Sunday, April 27, 2003
The First Time You'll Brag About How Small Yours Is
Posted by Jason Dunn in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 07:42 AM
"The Mini-PC is a concept from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan, Inc. that delivers desktop computing to highly mobile professionals and consumers in a form factor that can be carried effortlessly everywhere. Unlike many other ultraportable devices, the Mini-PC is a complete PC with sufficient internal storage, processing power, and display resolution to effectively run Microsoft Windows XP and its applications. This solution eliminates tedious data synchronization common to less capable PDA devices while retaining familiar PC support mechanisms used by corporate IT staff."
Wow. 8O What a cool little device! I've seen some small laptops before, but this takes the cake! 5.4” x 4” x 1.1” and about 1 lb. In addition to built-in USB 2.0, Firewire, Bluetooth and 802.11b, it will also come with either GPRS or 1xRTT support. Talk about a wireless wonderland! No mention of CPU speed other than "x86 compatible", so I'm guessing either Transmeta or a low-power VIA C3 CPU. 20 GB hard drive and 256 MB of RAM are respectable, although I'd personally want double of both. All in all, a very innovative little package for $1999 US. At first I thought that was really expensive, but when I considered all the built-in wireless technologies, it's reasonable.
This is the first "mini XP" device that I've seen that might actually be functional enough to use, especially if ergonomically it's possible to hold it with two hands and use your thumbs to type. Will devices like this spell the end of the Pocket PC? I've seen quite a few top industry people start to use a Smartphone and combine it with a small laptop, and they're in heaven - and a Pocket PC isn't part of the equation. What do you think?
Wow. 8O What a cool little device! I've seen some small laptops before, but this takes the cake! 5.4” x 4” x 1.1” and about 1 lb. In addition to built-in USB 2.0, Firewire, Bluetooth and 802.11b, it will also come with either GPRS or 1xRTT support. Talk about a wireless wonderland! No mention of CPU speed other than "x86 compatible", so I'm guessing either Transmeta or a low-power VIA C3 CPU. 20 GB hard drive and 256 MB of RAM are respectable, although I'd personally want double of both. All in all, a very innovative little package for $1999 US. At first I thought that was really expensive, but when I considered all the built-in wireless technologies, it's reasonable.
This is the first "mini XP" device that I've seen that might actually be functional enough to use, especially if ergonomically it's possible to hold it with two hands and use your thumbs to type. Will devices like this spell the end of the Pocket PC? I've seen quite a few top industry people start to use a Smartphone and combine it with a small laptop, and they're in heaven - and a Pocket PC isn't part of the equation. What do you think?
