So is anyone excited about the ultramobile pc platform developed by microsoft.

I wasn't until I watched the video on channel9 where they claim the price should be between 600 and 1000 dollars and it has ethernet. Sony made the U70 which is the same thing a couple years ago but it was 2000 dollars.

I could almost replace my laptop with one of these and for what I need it for this form factor would be better than a regular laptop. If they could stick a pcmcia slot in there I could lose the laptop all together.

I'm pretty interested, but as far as I'm concerned all discussion should begin and end with the Asus product. The Samsung looks like a giant Creative PMC, and the third one from that no-name company is pretty ugly and looks a little larger. The Asus is something I might consider.

[by the way, that Samsung phone that was just released at the show was pretty cool stuff]

The samsung one must be the one in the channel9 video then because that is exactly what it looks like. I'm guessing these units mean the end of the PMC platform.

I was going to post about this a few days ago but didn't get around to it because the concept they're pushing and the existing devices just didn't do it for me. I suspect it's doomed to failure unless someone comes out with a much more appealing form factor and much better industrial design. All the units, ASUS included, look like they're from the early 90's. They're not even as nice looking nor as well-built as the Newton MP2000. I also think MS will have to do a lot more software work beyond the extras pack included with the devices to make them truly usable.

Bruno

All true, Bruno. I don't really see that virtual thumbpad as working very well, and aside from that it's just XP Tablet edition (and it's not like that did very well).

I think if these things were thinner they'd catch on easier, but that's tough to do. I don't think they have much of a future beyond a very few people who might be interested.

I've been trying to figure out where/if I might be able to make use of one of these UMPC things, and I'm coming up blank. That radial typing madness seems only useful for short messages, like you'd send with a Blackberry, but then why not have a Blackberry?

I suppose if you were a travelling salesman and your main thing to do on the road was PowerPoint, one of these gizmos might make sense. Likewise, if you wanted a portable video player, one of these UMPC's might be more useful than the tiny screen on an iPod. And, of course, you can see them in all sorts of vertical applications.

The Nokia isn't bad, but it's really just a simply PDA-like device, rather than a full fledged computer. Good points on the design front compared to the UMPC devices though. It lacks HD and host ports as well. Something able to run the same code the desktops run is a good idea (from UMPC), but additional UI tools are needed.

Bruno