Vern is OTR (off the reservation) again. Look Vern, Steve Jobs has not said that UMPCs are cool yet. So, by definition, they are not. Get your ideology straight, or maybe you need to go write for UMPCObserver.com where the readership will appreciate your views -- views which are herecy here. If, by an act of the gods, Steve Jobs has a keynote one morning and announces a UMPC, then, and only then can you get on the UMPC cheerleader bandwagon. But not a minute before. Not when speculation hits ThinkSecret. Not when Herman Munster guides his clients to expect Apple to annouce a UMPC because they now are expected to compete with Dell, HP, Acer, and all the little custom PC shops stretching from Coral Gabels to Shanghai. I have only one gesture for heretics like you, and you know what that is.

Bosco, speak for yourself. I thought the article made some good point's, and while I didn't agree with it entirely, I don't have to, I have my own mind. Which brings me to my second point. Why is something only cool if Jobs says it is. Grow a set dude and think for yourself. I am a massive Mac fan but I don't let people make up my mind for me.

"…Steve Jobs has not said that UMPCs are cool yet. So, by definition, they are not. Get your ideology straight…"

That's just sad. Think about your own uses, rather than what a company tell you you need.

Wow...Sometimes I think the art of sarcasm is just lost on some people.

NM

Wow...Sometimes I think the art of sarcasm is just lost on some people.

Sorry, didn't know it was. I just seems like a lot of posts lately have been … NM… It's monday morning… carry on…

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Websnap wrote:
Sorry, didn't know it was. I just seems like a lot of posts lately have been … NM… It's monday morning… carry on…

I feel like I had a Phil Hendrie moment . BTW, Vern, loved this article. The first place I saw tablet PCs in the wild was at a vet's office a few months ago. It's not long until everyone discovers how useful they would be everyday tasks and they'll escape their vertical niches. UMPCs will definitely help that along as more tasks can be affordable tackled with tablets.

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acdc1174 wrote:
Wow...Sometimes I think the art of sarcasm is just lost on some people.

It can be hard to express sarcasm in a blog, particularly in a short post I recommend using an emoticon

The MacObserver has a bunch of emoticons we can use. A colon and closing parenthesis will automatically put in a smiley, a semicolon and closing parenthesis will put in a wink. You can see more of them if you chose edit after you make a post.

I have been waiting for Apple to make a tablet about 7" to 10" in size that I can use as an electronic sketch pad. With iTunes it could replace my iPod; photoshop could replace my pencils, inks and markers; and still keep up to date with my communications. My messenger bag would get a whole lot lighter as I carry all of these with me all the time. It looks like it could happen soon, I hope it does. If not, time to see if IntelOSX will install on one of these bad boys.

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Al Swearengen wrote:
It can be hard to express sarcasm in a blog, particularly in a short post I recommend using an emoticon.

Recommendation noted. And then quickly ignored.

So its not small enough to be a PDA. Which is fine, since after all these years I have yet to be convinced that PDA's are in fact useful. And its not as big or powerful as a laptop. Hm... wait so what do I want this thing for?

Replace your iPod? This is alot bigger than an iPod! So it's therefor useful in a smaller range of situations. And its not as powerful as a laptop so its not as useful in situations where you could just take out your laptop.

Replace your pencils? Do you know how much really good tablet technology costs? Have you looked at the screen size of this device? How about CPU power? Again, this thing isn't gonna cut it.

You don't need to dismiss such a device simply because Apple hasn't blessed it. All you need to do is stop for a second and use a little common sense. Then it will become obvious why Apple has shown no interest in such things. Apple prefers to make products which are useful and that people would actually buy. Things like iPods and laptops.

Find a way to make this thing useful and then we'll talk. In the meantime, I won't hold my breath.

I'm the opposite of "Biff"--I've used Palm OS PDAs since 1998, and the only way I could use mine more is if I had a USB socket in the back of my neck. My (wetware) memory is so ratty, I have had to rely on scribbled notes for just about everything for many years; a PDA doesn't have to replace an iPod or laptop for me, just the piles of sticky notes and loose scraps of paper I needed before I got my first Palm III.

The indispensible thing for me about a PDA is that it fits in my pocket, and can be with me just about 24/7. The only things I "wear" more than my Palm are my glasses and my wedding ring. I have a Mac mini plus VNC to carry my "digital life" from home to work and on travel (it replaced a Firewire hard drive with which I used to boot various Macs), and if I had wanted to spend twice the money I could have gotten a 12" iBook. A small computer like one of these is portable enough that I can do email or update my personal websites during my lunch break at work or in a hotel somewhere, but not portable enough that I can pull it out at a stoplight to jot down something I've thought of (before I forget it again).

So my interest in a UMPC, or even an ultralight laptop or tablet PC like the models already on the market (ignoring the fact that they're not running the Mac OS, of course), would depend on whether it was an improvement on either a PDA or a small (current) Mac, or merely a compromise between them. It lacks the pocketability of my current Palm Tungsten T, and the addition of a touch-screen and the reduced bulk compared to (say) a 12" iBook doesn't seem to me to be worth the loss of screen resolution and whatever ports and media drives get left off to save space. I'd love to get an Apple PDA (Newton X? Nexton?), both because of that famed Apple integration (finer-grained and more reliable synching) and because I have had some nightmarish customer "service" experience with Palm lately, but if it doesn't travel in my pocket or at least in a hip holster (like my TI-30 back in the seventies), then I'm not the customer they're aiming for.

I'm curious as to what customer UMPC makers _are_ aiming for. "Websnap" would value the touch-screen sketching capability, it sounds like; this is an improvement over current small Macs, and he or she would also be able to use it for small-Mac functions like email on the go. Is there any attraction to this kind of device _besides_ a touchscreen bigger (and maybe with pressure sensitivity like a graphics tablet?) than a PDA, combined with basic computer functionality? 'Cause that seems like a rather small market segment, made up mostly of mobile digital artists (like Websnap, I presume). Not my cuppa, anyway.

Sorry to diss the PDA, man. I've tried to use them, I really have. But in the end the PDA always ends up just being an expensive memory stick that I cart between home and work to keep my PIM software in synch. But yeah I know many many people do have great success with them.

At least we seem to agree on the UMPC.

...it's just "not your cuppa." I guess your "wetware" memory is in better shape than mine! (Dang, what was I talking about?)

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acdc1174 wrote:
Wow...Sometimes I think the art of sarcasm is just lost on some people.

Actually it's not sarcasm, it's irony. There's a world of difference.

To me this UMPC is trying to be a Sony PSP for "grownups". It handles the same way, with mostly thumb controls. It plays media of various sorts, etc.

The problem here is that it looks too heavy, too thick, doesn't have a High Definition proportioned screen, and most of the models we've seen would require a case of some kind to protect it while being portable.

As for the whole "tablet" question, there are many people out there, admittedly not a large market currently, that have been waiting years for a really good eBook reading device to show up. The Tablet PC was almost there as is the PDA but I think it is an untapped market yet. If Apple could do for the eBook market what it did for the digital music market then we would really be seeing a new area open up.

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LaurieF wrote:

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acdc1174 wrote:
Wow...Sometimes I think the art of sarcasm is just lost on some people.

Actually it's not sarcasm, it's irony. There's a world of difference.

Sarcasm is the use of irony to mock or convey contempt. Sarcasm is an end. Irony is the means to that end.

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acdc1174 wrote:
Sarcasm is the use of irony to mock or convey contempt. Sarcasm is an end. Irony is the means to that end.

It was sarconironistonarcasticironism. So there.

It's big enough that a small laptop would really serve the same purpose. More like something for the gadget freak who has everything. Still, it is rather nifty. But, I for one will pass. BTW, I could not look in the mirror again if I purchased anything that used winblows.
Apple could release a new- newtonian style tab, call it, The Tesla Tab, or the Einstein. It could even have a ipod style clickwheel. Why not make it a phone and carmera too;)