First of all, the biggest drawback of my Q1 is that people are constantly asking me about it. I was sitting in Kinkos trying to get some work done while waiting for copies and no less than 4 people ask me about it. Not briefly asking, but to the point of wanting a demo of the thing. I was quite curt with the last guy. The Q1 is super cool and goes with me everywhere, but I almost hate taking it out.

For me there are 5 classes of devices. Desktops that never move; Big laptops that move around the house and maybe to a hotel room; Small laptops that go to the coffee shop or my brother’s house; Really small computers that go almost everywhere because they fit in my ‘man purse’; and my smartphone which does go everywhere.

My expectations for what I can get done with the device decrease at each level too. I don’t expect to edit movies on my Q1. I do expect to be able to use SSH on everything but the PDA though.

So depending on the user, there may be a need to break down devices beyond “Desktop” and “Laptop”. Desktop, laptop, sub-notebook, and ultra-mobile pc all mean something to me. They indicate in what situations it will move around with me and what I can expect to get done with it when I have it.

I use “Origami” or “UMPC” for those original 7″/touchscreen/slate PC’s that kicked the new fangled minaturisation race off. Everything that has followed has been a hybridisation of the what was supposed to be a standard spec. As an aside, I’m kinda disappointed we couldn’t keep the OEM’s focussed enough on the original rough spec (maybe through some kind of certification), as I had dreams of the origami project being a bit like what DoCoMo have been doing in the mobile sphere (i.e. release after release of improving tech). The fragmentation of the market hasn’t been great for evolving the tech (even with the intel Atom) and I don’t think the users have really won (EEE PC is nothing but repackaging old tech cheaply and that doesn’t really impress me!)

Hmm, symbols confused that last post…

Less than 3 pounds equals arm friendly

Between 3 and 5 pounds equals shoulder-bag friendly

Greater than 5 pounds equals dude, just set it on a table!
;)

Woadan

Why not do it by the wieght of the unit?:

5 pounds = dude, just set it on a table!

My tuppence for today!
;)

Woadan

Actually a woman CAN be ULTRA pregnant.
since the normal is one baby any woman pregnant with twins triplets etc could be call extra or ultra pregnant. Its just all words and sometimes the words fail to describe the reality so then we just make new words

At the end of the day, there’s laptops and desktops. A desktop sits on or under your desk and is mains powered.

A laptop is the computer you stick in your case/bag. You get big ones, medium size ones and little ones. A small number may not even have a keyboard.

Seriously, do we need to have any more than this. Everything else is just attempts at ‘marketing’ when 99% of the population couldn’t care, and never will care, less.

Also, calling a lappy a ‘notebook’ is just an attempt to make it sound posh. Like calling a house a ‘villa’, as property sellers here in Scotland do.

Interestingly, the debate in my office is over the term “Notebook” vs “Laptop”. I’m adamant that we refer in our documentation to the supplied “Notebook” but my colleagues insist “Laptop” is the only word our customers will understand. Any ammunition that you can provide would be well received.

i have seen the term luggable used jokingly on computers like the dragon…

I get asked about the Samsung Q1Ultra all the time. I was in a mall in Jacksonville, FL last month and a couple stopped and just stared. I usually say “it is a real computer” when they say “huh?” I say “look it runs on Vista”.

I too have dropped “UMPC” when talking about my Q1. I either use “Origami” when trying to be specific as to type, or just call it my laptop. I never did like UMPC as a term, as it’s not terribly mellifluous and only vaguely descriptive.

— Steve

To me, portable literally means “runs on batteries”. In that regard, the HP Dragon OMG WTF BBQ 20″ monster is still a portable, while a 20″ iMac is not.

As for sub genres of portable personal computers (i.e. runs on batteries), I break it down like this:

* in hand/palm operations – Smartphones, PDAs, PMPs, MIDs, UMPCs, subnotebooks up to 8.9″ LCDs
* in arm/lap operations – 10.1″ ~ 15.4″ LCDs
* On a desk/table operations – 17″ LCDs and up

Fairly simple if you break it down like this.

I just tell people that it’s a computer, a full Windows computer, probably more powerful than what’s on their desks at home (assuming they have Celeron, 512 MB, and whatever for a hard drive, details they don’t understand most of the time).

I make the font size big, and push it in their faces, and tell them life is incomplete without appropriate technology. If they’re still standing in silent awe, I fold up my Stowaway keyboard use the stylus. Or if the keyboard wasn’t open, I open it in a gentle snap.