Apr 22 2008
Ultra Mobile PCs
There are now three (3) different brands of (shall-we-say) the first generations of Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPC) available in the Philippine market.
The first to release was the Asus Eee PC which has at least eight (8) different variants depending on their storage capacities, on-board memory and screen sizes. All of these models have solid-state disk as hard drives in order for the form-factor to become very thin. Most of the Asus Eee PC available in the market have pre-installed Linux OS’s but can be easily installed with WinXP OS’s. All of the models have built-in Wifi, LAN port, external VGA port and some of the high-end models have web cameras. The only downside on the Asus Eee PC is the limited storage capacity which only has 2GB up to 8GB, or you can opt for the top of line model which has 12GB (Windows-based) or 20GB (Linux-based).
The next to reach the Philippine market was the Neo Explore X1 (aka Intel Classmate PC) which was initially intended for the USA’s one-child-one-laptop policy. These have the same LCD screen size from the Asus Eee PC but its hard disk has larger capacity with up to 30GB. You may notice that the form factor itself is sturdy and probably designed to absorb shock and has a built-in carrying holder. It can also be mislead as a laptop toy.
The latest is the Blue H1 ultra-mobile-PC. This is the product i prefer to purchase if based on specifications and price. It already has 1GB on-board memory with 40GB of hard drive, built-in Wifi, LAN port and most of all with a built-in web camera at a reasonable introductory price.