Laptop upgrades are not difficult to complete yourself, and there are three key upgrades that you can easily accomplish to make your laptop run faster.  These will also give your laptop a higher resale value when you decide to replace it.

One of the most simple laptop upgrades to complete yourself is to upgrade your operating system. If you are running Windows XP or Windows Media Center, upgrading to Windows Vista is a good idea.  You will be able to take advantage of the many features of Windows Vista, as well as enhance the speed of your system.  An upgrade to Windows Vista for the Home Basic edition is under $100 and is worth it to enhance the efficiency of your system. (More…)

I have said this before at my own blog, but I feel that I need to say it again, nobody can compete with Linda A. Epstein in making any UMPC or TabletPC look good. You don’t believe me? Check out this picture and others posted in her first look of a Lenovo new ThinkPad X60.

The Apple UMPC has been unleashed! It’s a bit bigger than we hoped, but its portable and its Apple. Isn’t that enough?! Kudos to the folks that put this project together… here’s to hoping it comes to a retailer near us soon (albeit in a slightly more svelt package).

Check it out right here.

Bo at Handtops.com has built himself a very useful accessory for his OQO: a vertical stand he custom design and built from acrylic.  He’ll make the CAD drawings available to anyone who wants them.  So if you happen to have an OQO, or a similar sized UMPC or device, and can’t find a good stand for it, why not do what Bo did and roll your own?

Handtops - Vertical Stand for OQO

INFILL is another “carputer” being cooked by Intel. According to OnlyUMPC:

The most important thing about the device is that it’s made for your car, period. They seem have built a lot of custom software that are apt for being used in car. This could potentially replace your main audio, video, GPS, Radio, TV in your car.

These guys from Intel probably are very stupid, spending so many resources on something that “sucks” - according to some magazine.

If you thought for just one second that the SA1F00 was “cool” you were wrong. If you thought that Sony’s UX series was the best design you have ever seen, YOU ARE WRONG!

I present you the new Samsung SPH-P9000! Even a guy like me, that have survived the last 6 months with my UMPCs without using a Keyboard or turning on my notebook, can easily be impressed by this marvel of design.

Windows XP, a 30GB hard disk, 256MB of RAM, a 5” display, a 1GHz CPU, WiMAX, CDMA EV-DO, and a 1.3Mpix camera. It measures 143×94x29mm and weights 580g.

The SPH-P9000 will be launched in Korea first half of 2007.

Wait a minute! It has a 5″ display!!! Definitely this one is not for me!

AMD 500MHz Geode LX800 CPU, a 7-inch 800×480 touch-sensitive (?) display, up to 1GB of memory and 80GB of disk, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, 3-in-1 memory card and CF card slots, and respectable 5-hour battery. Price runs ¥89,000 (approx $754) with 40GB disk and ¥109,800 (approx $930) for an 80GB model.

Yep, it’s cheap and it might be fun to play with for a day, but you’re not going to want to take this one home and introduce to all your other gadgets to. The AMD Geode is just a deal killer.

[Via Engadget]

The “mighty” S-XGen psuedo-UMPC is back in the news again (or at least it’s back in another of its parent company’s press releases). This time, the final units have been debuted to the public:

The company demonstrated the first working production units of the S-XGen™ Ultra Mobile Personal Computer (UMPC) to potential partners, investors and attendees at the company’s booth at the ValueRich show, in addition to holding offsite meetings.

John Domerego, President of SLWF subsidiary Seamless Internet, stated, “We are excited with the response our S-XGen™ UMPC received at the show and in private meetings. Of particular interest was the functionality of our folding keyboard and the enhanced communications afforded by not only Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capability but also integrated tri-band cell connectivity, which acts not only as an internet air card but also as a fully functional cell phone.”

I wonder if all of those “excited” people in those “private” meetings realize that this is 4 year-old rebadged technology? Of course, even old technology can still be exciting… my 4 year-old TiVo is still one of the coolest tech gadgets I own. So, who knows? Maybe this thing will have some legs (*snicker*)…