Has anyone seen/used one of these UMPC's?

I'm thinking of buying the Acer Aspire One.
Does anyone have an opinion on it?

 

I saw this thing next to an eeepc and couldnt really tell the difference between the two. Is there something in particular about this one that you like?

 

The Asus miniBook and HP miniNote are being heavily pushed towards Students. Linux OS but with Windows available.

 

I prefer 9" screen over 7"...
It also has a faster processor

 

dont forget the dell one.
all around the same tbh.
dont see the big deal. its just a mini laptop with an even more crampt keyboard.

 

Actually I want to replace my laptop. It's a 15.4" dell.
I want something smaller and LIGHTER to carry around. But small powerfull laptops are rather expensive, so I thought a better solution would be one of these mini laptops (enough for checking email, posting at Wilders and other everyday tasks) + one big & powerful computer for my home (don't know yet if a desktop computer or a big laptop). This last solution would cost roughly the same as a high-end small laptop.

 

I used to have an Asus EEE which was an absolutely amazing little thing, the only gripe was the small screen. However the newest EEE has a bigger screen and is really nice to use. Its slightly more expensive and if you don't have small fingers it can be tough to type on. If you want something cheap and basic then the EEE works very well.
I've also used my mates HP mini which i found much nicer to use than the EEE. I found the keyboard much more comfortable to use however it is more expensive than the EEE and it has vista on it so performance isn't too great.

In the end i got myself a sony vaio tz37gn which is an absolutely amazing little laptop except it was horribly expensive. The problem i found with the cheaper portable laptops is the battery life wasn't that great, only around 3 hours at best which is too short for me. My vaio is rated at 11 hours which is far better for my needs.

 

Well that Vaio seems nice.
But as I said before, a small and powerful laptop can be very expensive. Another thing to consider is that I now have a 1.6 GHz dual core processor. When I change my computer, I want something faster, not slower...

 

Getting a faster desktop shouldnt be a problem. But the netbook is just for some basic tasks on the run right?

 

exactly, I'm between a fast small laptop fur using always but carry it around,
or
a small netbook for everyday tasks and a powerfull desktop for when I need the extra power.

In 2 years of laptop usage I've found that power-apps are almost never needed when "on the road"

 

Same experience.

Right now I'm following options between netbooks (say an Asus eeePC 901), convertibles in this size class (there are a few, but most seem destined for the non-US market at the moment), or the sub-12" tablet PC's. I was going to jump earlier this year on release of the eeePC, but am holding off until the market stabilizes and all the major players have their vetted options on the table. There's a lot out there to consider....

Blue

 

I think I'll add my 2 cents here. Last year I was looking for a small portable Laptop and wound up w/ a ToughBook CF-18. I love this thing, but it didn't come cheap. it does everything I would do on my large laptop Dell E1705. Only issue was that it came w/ a 40GB HDD. Changed it out to a 120, and it rocks.

For Christmas, my wife bought me a EEE PC. It's light as a feather, works great for e-mail, web surfing and general stuff while out and about. A 7" screen took a bit of getting used to as well as installing apps on Linux, but as a travel companion, it's great. I really don't care about battery life since I have an inverter in my car, so it's plugged in. If the 9" EEE PC has the same footprint, it would be nice, but I don't know if it increases the overall footprint of the laptop.

Bottom line: If you want a nice, inexpensive, portable laptop, look at the EEE PC.

...screamer

 

I use the Deep Blue H1: http://ilikeblue.net/products/umpc.htm because its 40GB HDD allows me to use Windows XP....
Lest the Linux users on this board get me wrong, please understand that Windows XP just happens to be the only OS that supports my country's leading prepaid WIFI broadband connection via mobile phone. This allows me to connect to the net at broadband speed wherever there is a mobile phone signal (that means practically everywhere) at US$0.60/hour. The independence from the usual WIFI signal more than makes up for the insecurity of Windows XP.

 

A friend of mine has the EEE PC. The only thing I dislike about it, is the 7" screen. The 9" isn't available here yet. The Acer One costs only $80 more than the 7" EEE here, so I thought it was a pretty good deal for 2 more inches and a faster processor. But I don't know how good/bad Acer computers are. Are they reliable?
Maybe I should just wait for the 9" EEE to arrive here. Or wait that other vendors start pushing their models, I know Dell has one in the pipeline...

 

I took the 900 series eeePC for a short in-the-store spin while running XP. It's very decent and quite usable. If I go this route, it is with a 901. However, I'm waiting for a couple of things....

• Have you seen the Kohjinsha SX3 - something along these lines with US distribution..., and a small price drop
• or perhaps I'll wait and see what Dell actually puts on the street - the prepublicity looks decent
• Finally, I'd like a sense at where prices may finally shake out. I think that the typical first adopter price premium may be very short lived in this segment. The competition will force downward price pressure - or upward feature set expansion - either works for me within my target price range (~ $750 US or so max). I know I could get a decent 15" laptop for that - but functionally that's not what I'm targeting.
• The 11" classical laptops are almost right in form factor on the large side - but I don't need their power for the simple stuff done on the fly.
• The tablet form has a lot of draw from my perspective. I'm weighing this direction seriously.

I do think the UMPC is a market segment that could get some serious legs.

Blue

 

Acer computers are considered high-end products here in Asia....

 

I've only ever had 1 acer laptop, an old aspire model which served me well. I bought it like 4 years ago, 1 year ago i gave it away to a friend and its still running great to this day. The only thing thats starting to give up is the battery which is to be expected.
If you can, i suggest holding off for a little while as there are some nice models soon to be released. However i think you'll find it hard to find a umpc that will deliver more power than a dual core 1.6ghz, they're just not designed for that. The current EEE only has a 900mhz celeron processor, even my new vaio only has a core 2 duo u7700 which only runs at 1.3ghz. Many of these new laptops will have an intel atom processor in them, they're extremely low in power usage but i don't know how they go performance wise yet.

 

Yes, I think I'll wait until Christmas, and then I'll give miself a nice present.

BTW, I don't expect the UMPC to be powerful, just a backup for staying connecting on the road. For power I think I'll buy a desktop as "future-proof" as I can afford.