I've been a bit negative in my recent posts. Vista will undoubtedly slow down the adoption of ultra-mobile PCs. However, I should point out that manufacturers are already underway in providing the next generation of components in ultra-mobile technology. Today, I got a press release from Agere: "AGERE SYSTEMS DELIVERS LOWEST POWER 90-NM READ CHANNEL FOR DISK DRIVES IN HANDHELD CONSUMER ELECTRONICS" That press release is here.
I read through it and most of it will not be of interest to my readers. However, it does show that component manufacturers are considering EVERY SINGLE component and how it will impact mobility. I've always taken read channels for granted on hard drives. Then I learned that nothing can be taken for granted.
What else is going on?
- Battery technology is continually developing, albeit slowly.
- Fuel cell technology is trying hard to make it into the mainstream.
- Displays are being backlit by bright yet low-power LEDs
- SSD (solid-state disk - Flash) drives are raising in capacity and lowering in price.
- CPUs are getting faster while consuming less power
- A UMPC that's perfect out of the box. Thin, long battery life, respectable CPU power, memory, and storage, and never upgradable.
- A chunkier UMPC with less battery life, but offers the option to use larger hard drives or memory modules as they're developed.
photo credit: AMagill used in Wikipedia and republished under Creative Commons 2.0 attribution license.
4 comments:
I would have to go with the CE model. More a more, these devices will adapt to specific lifestyles and a specific set of tasks (communications, video, audio, etc.). The need to upgrade to handle more general tasks, like writing, an be accomplished by a docking station with a large screen, keyboard, mouse, additional storage, and perhaps even additional processing power.
I'd take the first model.
To be honest, I became a slow upgrader over the last ten years. Most of the time when I thought about upgrading I recognized, that upgrading wasn't that easy, as the compatible parts were allready out of production. So i junked the old stuff and went for the new up-to-date stuff.
If I think about Laptops or Notebooks, who did ever upgrade the HDD or the CPU of one? I upgraded the RAM once, but hey, buying a Win98 machine with 128 MB was a silly idea anyways.
By the time I buy an electronic device I've got a task in my mind, what the device should accomplish. And if I get the idea of a new task and the idea is really fresh, then I'll need a new device, if the device is upgradable or not.
UMPC's can not be consumer products nor reach mass adoption until they have a touch type keyboard and are designed around the size of a jacket pocket to enable true mobility. Without those changes they will continue to only fill a narrower niche. The reality is that people still prefer touch type keyboards and they wish they had a laptop that is small enough to carry on them without the need of a computer bag.
The UMPC technology proves it can be done with devices like OQO, etc. but thus far all form factors are way off target to be consumer devices.
I disagree, Anonymous. If the costs come down, UMPCs will fit in the consumer electronics market when the interface improves. Touchscreen input and/or QWERTY thumbboards such as on PDAs, smartphones, etc. don't exclude them from the Consumer Electronics market.
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