Mini Computers

[Complete]

Hello Forum!

Back in July, the week of the 10th, I think. I was watching the morning news and they had a presentation on some new gadgets that were just coming out. One was a very very tiny computer. It was not a hand-held. It was a full computer with a large hard drive and, as they say, the whole nine yards. But it was just small enough to fit in your hand.

Has anyone heard of such a thing?

[dragonsgames]

Welcome to 1src!

http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=13179

I think that might be it.

[dmccunney]

I'm an old-timer, and for me, "mini-computer" means one of the old devices from Digital Equipment, Data General or the like that were the size of a refrigerator. :p

But yes, I've heard of/seen such things. There are some really small systems, with CPU, RAM, and a variety of ports in form factors about the size of a PCI card or smaller. They are intended for embedded applications.

One thing were been seeing for a while is migration of intelligence outward to peripherals. There's at least one network card with its own CPU and RAM, with the goal of completely offloading network traffic processing from your CPU.
______
Dennis

[gammada]

There's also a Sony Vaio lineup with a Core Solo processor, 1Gb memory, 40Gb HD, WLAN, WWAN, Bluetooth and fingerprint reader.

It's got Windows Vista Business Edition and a full keyboard with back illumination. It's dock has USB, FireWire, VGA, Ethernet, and A/V ports so you can use it as an ordinary desktop computer sans probleme.

It retails for some $ 1,400. I got one and it's quite a nice computer.

[gammada]

BTW They're called UMPC and there's other interesting models from HTC and OQO.