An inventory of great portable PCs

With the advent of Macbook Air, portability as a consideration, is brought to a new level. Portable or "ultra-portable" notebooks apparently go way back they have different names like portable, or ultra-portable or sub-notebook etc and they vary in sizes from pocket size to smaller-than-most-but-still-within-proportion kind of sizes.

I just wanted to see who they are and let other people know who they are. So let's take an inventory! ( My little comments are mainly just first impressions. I cannot help it but you can ignore them :).)

Pocket size:

Nokia 770 internet Tablet


Nokia has released a series of tablet PCs small enough to fit into your pockets. The latest I am aware of is N810:



It features a Linux operating system but of course, it is nowhere near being powerful. But you can at least access the internet with Opera or Firefox, check emails, use skype on it. It is at least a good alternative to iPhone except it looks serious.

In the same category, are some other "pocket PCs", or PDAs, or "smartphones". But not all smartphones are that smart. I do think however, the good smartphones have most of the functionality a PDA will have, so if you are going to buy a pocket PC, why not have a smartphone? Some other major types of smartphones that I liked are : HTC TyTN II (great specs), Sony Xperia X1 (hot in the news). They are all quite affordable even as phones around $500.






Ultraportable:

These are small too and some will also fit into your pocket. However, they have relatively strong hardwares too. And of course, power costs you money.

OQO:



Here you go, price tag included :).



Sony's VAIO UX Premium Micro PC





This makes me think: if only I could have one...Very elegant and versatile:




Subnotebooks:

They are bigger but being big makes operating on it easier. I definitely think notebooks will go in the direction of subnoetbooks instead of laptops. So you take a subnotebook (or smaller device) with you and you have a desktop at home.

Asus EeePC



No offense to Apple but this is probably the best way to show what the 7 inch size means:



Cloudbook: From Everex based on gOS. As small as EeePC, Everex is really good at keeping the cost low. What can you get for $399? If you don't need serious computing, you can at least get this one (though I don't feel that confident about gOS. But it's been on the market for multiple PCs and I've never tried one so maybe it has got enough functionality/compatibility or you can always install stuff on your own I guess).



Tablet PCs:

Tablet PCs are nice. You can fold it so it becomes simply half as big (or at least this is how my logic goes)l. But they are generally as big as other notebooks.

If you can fit a touch screen where you can put a normal screen, why not go touch? It is useful and you can just write on your PC etc.

All the major manufacturers offer tablet PCs I think. Dell, Sony, Compaq, Lenovo, Toshiba, HP.

Also worth mentioning is tabletkiosk with its Sahara appearing on CSI NY constantly. They also have ultra-portable PCs too.

The following are from HP, Lenovo, Toshiba







Apple Macbook Air and its non-Apple counterparts:

What can I say? There is already so much fuss about this.

Macbook Air maybe a great laptop otherwise but I just don't think being super thin makes that much of a difference. Or maybe it does for other people...



There are tons of articles on Macbook Air alternatives, here, I just want so show one:

Lenovo X300. Hope Lenovo make it in time and catch the 2008 Olympics. It'll make a hit at least among the engineers.