Veronica Gonzalez Musings about passions both geeky and mundane.

[EDIT] — I’ve fallen in love with Macs all over again. The first PC I ever bought was a Mac. I switched to PCs because the games I wanted to play were not available on Macs–with Parallels, that’s a thing of the past. I’m now using a 24″ iMac at work and I absolutely love it. I’m also drooling over the new Leopard enhancements I saw in the guided tour. That said, I’m hoping that an Apple Tablet will be announced at Macworld in January. I will sell my Fujitsu T2010 once I get my hands on a Mac Tablet. I think it could be a reality–especially if Apple uses something like the DuoSense by N-Trig.

Where is my perfect UMPC Ultra-Portable computer? I’ve been reading about UMPCs for months now and I’ve yet to find the perfect one. I visit various UMPC and mobile device blogs nearly everyday hoping that today will be the day I find my one true do-it-all device. Sadly, that day has yet to come. [Edit] I’ve come to realize that devices at or under 7″ are too small for me. So, if 8.9″ screens don’t qualify as UMPCs then I’m now looking for the perfect Ultra-Portable.

There have been very many temptations. The first one I held at the Sony store was one of the Sony UX series (there’s so many now) over a year and a half ago. I was so amazed at how such a small device could run Windows XP. The form factor wasn’t for me. It felt heavy in my hands and frankly, I didn’t care for such tiny text on that tiny screen.

The Samsung Q1 didn’t impress me much either when I saw it at Fry’s. The truth is, I need to have a built-in keyboard. I mentioned that in a post I wrote on Howard Forums regarding the upcoming Nokia Touch. I love my Palm Treo 755p. I love the qwerty keys and I love the easy to use interface. I love that I can touch the screen to launch whatever application I want without having to deal with hardware buttons.

I bought the Nokia N800. I thought it would do everything I wanted it to do, but it really doesn’t. I can’t play games on it. I can’t take good ink notes with it. It can’t do PIM apps well and it’s not powerful enough to display You Tube and handle complex Flash and Ajax type sites. I’m keeping it as a GPS unit and to check Gmail when I’m out and about and am not carrying the Fuji. Sadly, the Fuji doesn’t fullfill my UMPC needs. I really wanted a 1lb., 10″ screen or smaller tablet pc–and I thought the Fujitsu U810 would fill the bill but the reports I’ve read about the inking vectoring issues are very disappointing. Also since I want to do some modern gaming, I’d need a UMPC with integrated graphics that at least match those of the Fujitsu T2010.

I hope 2008 will bring in more powerful UMPCs with better integrated graphics and great battery life like the Raon Digitial EverRun. The OQO Model 02 is out of the picture because of its poor battery life, heat issues, and loud fan noise

Here’s my wish list for my dream machine:

• 1lb. or lighter
• 10-8.9″ screen
• dual touch and active digitizer like the TableKiosk i440D
• convertible tablet pc (like the Fujitsu u810) — I would be willing to do a slate if it came with a kickstand like the N800.
• maximize screen real estate (no bevel, flush screen with the necessary space for hardware buttons, like the T2010)
• customizable hardware buttons (like the Raon Digital Vega or EverRun)
• minimum 1.2ghz ULV processor, with at least a 128mb (64mbs with RAM supplement?) equivalent integrated (or not) 3D graphics card with T&L that supports DX9*
• minimum 2gb ram, expandable to 4gb
• hybrid 6gb+ SSD for the OS and applications, and a regular 60gb+ HD for content
• minimum 5hrs of battery life standard, longer with an extended battery
• 4 USB 2.0 slots
• CF and SD slot
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Atheros WiFi and WiMax compatible
• SIM card slot with HSDPA
• Biometric Finger Print Reader
• VESA mounting slots

What will I use this dream UMPC for?

• Taking notes in class and at work meetings.
  • will run Office 2007 and One Note 2007
• Keep track of my finances with Quicken 2005
• Website Development
• Design work with PhotoShop, Fireworks, etc./Drawing Journal
• Play Games (Sims 2)
• Chat with friends via VOIP or SIM card.
• Tether via BT or USB for data or use the HSDPA data
• Tether to GPS unit and use it as a navigation system and log location data
• Use location data to add to pictures taken and dowloaded from my digital camera

*I realize that it’s highly unlikely that this kind of graphics performance is feasible at this point in time but a girl can dream, can’t she?