The Ultra Mobile Personal Computer category has been plagued by unrealized potential.  That’s right.  One or more of the variables in the formula that is necessary for the UMPC to be successful in the marketplace is / are off to the point that the whole category has come in to question. 

To be sure, when laptops are shrunk to the "ultra portable" size, they become grossly expensive.  Yet the UMPC has been shrunk and the original Origami standard called for a low price.  Yet, the criticism of the category points to lack of performance, high price, and awkward size.  In other words, it’s too big to be a pocket pc, but too small to be usable as an ultra portable laptop.  And for the high price that most UMPCs had upon introduction, it didn’t make sense to buy them, because the same price would buy you a laptop.

We are now seeing that change.  According to Eric Dahl of PC World, "Samsung’s nicely designed Q1 Ultra starts at $799 and packs a split-style thumb keyboard and a 7-inch 1024 x 600 pixel display."

Read more at JK on the Run.

[tags]umpc, ultra portable, laptop, jamm, just another mobile monday[/tags]

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