Tim Almond

I’m not sure whether the ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) was inevitable, or kick-started by the OLPC project, but it’s now in full flow.  There now seem to be no end of companies competing in this market.

Asus have just released a new, faster Eee PC. MSI have their Wind PC. HP have the Mini-note, and Dell seem to have a rather smart looking PC in development.

Another thing about these machines is that they seem to be offering a choice of operating systems in a more upfront manner than these manufacturers have previously done. In the past, the Linux choice could be had, but was tucked away. These machines seem to be far more willing to show the choice.

I think that because consumers won’t see them as their prime machine, and more as something for travelling, checking email and so on, they’ll view them more as hard-wired computers in the same way that an iPod or mobile phone is. OpenOffice.org will be there, a browser will be there, email will be there. And this means that there won’t be quite the same expectation of Windows-compatibility. Windows will also be a large ratio on the price, so you’ll get more from the Linux model.

Would you buy one of these PCs as a main machine, or maybe as a second one?

Tags: Technology //