thread starter
12/02/09
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
johnnyboy
The success of the handtop and the demise of laptops and desktops is a normal progression of technological advancement. The desktop required a large screen because its resolution was so poor initially. To see a lot you HAD to have a large diameter screen. And naturally because electronics was so large in those days a miniturized palmtop was impossible so no one even THOUGHT about carrying a desktop around. Times have changed. People can now see on a 5" screen as much and as well and even better that what took a 15" screen in the old days. The font is just smaller and whose going to care about THAT when they can just connect it to a 50" flat screen TV? Basically screen size ONLY becomes a problem when you travel and use the screen built into the computer and nobody CARES about screen size then as long as they can see everything on it which requires a minimum of a 5" screen. What they CARE about is portability. How big is it? How heavy is it? How easy is it to pack? Nobody WANTS to carry an extra bag for a computer, nobody WANTS a brick they have to carry in a coat pocket (except maybe a suit coat) EVERYBODY NEEDS the 6"x3.5"X1/2" 1/4 to 1/2lb USEFULL, touch typeable, easy to see screen, that does everything, that they can place in ANY POCKET, not a bag or a coat!! And they need it INEXPENSIVE they are smart, they are not going to begger themselves for ANYONE!! They WANT it for less than 100 dollars. Or FREE!! Until the computer industry begins to respond to the customer in what the CUSTOMER NEEDS it will continue to limp along on poor sales tactics and its huge government subsidises selling OLD FASHIONED OUTDATED TECHNOLOGICALLY BACKWARD DINOSAURS--Windows desktops and laptops!! WINDOWS, the operating system that is a buggy failure that in only the past five years lost 25% of its market share to LINUX!!
Replies
12/04/09
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
GadgetFreak
Where to start - rubbish! As things stand at present, it is Handtops that are dying, not Laptops and Desktops.
You can not see as much on a 5" screen, too small.
If you have to attach the computer to a 50" screen to see what is on the screen, it is not much good.
Touch Typing is not a requirement, and as most people will tell, no possible on a 5" screen handtop.
Windows has not lost 25% of its market share to anybody, far less Linux, which is currently sitting on less than 2% total market share, free or not.
12/04/09
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
johnnyboy
Sorry to burst your preconcived bubble, but sceen size does not matter all that much otherwise there woulld be no market for smartphones. Nowhere did I state you HAD to connect a computer to a 50 inch screen to see it, it is an OPTION! Touch typing is COMPLETELY possible on a 5" screen handtop. Pay attention on these last two , sonny--they are the most important,1) Windows is a nich operationg system that only runs on the x86. It is not REQUIRED to operate a x86. I has been loosing market share ever since Linux was written to run on the x86. Linux is a general purpose operating that is much more interesting than Windows. People are only buying windows because the x86 computer comes with it. After they buy the computer they download Linux and use it. The x86 hardware now COMES with LINUX. People are buying that instead. 2) Just like the dumb rumor about the nich operating system Windows having 98% of the x86 PC market, the other DUMB RUMOR that exists that computer users PREFER laptops and desktops. No, this is how it works, the majority of manufacturers PRODUCE laptops and desktops. They SATURATE the market with them and salespeople DIRECT people to laptops and desktops. This is an old con salesman tactic orginally developed by Microsoft used by computer salesman that convinced people to buy windows over the Mac OS. Basically people are DIRECTED and CONVINCED that the laptop is what they need when it is the HANDTOP what they ACTUALLY NEED!!
edited: Dec 05 2009
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
GreatDane
Again I am hesitant to "burst any bubbles", but screen size does matter. Smart phone have not as yet moved to a point where they can replace handtops, and the resolution on a 5" screen required to "fit in all the bits" as my old mother would say, makes the font size difficult for my eyes for one.
Touch-typing on something like the FlipStart is possible. I have always maintained that touch-typing is possible on any device with practice. Maybe not ten finger speed touch-typing, but nobody has as yet ruled that that is the only form of touch-typing.
Calling someone "sonny" is rude, and that is not nice. Other people have a right to their opinions.
In the Desktop, Laptop and Handtop computer fields, the x86 CPU rules, with more than 99.7% of all machines produced for these markets having some form of x86 CPU over the last decade. While 0.3% of the entire Desktop, Laptop and Handtop market represents a large number of units over a ten year period, it is not a significant percentage, and it is also not a growing percentage.
The argument that people buy computers with Windows pre-installed and then switch to Linux might be true for the +- 1% of people who actually run Linux, but as a few well written articles in the last few months have pointed out, far from taking market share away from Windows, Linux (with the exception of OS-X, but that is another story) has remained a enthusiast platform, and "failed to acquire any significant traction or market share".
As to people being treated like sheep and "forced" to buy what the manufacturers want them to buy, there might be a tiny shred of truth in that, like in any good "misdirection" (no offence intended). The manufacturers all tend to produce substantively the same thing, not as a result of some gigantic universal plot, but because that is what sells, and to produce something else might be an expensive failure. So if you are looking for something that is not in the mainstream, you might be in for a hard time and find yourself headed towards the popular products. The reason they are popular products, however, is because lots of people like them and buy them. (It is so difficult to prove a universal conspiracy when all the facts are against you!).
I might agree under the correct circumstances that a Handtop would be what some people need, it is self-evident, I have bought a number over the years. However, at no time has my Handtop ever managed to be my primary machine. They are too slow, too limited, just not quite up there yet. My primary machines are still powerful laptops attached to large screens.
My father in law just bought a computer. I tried to interest him in a Netbook (Big Handtop?). He told me "I will never need to take this machine with me, it is going to sit in my study for the rest of it's life, so why would I want to spend the money on a portable unit when I can get so much more in a desktop?"
A compelling argument, he now has a desktop.
Handtops are not for everyone. Cell phones are, and when they finally merge the two concepts successfully, (not the iPhone) I will be there to buy one. Until then, like a great many other people, I have my Desktop machine at work, my cell phone in my pocket, and a laptop to take with me when I need to be mobile. I am one of the lucky few (comparatively) who can afford and justly the purchase of a Handtop. Hopefully in future that will change.
12/05/09
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
johnnyboy
Thanks for the excellant well reasoned respose!! Sorry about the sonny crack. I just felt I was treated rudely when I presented an idea that I've been studying along time and it was simply discounted as 'rubbish' simply because it doesn't fit the standard mode of thought. Anyway let me bring up a couple points on market resistance to new technology using the cell phone market as an example. I feel comparing differant products in the mobile market, cell phones and handtops, is an apples to apples comparison and in the end drive the more static none mobile market. Initially, before the great cell phone boom of the ninties there was greta resistance to the broad consumpsion of cell phones for three reasons. Expense, size, and the idea that sorta went 'I don't want to carry that I get too many calls anyway'. To put it simply, I feel the market resistance to the handtop fits some of the same pattern. Handtops do have a slight size problem people need to get used to, they are VERY expensive (the first manufacturer that offers a handtop at about 50-100 retail will just 'seize' the market in my opinion. And, thirdly, what you just pointed out, 'the idea the user will NOT carry it with him/her' I think is SO similar. I feel the handtop manufacturer is completely missing the boat because the customer base for mobile handtop computing is similar to the customer base for cell phones--hundreds of millions just in the US alone. Hope this makes sense.
12/06/09
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
GreatDane
An often-overlooked fact about Handtops, and one that causes much confusion is that there are two distinct categories of Handtops that offer a different set of features to two different sets of users. Because we refer to units from both groups as “Handtops”, we tend to lump them together as a single concept, and are frequently critical of a machine of one type when it does not meet the criterion of the other type.
The first, and most obvious group is the group containing machines that are shrunk down computers, tiny machines that are similar in function to our Laptops and /or Desktops. We expect these machines to perform all the same tasks as our Laptops/Desktops, with as few compromises in performance and capabilities as possible. While we want them to be connected, we look at them as our office machines when we are not in the office. The primary example of this type of machine would be the Sony UX. Powerful enough to be a primary machine at a push, and still a Handtop. The FlipStart is also a machine that falls into this category. The OQO tries, although it is not altogether successful due to its rather weak CPU performance.
The machines in the first group tend to be pricey, and have always enjoyed only limited success in the market. They tend to be for the power users who need the full computer experience in their pocket.
The other type of Handtop is the communications device. This is a machine that is not designed to perform heavy-duty computing tasks, but to be able to surf the net, send and receive e-mails, connect to Facebook etc.
In this category, the Netbook has become a champion, particularly the units with small solid-state drives selling for inexpensive prices. The e-PC springs to mind as a good example of this group. Another good example is the iPhone. Although it is a phone, it sports most of the characteristics required to be called a Handtop, and is at very least a convergence device.
Due to the significantly lower price (in most cases) of the second type of unit, these have been much more successful. While it is a stretch to call all Netbooks Handtops, some are, and are very successful. Some convergence phone devices are also arguably almost handtops, and so forth.
There has not been much innovation in the area of Handtops in the last little while, but a few new products are on the market, and two that have been brought up in this forum elegantly represent the two different types of Handtops, and also clearly illustrate why one should perhaps not attempt to evaluate both types using the same set of criterion.
The first of the “new” designs is the Sharp NetWalker. This is a brilliant little device that falls into the communications device type. It is quick to boot, runs Linux, is relatively inexpensive, and is wonderful at web browsing, e-mails and that type of usage. It also has a very good (for some an entire working day) 10~12 hour battery life, although the battery is fixed in place, and cannot be swapped out by the user. Where it falls short is running applications that are not communications related, where the launch times are reportedly slow, particularly when running Windows programs in emulation mode. It also has a very limiting 4 GB storage capacity, and the CPU limits it to be a Linux device.
The second “new” unit is the UMID M2, soon to be released and a big improvement on the UMID M1. The M2 is focused on being a miniature computer. It has a reasonably fast performing 1.6 GHz Intel Atom CPU, with 1 GB of RAM as a minimum for the upscale unit. It also has the possibility of up to a 128 GB SSD, and it comes running Windows (Windows 7?) a standard.
It is your laptop shrunk down to an almost pocket size. It has a reasonable performance running Windows, a large amount of storage space, and can run all the programs that you have on your Windows desktop at work or home.
On the other hand, its boot times are typical of a windows machine, it has a comparatively short battery life of about 5 hours due to the drain of the more powerful CPU, higher cooling requirements, more RAM and larger drive capacity. However, for the type of use that the average user of this type of machine would want to put it to while away from a wall plug, its reported real world battery life is adequate.
And the above demonstrates the dichotomy that exists in Handtops at present. On the one hand, one has units like the Sharp and the Apple iPhone that are great communications devices, but cannot realistically replace the standard computer for people who require the computer as a “power” computational tool. On the other hand, you have units like the UMID M2 that is primarily a computer, but falls down as an all day mobile communications device.
There will come a time when a single device will be great at both types of computing. I am waiting for that day. Until then, one has to be careful to select the unit that fits your needs best.
06/16/10
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
Microsoft
Register / login
|
