Ultra Mobile PCs - UMPC Mini Laptops
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The first set of UMPCs don't exactly look like what the original Origami project had in mind. Instead of a hand held device, these devices are more like really tiny notebook computers. They offer better hardware, but are not as mobile. They are still fairly mobile, however.
I'm sure everyone knows this computer by the picture; it's the Apple Macbook Air. It's so small that Steve Jobs introduced it by removing it from a manila envelope. Its weights in at fewer than three pounds and is no thicker than 0.76" at any point, making it very portable. It offers better hardware than what is typically found in a UMPC, such as a dual core CPU.
This is Apple's only UMPC available at this time. A rumored Newton-like device might eventually hit the market, but nothing is confirmed at this point. Many will be turned off simply due to the price. With a price tag of $1700 for the base model, you could get two or three of any other device listed in this article.
Another interesting player in the mini laptop game is ASUS. Best known for their motherboards and a small line of notebook computers, ASUS jumped into the mini laptop market with the ASUS EEE PC. The device has a seven-inch screen and some low power, low-end hardware in it. The EEE goes for $399 and comes with a flavor of Linux on it.
They sold over 300,000 units in 2007, demonstrating a great demand for such a device. Since then they have introduced a version with XP on it. No versions with Vista have been announced, and it doesn't look like there are any in the works because of Vista's high hardware requirements. People have bought these devices and bumped up the hardware inside by getting bigger hard drives, faster CPUs, and more memory. I have seen many people throwing in 16+ GB SD cards and mounting them as hard drives. There have been prototypes of bigger versions with nine-inch screens that were demonstrated at CEbit.
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