r@dimus
02-25-2008, 12:52 AM
The introduction of the HP 210 has had me thinking. How practical is a high-end VGA PPC these days? For example:
How practical is a VGA PPC as a laptop replacement when the Asus eeePC can be had for less money than a 210? To be a laptop replacement the 210 would need a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and iGo recently discontinued their keyboard. If WiFi isn't available where you need to get connected, or is patheticly unworkable as I have found it can be in many hotels I have been in, then you need to add a CF Ethernet adapter or carry your own WiFi access point. On the Asus a standard Ethernet port is included. If you want to work on documents, connect to remote systems, and watch videos the 7" screen on the Asus trumps the 4" screen on the 210. Compared to the Asus, weight is not much worse since with a 210 you'd have to carry the external keyboard, mouse, and whatever else (I also carried a CF Ethernet card RATOC USB host adapter). I have a Dell X51v that I've used as a laptop replacement, so been there and done that.
How practical is a VGA PPC for PIM functions when there are less expensive QVGA devices on the market that can do the same, and phone enabled PPC's that can stay updated with Outlook wirelessly?
How practical is someting like the 210 for internet access? Yes, there's WiFi, but running WiFi is hard on the battery. If that isn't available you have to tether via Bluetooth to a wireless device with a data plan. For the mobile web it seems the VGA screen is something of a left-handed widget, at least from my experience with my X51v. Web sites designed for mobile devices display with a small font because they are optimized for a 240 wide screen. Most web sites designed for desktop browsers don't work well either because they often don't scale down nicely to a 480 or 640 wide screen.
How practical is a VGA PPC as an ebook reader? The screen is nice and big, but in the case of my X51v the battery life isn't the greatest. Hopefully the 210's battery life would be better. Not to mention that even the phone enabled PPC's with their 2.8" screens would make a decent ebook reader as well.
I've really been pondering this since I've delved into the smartphone realm a few years back after a BES was installed at my job. For the last year or so I had been using a Blackberry 8700c and for the last couple months I've had a AT&T Tilt. Since I've had those devices, I've found that I really did not use the X51v very much. If I wanted to web browse I usually found myself just using the smartphone. The data throughput was slower (EDGE vs WiFi), but for the pages I was accessing it was fast enough and I could sit on the page as long as I wanted without wondering if I should turn the WiFi off to save power. The BB could not stream or play any audio or video, but the Tilt I have now can. While I had the BB the X51v was useful for handling the various documents and other data files I like to carry around, but now the Tilt handles that job. In fact, since the Tilt has come along my X51v has been relagated to mainly being my drivetime entertainment, playing music and podcasts in the car from a 16GB CF card. Once the microSDHC cards hit 16GB or 32GB the Tilt could do that too, and could even stream online audio if I wanted it to.
I can see a VGA PPC being desireable if a smartphone type device isn't an option for financial or coverage reasons. Outside of that what other reasons might there be?
How practical is a VGA PPC as a laptop replacement when the Asus eeePC can be had for less money than a 210? To be a laptop replacement the 210 would need a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and iGo recently discontinued their keyboard. If WiFi isn't available where you need to get connected, or is patheticly unworkable as I have found it can be in many hotels I have been in, then you need to add a CF Ethernet adapter or carry your own WiFi access point. On the Asus a standard Ethernet port is included. If you want to work on documents, connect to remote systems, and watch videos the 7" screen on the Asus trumps the 4" screen on the 210. Compared to the Asus, weight is not much worse since with a 210 you'd have to carry the external keyboard, mouse, and whatever else (I also carried a CF Ethernet card RATOC USB host adapter). I have a Dell X51v that I've used as a laptop replacement, so been there and done that.
How practical is a VGA PPC for PIM functions when there are less expensive QVGA devices on the market that can do the same, and phone enabled PPC's that can stay updated with Outlook wirelessly?
How practical is someting like the 210 for internet access? Yes, there's WiFi, but running WiFi is hard on the battery. If that isn't available you have to tether via Bluetooth to a wireless device with a data plan. For the mobile web it seems the VGA screen is something of a left-handed widget, at least from my experience with my X51v. Web sites designed for mobile devices display with a small font because they are optimized for a 240 wide screen. Most web sites designed for desktop browsers don't work well either because they often don't scale down nicely to a 480 or 640 wide screen.
How practical is a VGA PPC as an ebook reader? The screen is nice and big, but in the case of my X51v the battery life isn't the greatest. Hopefully the 210's battery life would be better. Not to mention that even the phone enabled PPC's with their 2.8" screens would make a decent ebook reader as well.
I've really been pondering this since I've delved into the smartphone realm a few years back after a BES was installed at my job. For the last year or so I had been using a Blackberry 8700c and for the last couple months I've had a AT&T Tilt. Since I've had those devices, I've found that I really did not use the X51v very much. If I wanted to web browse I usually found myself just using the smartphone. The data throughput was slower (EDGE vs WiFi), but for the pages I was accessing it was fast enough and I could sit on the page as long as I wanted without wondering if I should turn the WiFi off to save power. The BB could not stream or play any audio or video, but the Tilt I have now can. While I had the BB the X51v was useful for handling the various documents and other data files I like to carry around, but now the Tilt handles that job. In fact, since the Tilt has come along my X51v has been relagated to mainly being my drivetime entertainment, playing music and podcasts in the car from a 16GB CF card. Once the microSDHC cards hit 16GB or 32GB the Tilt could do that too, and could even stream online audio if I wanted it to.
I can see a VGA PPC being desireable if a smartphone type device isn't an option for financial or coverage reasons. Outside of that what other reasons might there be?