itself is great. The screen is incredible and with the Solid State flash drive bootup happens very quickly. I am trying to get used to the keyboard.

I havent really tried what I have wanted to try yet like what games this thing will play. I will get some more time with it ove the weekend though.