Richard Ross wrote:
Perhaps the answer isn't a UMPC at all, but an advanced Phone that can be sold with a simple 'desktop' add-on kit (BT keyboard and mouse, Video/TV-out, with a storage unit perhaps embedded in the keyboard or offered remotely via wifi - like .mac but not expensive and slow).
Thats what I was talking about! Possible today, but not as good as I discribed it will be😊)
I will add my voice to the chorus of people that think the eee PC is the way forward.
Lightweight OS, lots of open source goodies and practical price.
I look forward to the incarnation pre-loaded with XP to possibly adopt as a work companion.
I like the Mac Book Air, I think it's gorgeous but there's no way I'm paying �1200 for a thin laptop, with minimal ports and no way of upgrading the RAM.
I use an E90 for work myself, I love it, but would never dream of using it as a laptop replacement or even a mobile internet device except when stranded without WiFi.
There is, in my opinion, a sweet spot between �250-�500 for a more devices like the eee PC. Preferably based on solid state storage with a cut down OS. Something with a screen big enough to surf on comfortably, something with a decent sized keyboard or enough room on the screen to support a comfortable touch-screen QWERTY. Ideally, in addition to WiFi it should support WAN technologies like GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA, etc. Built in GPS would be a great bonus.
I hope Apple will produce a Newton-type successor that ticks the above boxes and perhaps runs on the version of OS X seen in iPhone.
Equally I would love to see Nokia's internet tablets evolve into this type of machine.
Perhaps Psion were a little ahead of their time?
I would love to the Series 7 revived in a modern form.
Richard Ross wrote:I think it's right to say the EEE remains a toy for the tech-savvy. It has potential but right now it's a small, cheap laptop whose OS mitigates against corporate buyers and whose limitations mitigate against the mass market.
I have to dispute this as the eee is the easiest thing I have ever used out of the box. If you just want to use it for the functionality it was designed for i.e. a small wireless internet device with document editing then it simply does it. It has a simple cut down user interface and I doubt if a lot of users will even know what OS it is using. Its a bit sexist but it's target market is women and children its designed to be easy. I think they've identified the core use that people really use their computers for very well. Why pay more for functionality you don't use?
Yes you can get very techie change the OS to XP or run it as a full blown Linux machine but their is no need to. If you want a fully specified fully functioning laptop then its probably easier to buy one! But I think Asus have found a good market niche.
To Pedro777:
I pitched that exact same idea to some people a couple of months ago (including AAS Steve) and nobody seemed to think it would happen anytime soon.
The problem with Ultra Portable's is that you are still forced to carry multiple devices. Everyone will always have a phone and it must fit in your pocket or on your belt. The reason that that the Blackberry phone and iPhone are so popular is that they were the first of a category to successfully consolidate devices.
The Nirvana Smartphone would be a standard smartphone form factor, but allow you to connect to a remote virtual desktop that runs any standard app and view it on a full size monitor.
http://nirvanasmartphone.com
Is this really what we want? I've been using the N95 8GB with QuickOffice (full version) and a blue tooth folding keyboard. I can do say 85-90% of all the work I need to with this combination and even surf the web anywhere there's a cellphone signal.
But the flexibility of being able to just about everything a business person needs on such a small device is excellent. If I want to do anything more serious, eeePC is not the right tool anyway, I'd need a full desktop PC running windows, as that is what the office (and most businesses) runs.
With all the multimedia features on the n95 and the likelihood of more and more services becoming 'mobile enabled' it just feels like the right direction. We aren't there yet, but maybe 1-2 generations away...
Are we so lazy as a global-society that we really need a SMALLER and LIGHTER laptop than, say, a Macbook Pro, which will run Mac OS X and Windows simultaneously and do anything else? Seriously.
I read this: "I think this sums up the Macbook Air: http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/s...x-20080116663/", and realized whoever wrote that article is a douchebag. Anyone who thinks a Mac is "sh*t in a box" clearly has never used one. In regards to the Macbook Air's price, Sony's top-of-the-line ultra-portable is more than $2200 and does 1/3 of what the Macbook Air does. Idiot.
The Eee is a joke. 8Gb drive? 512Mb RAM? 7" screen? Say What? That is a waste of my time and money... I need a real computer to run my business. I'll "lug" around my Macbook Pro with Windows.
Netbook (Symbian) and PSIONs got it right, but ... the price is simply wrong.
As mentioned, the eeepc proved the point, that at the right price, it will sell like hotcakes.
If the PSION and later Netbook 7 and Netbook Pros were priced like the eeepc, they would have cleaned up the market.
Frankly, if Asus manage to make the eeepc have instanton and loong battery life (think 6~8hrs) or more like the PSIONs or Netbooks, they would simply make many more people reconsider the pc itself.
I mean, why would anyone want to use a pc (desktop or notebook) that takes 30secs to 1 min (3~5 for some) to boot up if you can have one that is instanton like a pda or calculator? Granted, the big screen for desktop use will always mean that the eeepc need at least an external monitor or a primary notebook/desktop to sync up with.
Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for something like the PSIONs to appear, but for now, my eeepc would be good enough. 😊
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7613&Itemid=40
The EEE PC never got a look in for me. Priced as it was, being as low powered as it was, I think it was a bit of a rip off.
We are now seeing more compact laptops with all the features (wifi, bluetooth, decent disk space, etc) that dont cost the earth.
HP and Dell are also close to releasing their own versions.
I need something with the power to run XP on. Im not a windows fanboy, I just have too many things that run on windows (nokia stuff, for one), and linux is just too fiddly and time consuming.
A 1.6 processor with a GB of RAM suits me quite nicely.
Thanks so much for sharing the post.
Yups!
thanx for sharing your comments.... i am also thinking about the same....