Worth Reading?
+29 [29 votes]
Loading ...Alas, one of the other major PC manufacturers is getting into the UMPC space, well not really, it might just be semantics, but I’d call this and ultra-portable, not a UMPC. It’s the Compaq 2133 and its being made to compete with the Asus Eee, although hopefully it won’t have the same superbly generic hardware inside.
I’d be more than willing to pay a few more dollars for something that was at least marginally nicer than an Eee. Anyways, there will supposedly be a formal presentation on this new product towards the end of spring.
What we know so far is that it will have an 8.9” WXGA screen, an ExpressCard/54 card slot, WiFi (likely including N), a larger keyboard, integrated web cam and the option for an SSD drive. It will also apparently come with your choice of OS between Vista and Linux. Apparently the main thing they are still working on is making the battery last longer while in use, sans SSD, with just an HDD (probably somewhere between 30 and 80 gigs) I’d probably be willing to pay $600, maybe a little more for it, it definitely looks good. Sadly, as it hasn’t even been officially announced, there are no price or availability details.
[via laptops blog]
This is not what most mainstream users want in a UMPC; we want a jacket size clamshell. HP could have created a huge hit if their first UMPC was based on their popular Jornada 720 design. The 720 had a touch type keyboard and it was still small enough to fit it in a jacket pocket.
I think this large umpc is not a great design; why not just buy a laptop? A UMPC should bridge the gap between PDA’s and laptops. The ideal UMPC should enable the computer to be small enough to carry without a computer bag or “manpurse”
I have to agree with MobileCEO, I mean what is the difference between the failed Jornada 810 and this besides Vista or Linux as the OS. The Jornada 7** series was the best. The 2133 is too much of a geek thing to have. Price for the UPMC will probably be around a grand and a half, executives will ignore it and companies have no need for a “underpowered” laptop. I hope it does go for $600 and will kill the best OS in the world, Microsoft CE.
Gee, I wonder if they are going to put weights in the unit to make it feel more expensive and worthy.