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…)

Very cool video of a UMPC in action… using the UMPC Emulator. If this is anything close to how the platform can function and respond in reality, we’re in for something highly addictive.

We know that the UMPC screen will be resistive touch, and not digitizer like current Tablet PC’s, so Hugo makes sure that his experiment is conducted on a resistive touch slate PC.

This is a great job by Hugo over at UberTablet.blogspot.com!

Today marks the first in a series of 10 top UMPC predictions. Some of these will seem painfully obvious, while others may seem wildly far-fetched. Most will likely fall in the middle of that spectrum. But, as is the case with any prediction, what actually becomes a reality is laregely unpredictable. So, without further rambling, here is our first prediction:

UMPC Prediction #1: The UMPC will get off to an extremely slow start

While there is much excitement in the air related to the upcoming Ultra Mobile PC, the platform will come out of the gate at a slow walk rather than an all-out sprint. Expect to see an extended “launch window” for the platform that covers months, not days as Microsoft, Intel and their partners tweak their messages, their marketing (and their software).

While the UMPC will initially look like it’s headed for nicheville ala the Tablet PC, a very quite, but strong grassroots movement will slowly, but surely push the platform towards the mainstream. Additional, broad-appeal applications and a few predictions that we’ll save for later in the series will finally push the platform beyond the early-adopters.

It will take more than a year. Maybe two.

Earlier this week we wrote about Micorsoft’s new MSDN resources for aspiring Ultra Mobile PC developers.

After poking around the site a bit, we were overjoyed to discover the UMPC display emulator. It does exactly what it says, though, frankly, we haven’t gotten it to work that well yet.

After going through a few download hurdles, you too can have a life-size and life-like virtual UMPC to call your own. Download it here. Oh, and as with all things these days, the emulator is in beta.

I thoroughly enjoy reading Smarthouse. You can always count on their insightful content to both entertain and inform. Dean Evan’s recent article, Inside Microsoft’s New Handheld, keeps up that tradition in fine form. I just happen to disagree with him.

“The UMPC isn’t a brand new class of device. Strip away Microsoft’s marketing gloss (’the device that you’ll always want with you’) and both of the gadgets shown at CeBIT (ASUStek’s R2H and Samsung’s Q1) seem to simply evolve and improve the Tablet PC concept. And that’s not necessarily a good thing.”

Ah, but it is a good thing. And it is a new class of device. Here’s why: it has a defined spec. The device has minimums and maximums, must haves and must have nots. The Tablet PC was never really constrained to such limits, and, in my opinion, could never reach a the critical mass needed to take-off. Forcing a degree of standardization will benefit the UMPC in ways that kept the tablet PC from the masses.

Indeed, the Tablet PC comparison is the wrong one to make. Had Dean made the comparison to the PocketPC, I probably wouldn’t be writing this now. The Ultra Mobile PC has much more in common with its PocketPC bretheren. Certainly we will see the UMPC take over the high-end PocketPC market as we watch the PocketPC ally and transition closer to to the converged cellphone space. Within the UMPC specs are things that a tablet PC never dreamed of doing, such as two-handed data entry and a form factor that allows you to finally replace your day-planner in both form and function.

Aside from all of that rhetoric, I’m desperate to get my hands on a UMPC. I never had that angst and anticipation with the Tablet PC. And that’s how I know, how I really know that this thing is different.

No one else will say it. But I will.

The Ultra Mobile PC is a Sony PSP killer. It’s pretty obvious, really.

For all of Sony’s consumer equity with the word “PlayStation,” it is becoming obvious the Sony has its eye on bigger prizes beyond the “Play” part of their #1 brand. Increasingly, Sony seems to be focused on the “lifestyle benefits” that the PSP can deliver — music, movies, web surfing and the like. Maybe they should have rebadged the PlayStation as the LifestyleStation. Or the UMPCstation… because that’s what the little PSP is looking more and more like. Well, an infererior version of the UMPC anyway.

Am I being purposefully inflammatory? You betcha! it makes for a better headline. However, the bottom-line is that the main criticism of the PlayStation Portable is that there aren’t enough games for the system (especially good ones)… That Sony has chosen to take on the iPod and PMPs instead of giving the Gameboy and the Nintendo DS runs for their money. In fact, games don’t seem to be a real focus for the PSP at all. Most retail releases for the system are movies and music videos, available for purchase on proprietary UMD disks. Indeed, the PSP’s advertising and marketing campaigns seem more focused on winning over Apple enthusiasts than they do on winning over gamers. Congratulations Nintendo!

It’s actually fine and dandy that the PSP caters itself as an all-in-one entertainment/lifestyle device these days. Personally, the less gadgets I have to walk around with the better. And as an all-in-one, the PSP really does do a fine job. But, as is the whole point of this article, the PSP will get trumped by the UMPC, a vastly superior all-in-one “lifestlye” device. Now, if Sony had chosen to focus on games in the same way Nintendo has with its new portables, there would be no contest: the PSP would be a superior gaming machine. Hands down. Arguably, ithe PSP is simply a competent gaming machine (and mainly due to a lack of stellar content and a compromised set of controls). The PSP is probably only slightly ahead of what the UMPC can do in the gaming arena.

It’s all those other “lifestyle” areas where the UMPC will reign supreme. Let’s make a quick comparison:

UMPC Pros:

PSP Pros:

Draw:

Based on just that quick comparison, I’d say that the pros of the UMPC make it a vastly superior device when compared to the PSP. Sony actually lists Photos, Music, Video, Games and Internet (and in that order) as the secret combination that make it a “portable entertainment revolution.” I see nothing on that list that the UMPC can’t do too (and do better, save one). The UMPC is likely to destroy the PSP in 4 out of 5 of those (and do ok at the gaming one). Just looking at the basic specs around the UMPC’s 7″ screen and its modest HDD, the UMPC is clearly positioned as the new king of the all-in-one portable entertainment hill.

And we haven’t even talked about productivity applications such as email, PPT and VoIP. But we’ll save that for another day.

The first question in our first poll isn’t too surprising (or original). What would you pay for a “basic” UMPC?

In this case, we included the term “basic” to designate a base model of the platform, not including all of the digital TV, GPS and other whiz-bang add-ons that you’ll likey be able to buy separately or as part of a bundle.

Ultranauts.com polls run from Sunday thorugh Saturday. We’d like to hear what you think… the poll is in the top left hand column. Please use this article’s comments to post additional opinions on the subject.

Your good friends over at Microsoft have just added a section to the MSDN for aspiring Ultra Mobile PC developers.

Don’t get too excited though. The information contained on the page is rather basic, even for a complete programming n00b like me. You’ll find some information pertaining to user scenarios (maintain a to-do list!), specifications (a screen size of 7 inches or smaller!) and special programming considerations (use the existing hardware buttons to your advantage!).

Sure, sure, there are some APIs and stuff too. Maybe those will prove more useful to some than the actual text of this developer’s mini-site.

You can reach the UMPC MSDN site by clicking here or in the Quick Links sections of this site (in the right hand column).