I have both an HP TC1100 upgraded and a UX180 picked up on eBay about 6 months ago. I’m running office 2007 and XP right now however I really would like to boost the memory size form 1/2 GB to a full 1GB on the UX. Is anyone aware of a way to the do the memory upgrade (I saw the post for the drive upgrade).

That may sound wasteful to you all to use XP tablet over Vista, but i’ve had my share of underpowered chips for the OS of the day. When I upgraded a lowly Sony c1VN (733Mhz Crusoe) from WinME to XP Pro, wow did it limp along slowly just so I could have peace with only one OS among my PCs. The Sony UX with Vista and its faster chip at the store sure was slow to do much of anything likely from both overloading software trials and being a store demo. Oqo seemed more responsive.

Since I started out in the 90′s with a HP200LX, I’m from very similar origins in viewing this umpc decision making as is the author Mark Rosengarten at
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/oqo_model_02_ultra_personal_computer
he shows the OQO side by side with something not much bigger than your checkbook.

My PDAs etc since then have just not been satisfying with all the compromises they entail. Enough screwing around already! I want something like these that fits in my large pocket or labcoat. If you can’t use the employer’s PC like you want to or WHERE you need to, then having these umpc’s ALREADY IN YOUR POCKET customized your own way is ideal to me. I’m leaning towards OQO Model 2 at its hefty premium.

Having all that power and convenience in your pocket without compromises would be fantastic. My first umpc (HP200LX) was not much bigger than a fat checkbook and instantly calculated emergency drug dosages based on complicated formulas in a macro-automated spreadsheet I still haven’t duplicated today in Excel. I felt the unit back then was a leap of faith to spend that serious cash, but your excellent detailed reviews remind us how many options there are in purchasing! Definitely agree to max out the memory and HD size. Too bad these things don’t have better video chips or they’d be PS2 killers and whoever makes it would be rich!

James, it’s all about the top-of-the-line OQO Model 02 with EVDO and a double-capacity battery – it’s a no-brainer, really! Sure there’s no passive digitizer (no touch screen), but there’s an active digitizer (Wacom) so it’s ideal for inking…

JK, I’m on a Sony NZ Viao mailing list for from the time I asked about the U70 in NZ* and every few weeks they seem to launch yet another flavour of notebook, but never a Tablet PC. Any idea why?

*The USA U Series marketing was shot in Auckland, New Zealand but they were never sold here!

See http://rcd.typepad.com/rcd/2004/12/sonystyle_usa.html

I used an OQO at the CES in January and my hands will work it just fine. The Everun is pretty cool do but I think it maxes out at 512 MB of RAM which is no bueno.

Given your monster-sized (OK, TEXAN-sized!) hands, the OQO KB might be a problem for you, James. (So would that Lust Device of 2008 I linked to!)

It will be interesting to see what choice you make.

I am lusting for an Everun at the moment. But, like all moments, that could change…

Good input from all, thanks. DC, I am not looking to replace the Fujitsu, I’m writing this on it as a matter of fact. I an talking about a one handed machine from a perspective of size and weight. There are places I’d like to take a PC but even the Fujitsu is too big. It looks like the OQO may be the best fit, but I’m concerned with the speed of the device.

JD – Re the OS there are mixed views out there about this but Vista is a winner for me over XP for these couple of reasons:
- Handwriting recognition is much better than XP tablet
- Startup and shutdown times are much faster (as long as the device doesn’t come with lots of Sony bloatware installed).

Vista has some bugs, which Microsoft is fixing over time, but nothing visible to me. My OQO 02 with Vista Ultimate hasn’t crashed once yet (which is a first for any OS I’ve used)

With all you tablet-based experts out there I have a question:
Just what is the benefit of Vista over XP on these umpc’s? It appears Vista requires so much more overhead/resources, that you’re just grinding the umpc to a slow crawl. What is the benefits of Vista in these small form factors? Are some tablet/digitizer based? Are there some benefits of real merit for multimedia or something these mobile units would be great for? Appreciate the update on that. I’d love to order myself a new umpc but don’t fully know the ins and outs of choices in operating systems now offered.

I found a Sony UX280 i think it was at a CompUSA store on display. They had the display all plexiglas protected in the display, covering important zoom + and – buttons, joystick button, etc all covered. I used my pda stylus to reach in there and play with it a bit. Well, I was messing with that thing over 40 minutes. It is slow to boot up, bogged down with stuff occupying the memory, etc but maybe also because it’s got Vista business running it to death.

What I notice most is Sony’s unit lets you zoom in/out, but you must zoom back out to continue doing anything! If you want to leave it zoomed in, you can’t select that icon or accomplish anything. I had to constantly zoom in just to read it or get it to be easier on the eyes, then zoom back out and remember what i saw, keeping that in mind as its location /orientation on the screen changed and remember where i was now it all looks different, then back to teenie tiny before I could continue. It only accepted double taps to start a program after coming back to unzoomed state.

…….OQO doesn’t have that problem! I found this odd and a deal breaker. I’ve never been fond of sony after my teenie c1x way way back when late 1999 I think it was – still love that thing. Now most comprable is Fujitsu you all speak of.
There’s just not the support with drivers/updates after a very short while with sony. They make great engineering feats then drop support.
I am glad sony’s gotten back in the game since dropping tiny pc’s after the c1 series then u750-likes and now the UX series. Sony had the virtual desktop once zoomed in, but at least you could act on it way back when with the c1x. OQO model 02lets you zoom in and continue working as expected. I was impressed.

Sure it’d be nice to have the fingerprint reader and 2 cameras of sony’s unit, but the keyboard and zoom problems are deal breakers.