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…)

PocketNow.com is giving away three copies of the newly released PhatPad 4.0, for Tablets and UMPCs, as well as Windows Mobile, for free! 

New features in PhatPad 4.0 include improved inking and integration with handwriting recognition software on Tablet PCs and UMPCs, sinkable user interface with 9 pre-defined skins (including four skins similar to Microsoft Office 2007’s interface), document templates, and password-protection with 256-bit long security key and new proprietary encryption algorithms. You can read the full list here.

So how can you snag one of these lovely freebies? The rules are simple, reply to this post with a note on which new feature you like best, and how you would use that new capability with your PDA of choice. The contest ends midnight (PST) this Friday, the 22nd.

Source: pocketnow.com

My colleague Mark already wrote a little bit about this topic but I would like to go a little bit deeper if that’s possible. I have been reading news lately about two devices coming soon: the HTC Athena and Tatung.

Athena

Tatung

These devices have been called by the OEM or by the press UMPCs, and I think that the reason why is because of their size. In my opinion they should have been called PPCS which means Pocket PC on Steroids. Yes, these two devices use Windows Mobile 5, based on Windows CE. This Operating System has a lot of advantages like Instant On, a very easy to use Calendar and an Easy to Use Contacts. But it has a huge to me disadvantage, it can’t run the millions of programs available for Windows OS for PCs. This disadvantage is what has pushed me and many others Pocket PC owners to buy a UMPC.

Of course, this is another valid option for some. But… Don’t let them lie to you. You are buying a PPCS not a UMPC. Be sure that you are buying what you really need.

While posting an entry to my personal site tonight, I inadvertently had the Ultranauts template up on Windows Live Writer. The personal post made it to the Ultranauts site for about 30 seconds before I caught my error and removed it but this was enough for it to make the RSS feed. So if you catch a post unrelated to UMPC’s it’s mine, my error and I apologize.

If the non-UMPC related post bothered you, you can abuse me here. Don’t abuse John, it’s not his fault. My apologies to you too John.

While I’m apologizing, I think HTC should apologize for teasing us with a great looking UMPC-like windows mobile device. Poor Steve over at Carrypad seems to have wet himself over the possibilities of this device. Sadly, it’s windows mobile, not XP Tablet Edition. Like a supermodel, all looks and no brains, HTC and supermodels alike prove that silicon isn’t everything, what’s upstairs still counts for something.

Tracy at The Student Tablet PC demonstrates a good way for students to use their Tablet PC during exam time.  And it’s not cheating, either!

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a class where the professor has said, “You’re allowed for the test 1 page back and front of whatever you can fit,” and then you spend about five hours with a cramped hand writing in barely legible writing trying to fit twelve pages of notes and homework onto one paper.

I’ve had several of these classes, and while there are many variations (one 3×5 card, 10 pages of anything, 5 pages handwritten only, etc.), the Tablet PC can be a real time saver (or at least a real hand saver), especially if your notes are already digital.

Link to The Student Tablet PC » Blog Archives » Expert Tiny-Writing Cheat Sheets

James Kendrick one of the guys behind JKonTheRun have written a very good article for Information Week answering this question.

UMPCs are versatile little computers. I should know, I’ve been using ultra-portable computers for several years. I could see early on that the benefits of having a full computer small enough to take everywhere would revolutionize my ability to capture productive time that is normally lost. What makes UMPCs so appealing is the ability to use a full Windows XP-based computer virtually anywhere I go.

Bravo James, very well written.

It’s been awhile since I’ve plugged the podcast here…  Episode #52 of The Tablet PC Show is available for your dining listening pleasure.  In it, I cover several tips and tricks to get the most out of Windows Vista on your Tablet or UMPC, all sorts of rumors of tablets and similar devices, and a couple of nifty ink search tools (including one from Ultranauts’ own Frank Garcia).

I also share a deep dark secret about my Tablet PC use on a recent business trip.  But you’ll have to listen to the show to hear it!  All that and more in the podcast…

‘Twas the night before CES and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring, well, I was using the mouse.
The plasma was hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that videocasts would be part of the fare.

The kids checked their blackberry and headed to bed,
with visions of ultra mobiles dancing in their heads.
Dear mama with her EO and I with 1Q,
were visiting websites by an LCD hew.

When out on the web, there arose such a clatter,
I opened up Ultranauts to see what was the matter.
Out came the pen feverishly inking with TIP,
What was happening out on the Las Vegas strip?

In the glow of the screen, slowly ounce by ounce,
I soon realized, it was a preannounce!
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
A Dell Ultra Mobile PC and lots of gear!

With a Pentium processor, oh it’s so quick,
Surely this must be some kind of trick!
We thought it was Apple who might join the team,
But a Dell Ultra Mobile, it was only a dream!

I whistled and shouted and called them by name;
Now Samsung, Fujitsu, now Asus and EO, 
on Flybook, on Sony, on Vega, to me Oh!

From inside the enterprise and out in the mall,
Now dash away, dash away, spread mobile to all!