OSNews

I'm sure Vista simply does wonders with the battery.

Seriously, the biggest problem with these UMPCs, is the OS. I couldn't think of a more inappropriate system to run on a battery constrained, screen constrained, keyboard constrained, speed constrained, hard disk constrained, RAM constrained system.

That's not accounting for the fact that the average user wouldn't know how to strip the system down and remove the tray icons and all that jazz.

Hardware, drivers, and the lack of a stable release aside, I think I could see one of these things running Haiku beautifully.

Edited 2007-04-09 18:32

That was my first thought. But not just Haiku, any OS. After being burnt by Amiga, I moved to BeOS on Intel because I knew that if BeOS did not work out I would have a number of other OSes to try.

I notice that it only had flash memory for it's drive. virtual memory can be a killer for flash memory. Aside from Windows and BeOS/Haiku which I know you can disable VM. Do any other OSes including Linux allow you to turn off VM?

Looking at the time on some of the pictures, it looks like about 1 hour and 30 minutes or so.

Maybe it's just me, but I can't consider a 1.33 Ghz Core Solo + 1 Gb of RAM a constrained system. That should be enough to run Vista, but I agree that it could perform way better with any other OS out there.

Just like the PSP, it's an interesting device, and just like the PSP I bet the battery life doesn't stand long enough.

Edit: Almost 4 hours? Hey, it's not that bad!

Edited 2007-04-09 18:47 UTC

Don't be so cynical. There are many ways to save power. Vista is more advanced in power management than previous Windowses. And XP could work longer on battery than Linux.

Apart from the fact that across the board people are reporting at least an hour is lost from their battery times when upgrading to Vista.

How can there be a dozen comments that fail to see the battery life? It's the last item in the specs listing.

If you'd looked at the post this reply was linked to, I think you'd be eating some [H]umble pie about now. Unless you believe the OP asking for a torrent link was relevant to the story...

It is called SARCASM, but clearly it has gone over your head.

In fact, you sir, should stay off wikipedia and go out an buy yourself a woman or a man.

"We managed 3 hours and 40 minutes of battery life under normal working conditions, which included wireless Web surfing, exploring the features of Vista, and snapping the occasional photo or two. We even managed to view a few streamed videos, which looked great on the little widescreen display"


3:40 isn't bad. But it's a shame that it's so pricey.

Not nearly as important as the ultimate question...



Will it blend?

I believe it will.

Nice. I'm modded down for answering a question. I guess whoever modded me down doesn't believe it will blend.

I have a friend of mine that just bought a UX280N, the predecessor. He was able to get OSX up and running no problem. It was a bit tedious yes, but now it runs like a champ.

well actually you can carry a portable keyboard with you. There are keyboards that are basically made of rubber, so you can easily just roll it together and pack it away...

There is a Sony style I went to that had that model...possibly the older one and text entry wasnt bad. Prob not the same for everyone else but I was quite comfortable with it. The more I look at it the more I am starting to like it...

There's no real need for a DVI connection. What do you intend to use the handheld for, that would absolutely need DVI? Graphical work? High-performance gaming? Come, now.

For day to day use, the vast majority of LCD's come with both a DVI-VGA cable as well as a DVI-DVI cable. Whether a VGA to DVI conversion wields any detectable decrease in image quality and/or performance is debatable. Realistically, it doesn't make that much of a difference, for ordinary usage.

And if you consider that handhelds have very limited physical space, you'll see why providing only a VGA connector makes more sense than providing only DVI or both DVI and VGA.

There's no real need for a DVI connection. What do you intend to use the handheld for, that would absolutely need DVI? Graphical work? High-performance gaming? Come, now.

Well, first off this "handheld" happens to have the specs of a real computer (it even comes with Vista).

Second, with the port replicator it can become a full desktop computer and thus is not *just* a handheld *anymore*. No, after that it becomes a full-blown Desktop machine complete with your favorite Desktop apps.

With Vista, its performance and having only 32GB of internal storage can be a problem though. But if you install a Linux distro on it you'd have enough performance and space left for normal Desktop computing. Also an USB hard disk could help with space problems.

I really like the idea of this device. A computer so small that you can easily take it *anywhere* and still use all you normal desktop apps.

For day to day use, the vast majority of LCD's come with both a DVI-VGA cable as well as a DVI-DVI cable. Whether a VGA to DVI conversion wields any detectable decrease in image quality and/or performance is debatable. Realistically, it doesn't make that much of a difference, for ordinary usage.

You don't need to be a graphics designer to appreciate good image quality. I've found that DVI can make a big and noticeable difference in the clarity of text, for example. It will not help games much I believe.

And if you consider that handhelds have very limited physical space, you'll see why providing only a VGA connector makes more sense than providing only DVI or both DVI and VGA.

But providing only a DVI connector doesn't take much space. Internally it could take even less space since there would be no need for Digital to Analog converters.

Sony could offer a DVI to VGA converter as an optional accessory for those who need it. OR if the device still has the DA converters an adapter would be enough.

Edited 2007-04-10 14:47