Raon Digital prepping SSD-based Everun Note UMPCs
By Darren Murph 
posted October 12th 2008 3:59AM
posted October 12th 2008 3:59AM
[Via Pocketables]
posted October 12th 2008 3:59AM
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Why ditch a PC-lineup when the recallable fault was only in the first few non-export devices...
Nice to see SSDs on UMPCs too, I wonder if 1.2ghz Sempron is good, I have 1,2ghz Athlon and it's damn slow.
sempron is to athlon as celeron is to pentium 4 (only not AS crappy as the celeron)
I love the design, but suspect the SSD XP version will be too many £££s in the UK. Pity...
The new model will actually be names "Canyonero".
First in utility
First in sports
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts
Whoa Canyonero, WOAH!
Will they run Crysis?
Yep, 60+ fps at nothing less than Very High with 16xAA...
at a resolution of 2x1 pixels.
Will YOU?
BWHAHAHAHAHA WILL IT RUN CRYSIS!!!!! That's sooooooo funny!
I rated you higher, because that was the most hilarious comment I've ever read at Engadget!
What's next? People who ask if it plays Doom or if it will blend? BWHAHAHAHAHA!
You silly boy!
Will you finally put an end to your meaningless existence?
Please?
Depending upon reviews and availability, I'm sorely tempted to ditch my Mini-Note and XPS M1330 for the 12GB model... sweet sweet tiny goodness.
:(
I am the typical customer for this kind of devices, and in fact I have had a quite a few of these UMPCs , but in a time of (nicer and nicer) sub 500$ netbooks and (smarter and smarter) smartphones, why would anyone shell out double as much for this stuff?
To justify the expense it should either offer some new features and apps, or assemble all feature and apps in its tiny frame (touch screen, GPS, UMTS, browser, wifi, PMP, TV, video and still cam, etc) whichis still the stuff of dreams; or at least it should have a price proportioned to its usefulness and to what it can and cannot do.
Basically to be interesting even to a limited number of early adopters/road warriors and to move a few of these things, they should be priced between 200/250$ for the basic model to 300/350$ MAX. for the full spec'd.
Since I doubt that this will happen, some more space will have to be found in the dustbin of gizmos history.
This is a UMPC, not a netbook and not a smartphone. First of all, it is no comparison to a smartphone they are designed for entirely different purposes. It's comparison to netbooks is quite a bit closer, but netbooks are designed to be cheap and only powerful enough for most basic tasks.
Most netbooks have the same 1.6GHz single core Atom, and the same Intel GMA945 chipset with intergrated graphics. While they perform a bit better than the original Celerons, they can't outperfrom the 1.2GHz dual core Turion 64. Netbooks also have pretty awful 3D performance, while the Raon has a dedicated graphics core (yes it is intergrated into the chipset, but it is a true Radeon X1200 core) with 128MB of sideport RAM (not shared).
It is far smaller than a regular netbook, at about half the size of an MSI Wind. Yes, it is more expensive, but it is smaller and more powerful. It is clear they were designed for two different things: the Raon is a UMPC not a netbook, and the price reflects that. It is certainly cheaper than Sony's UX series or an OQO.
Let's look at your wishlist:
browser - yes (with most cellphones having a browser I don't see how this is cutting edge)
video and still cam - yes (built in webcam)
wifi - yes (bluetooth too)
touch screen - yes
PMP - it is portable and should handle most types of media, but it may not quite fit in your pocket
UMTS - no (but 3G will be an option, and it has a USIM slot)
GPS - no (but not hard to add with USB dongle)
TV - no (but again a USB dongle may help there)
The Raon isn't perfect: it's battery life isn't great, the RAM is just 1GB (soldered in) and it should have an HDMI port instead of SVGA (yes, the RS690E chipset will happily output to HDMI). Despite its faults, it has plenty of advantages. Just because the Raon doesn't suit your needs, or your budget, doesn't mean that other people won't find it useful.
The main appeal for ultraportables (UPs) has always been portability + general-purpose computing. "General-purpose" == web browser, as from it you can access any info and can use any manner of apps. UPs were worth a premium when there was a lack of options. With netbooks providing much of this functionality, the appeal for other UP segments (traditional UP laptops as well as the Origami-derivative UMPCs) are worth much less. This particular UMPC would have been priced at well over $1K USD before the EEE appears on the market.
One can argue that the UMPCs are smaller, hence more portable than the present netbook size, thus is worth more. This misses the point of portability, which isn't about size per se, but about the convenience of carrying such a device. There are distinct categories of "carryability": pocketable devices (smartphones), backpack devices (netbooks & UP laptops), and desktop-bound laptops. Making a device which is smaller than a netbook, but can't fit intto a pocket, does not make it any more portable, as you still need to put it into a backpack. All it does is reduce the device's functionality (screen & keyboard size).
Sure there'll be a market for these kinds of things. This one looks competent, the pricing isn't outrageously out of line, and there'll always be those who buy into small size for smallness' sake. But much of the UP market will go netbook, and these will be niche items, like the OQO.
Gerenal purpose != web broswer.
Nokia's N800 demonstrates that nicely. It has a web browser, but is not considered a general purpose machine. My cellphone has a web browser, but that is hardly a general purpose ultraportable either. Yes, web browsing is important, but it isn't the only thing that makes a machine general purpose.
You are right in that the arrival of netbooks has served to drop the price of UMPCs. However netbooks were intended to be cheap and designed for basic tasks only. UMPCs were designed to be small yet still powerful, even if that was at the limits of usability. Devices like the Raon fit in nicely because some people do want a device that will fit into a briefcase (as opposed to a backpack) with plenty of room to spare, and yet not be stuck using Windows Mobile.
I'm wary of netbooks. There is an oversaturation of them in the market, all with the same specs - the only difference being minor funcionality and a brand name. Raon isn't a big company, and they could have easily made another netbook like everyone else, but they didn't. They have created something else and so far, given various reviews, it has been fairly successful for them.
Hah! Now isn't that a nifty little microlaptop if I ever did manage to witness myself one with my eyes which I did.
Also, I propose calling them microlaptops instead of netbooks because the word netbook is dumb.
@ Chris
Microlaptop sounds incredibly dumb. Simple is better.
What he said.
-the second guy.
"microlaptop" is going full retard.
Just got Acer Aspire One. This is the best!!
screen size?