UltraPersonal Computer
The all-in-one-computer is for people tired of leaving information on the office hard drive when they need it at home or vice-versa. The Ultrapersonal is about the size of a deck of playing cards, just 10cm tall and a scant 250g. On its own, it acts as a PDA for addresses, a calendar and note-taker.
It also fits into a dock on a desk-top computer (made to be used with the UltraPersonal) and becomes the brains of the computer, and its memory. All the information on the UltraPersonal becomes available on the big screen. No more syncing information from a Palm Pilot onto a PC, just slip the UltraPersonal into its dock and it's ready to go.
It runs Microsoft Windows XP and is controlled by touch screen or on a keypad in PDA form. Now the UltraPersonal might be perfect for a number of things, Microsoft Office, even watching movies on a PC, etc -- but it would not make the ideal computer for a gamer or music lover.
At 10 gigabytes, the hard drive is probably too small for someone downloading a lot of music, pictures, movies or other information off the Internet and far better CPUs exists on the market, which for today's computer game lovers, is one of the keys to speed.
Perhaps the company will see its way to add additional hard drive space into the "docking station," for music lovers and film aficionados. It will retail for under US$1,500.
Keep in mind, however, that in Taipei, a computer with the latest Intel Pentium 4 running at 2.53 GHZ can be had for under US$1,000. The person buying an UltraPersonal would need the digital assistant functions and portability to make up for paying more.
Tablet PC
Microsoft is teaming up with a slew of companies to offer computers called Tablet PCs, which can be carried around and used like a clipboard, with a lot of touch-screen functions like note-taking. The company has developed a version of Windows XP for the Tablet PC and hopes to launch a full cast of Tablets from companies like Fujitsu, Dell Computer, and others on Nov. 7.
A Tablet PC is about the same size and weight as a notebook computer screen that has been ripped off the keyboard. Microsoft envisions nurses and insurance agents walking around with these 2.5cm-thick, 1kg tablets and using them for reading, writing notes and reports while on the move.
Writing notes on a computer screen and having that translated into a Word document would be extremely helpful, but many PDAs already have such functions and are much smaller and easier to carry around. The advantage a Tablet PC has over a PDA is computing power and information storage space.
Faster computing and a screen big enough to view full size "sheets" of paper and reports are advantageous, but up to the consumer as to exactly how much better for the money. The cost of a high-end PDA is around US$650 for a complete setup, including modem, keypad and other add-ons. Tablet PCs are expected to be priced at around US$1,000.
PaceBook
The makers of the PaceBook have found a novel way to combine two products in one for the price of a high-end notebook computer, about US$2,095. Just make the notebook with a detachable screen, and you have the Pacebook, a Tablet PC/notebook computer.
This new gadget is made for those on the move, and fits the new model of computing: combining many functions all in one gadget to centralize information (where's that phone list?). It's Tablet PC functions are the same as those listed above.
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