New HP Mini UMPC Gets Reviewed at jkOnTheRun

Posted by: PatrickJ on Apr 08 2008 - 1,118 views

James Kendrick at jkOnTheRun has spent a week with the much-anticipated new HP Mini UMPC / ultra small notebook, and has got a great review up on it already.  This is HP’s entry into the relatively new segment of the mobile market where devices like the Asus Eee PC are proving very popular.

Judging by James’ early review, the new HP Minis (there are various models) should be a formidable entry in this mobile space.  Not only do they sound like they’re well-made and well-specced devices, but I was very surprised to see how keenly they are priced:

The basic model will start at $499, a price higher than the EEE PC but the Mini comes with far better hardware components than the EEE and it’s hard to make a strict comparison for that reason. This $499 model will sport 1 GB of memory and run SuSE Linux installed on a 120 GB hard drive. I played with this model for an hour at the HP offices and it is extremely snappy and well worth the low price in my opinion. The Mini is also available with Windows, Vista Home or Business initially and XP eventually given Microsoft’s easing of the restrictions on OEMs to provide XP going forward. The impressive model is the one I am reviewing here, the top of the line Mini with 2 GB of memory, a 120GB fast hard drive (7,200 rpm), Bluetooth, WiFi, 8.9" screen (1280×768), web cam, trackpad, SDHC slot, ExpressCard slot, 2 USB ports (1 is powered for running peripherals that require power), Ethernet and a 6-cell battery. The price is equally impressive with $749 getting you the whole enchilada which is a great deal in my opinion.

The Mini gets some pretty strong praise from a guy who has spent a lot of time with quite a few of the leading devices in this mobile category:

Here’s the topic that most are probably interested in, how does the HP Mini perform in the real world? Very well, I’m happy to report. The high resolution display coupled with an absolutely awesome keyboard make the Mini a real trooper for field work.

The review has a ton of good pictures of the HP Mini, size comparison shots (like the one with the Celio Redfly at the top of this post) and a thorough walk-through of this promising looking new UMPC - well worth a read over at:

http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/04/jkontherun-revi.html

Tags: HP, 2133, Mini, Mini-Note

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Jisus Laptop, Casts out EEEPC!

Posted by: Peter Murphy on Apr 07 2008 - 588 views

If it’s a cultural, language mistake, it’s opportune as far as ULCPC’s popularity, and as far as WT[what the] value goes. Who’s your buddy? Well apparently the Jisus from Van Der Led, is preaching the gospel according to “the closest thing to a palmtop” that we’ve seen lately.

There seems to be some confusion in the marketing strategies being presented lately for mobile computing solutions. Now the eeepc conforms to the ULCPC form factor, as the MBA does not, even though it’s anorexic.

The Jisus is reasonably priced for what it is

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Don’t say I never give you anything!

Posted by: Peter Murphy on Apr 04 2008 - 288 views

I’ve got a wonderful new tech initialism/acronym for you peeps today. It all revolves around M$’s extension of support for windows XP. ULCPC’s. Ultra low cost Personal Computers. The trend in smaller, lower powered mobile solutions has prompted Microsoft to extend it’s support of windows XP. Ostensibly, Microsoft have recognised that while there are devices participating in the biggest loser program, Windows does not want to be part of the diet. Microsoft definitely don’t want to be losing market share to Linux. With the advent of all of these lower powered, more mobile, laptop solutions, you wouldn’t want it to get away from you.

And M$ doesn’t.

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XP Version of The Eee PC 4G at Best Buy for $399 Next Month

Posted by: PatrickJ on Mar 30 2008 - 480 views

The much-loved Asus Eee PC - with Windows XP and a 4GB SSD - is due to be coming to Best Buy in the US in the first half of April at a price of $399, according to LaptopMag.com.  So just a very few days before you can look out for one, and still at a pretty nice price.

This model of the Eee will run XP Home, and has the 7-inch screen, not the larger one that we’re hearing a lot about lately.  It’s also got the built in camera for video chat, 512MB of RAM, and some (pretty lame) bundled software - MS Works and Windows Live.

Read on for the rest of its specs and a link to LaptopMag’s demo video …

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