There’s been a lot going around about the perfect PC. Power, Size, Weight, Battery Life. Everything is a compromise. Now I have my I own idea of where PC’s may ultimately end up. The tech isn’t there yet so I’m content to be ahead of my time.
Imagine a PC the size of a Treo or iPod running a full MS operating system like Vista. This CORE has your Hard Drive, radios (WIFI, BT, Cell Phone and High Speed Cell Data) and functions as your phone. The battery lasts at least a full day on a single charge. I lean toward a thumb board but I’m open here.
Remember this is just the CORE. When you need other functions, you slip the core into accessories. For note taking there’s a slate option. Simply lock the core into it’s dock in the back of the slate. The slate has it’s own battery to keep the core charged (remember, the core is going to last a day all by itself so it sips battery) and to power the slate. The slate also has a much bigger screen and comes in various sizes to accommodate both the UMPC and “never big enough” crowds. Importantly, the slate has its own CPU/GPU as a booster for the on board processor. This way you only carry the processing power you can actually use.
If you like keyboards there’s a convertible option. If you need heavy video editing there’s a desktop dock or laptop option with better CPU/GPU boosters.
In the car, just plug the sucker into the dock. Like Microsoft’s new Surface, drop my little pc on the Surface and drag away.
The point is to have a single, pocketable device with minimal tradeoffs and the greatest flexibility. Nobody can do video rendering on a Treo size screen. But you can carry videos with you and do rendering when you have a peripheral that provides a bigger screen and beefier CPU/GPU. Notice “Peripheral”, not whole new device.
Finally, a device like this should increase the time to obsolescence since you only buy an accessory, not a full device, every time you need a different form factor.
I’ve had this idea rattling around in my head for years. I suspect I’m not the only one and I still expect that we will ultimately get there. I’m not seeing many people suggest this though. I think the tech just isn’t there yet. The Foleo has a few elements with its strong ties to the Treo. the Everun approaches with it’s form factor, full OS and thumb keyboard but I think we are still years away from something like my perfect pc.
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Wonderful idea.
Can you see Samsung allowing that to happen though?
I think all UMPC fans should get together and fun a UMPC that can take on the notebook and home desktop world!!
Regards
Steve.
All of the UMPCs that exist right now are perfect… for certain tasks (mostly vertical applications I would suggest) only. Whats missing are a few hardware designs that appeal to the mainstream. So to go about it ass backwards what are the mainstream users doing with computers and communication devices. On phones they are primarily talking and SMSing… with some email. On computers they are using various applications…many which are moving to web based versions. On the web their is a MASS movement to social network sites and traditional destinations (MSN, YAhoo being the biggest) are fast adding social networking and Web 2.0 features. So if thats what they’re doing your device needs to be designed well to support those habits. That means a big enough screen and appropriate resolution for a decent browser based experience and a keyboard/mouse combo that makes it easy to interact with the device (I would argue the stylus is too much of a revolutionary change for the masses).