Going UltraPortable

Have you went out with your laptop in public lately and noticed a trend lately? People out and about with small subnotebooks, in coffee shops, restaurants, or at college. These are a new breed of computers that are small and lightweight. They fit nicely into your briefcase or bookbag. They usually lack a CD or DVD drive built-in and have a much smaller screen than you are used to seeing on a laptop.  However they are power house machines and they are incredibly inexpensive, from $350.00 US Dollars to around $600.00  US Dollars. What is powering these units today? The revolutionary low cost, low power Intel Atom chip family.

Quoting ZDNET: "The Atom is a family of small, low-power CPU chips from Intel. Atom provides x86-based computing in low-cost, handheld devices and ultra-compact computers. The Atom chips incorporate the Core 2 Duo instruction set and comprise 47 million transistors in a chip footprint of 25 square millimeters. A single 12" wafer can yield 2,500 Atom chips, compared to 600 Core 2 Duos. In addition, Atom chips create a fraction of the heat of a Core 2 Duo."

This brings a whole new standard in portability

A New Screen Size

Although some are smaller most have an 8.9" 1024x600 WSVGA screen display. If you are developing a WPF/Silverlight or even an Adobe AIR/Flex application is the new screen size. You should make sure that your application can dynamically resize to take advantage of these units either full screen or in the browser window. Most of the UltraMobile/Ultra Portable's use a processor called the Atom N270 which runs at 1.6 Gigahertz which is almost perfectly crafted for a lightweight RIA application.

Here's an example of a website with RIA content (in Adobe Flash) already designed for the new screen size. It's Acer's own AspireOne site "optimized for 1024x600..

Expression Studio's Expression Blend makes it easy to support diverse deployment, whether it be the 102x600 UMPC standard resolution, or the new HP TouchSmart display in 1680x1050 or 1920x1080HD..

How do you support scalable content in Expression Blend or Visual Studio?

• Make sure you keep screen resolution independence.. Developer Olivier Dewit has came out with a helper library called Perspective for WPF that allows you to keep resolution independence..
• Over at Bob Familiar's Blog there is a great article on keeping Resolution Independence in Silverlight with both user controls and Deep Zoom pages.
• The Amazing Scott Guthrie's Blog has an article on using Silverlight Full Screen Mode
• UI Scaling and Zooming in WPF at Ivo Manolov's blog
• Silverlight and WPF Pixel Independence at Miguel Jiminez's Blog Differences

An Old Familiar Operating System

Interestingly enough most of them offer you Linux or Windows XP Home as a base operating system. I have been running Vista myself for nearly two years so I wondered what that meant for these machines. The Linux implementations are generally setup for fast access to productivity applications, but are very low memory and fit well into these UMPC operating environments.

Development

Well if you are doing development, it's not going to be the fastest machine to develop on, but it certainly is capable. It runs any of the free Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions quite handily just meeting the minimum requirements for the product.

Design

If you are like me and you use Expression Studio for development, you may wonder can I use this in a pinch? The answer is surprisingly, GO RIGHT AHEAD!Expression Studio 2, including Expression Blend works nicely here. Now with the display size, you might find yourself not enjoying the experience very well in Expression Design, but for simply modifications and editing it's very workable. Expression Blend works pleasurably well on the environment. Expression Web 2 is a great experience as well. The entire Studio product runs well on the UMPC with Atom Processor. My last full-size 17" laptop computer was a 1.6 gigahertz model and I find not a lot of difference in performance between it and the UMPC..

As most of you know I have kind of given up on the Adobe Suite of things, however people tell me that they work great in the environment as well including Adobe Flash CS3. As you know Linux now supports RIA applications developed for Adobe's AIR platform, in addition to Windows. Personally, I use a freeware alternative to Adobe Photoshop called Paint.Net and it seems to almost be made for the environment and it's a free download.

Some models (Linux-based) ones come with OpenOffice from OpenOffice.org which is a free open source office product. You can download and run this as well on the Windows XP Home models from OpenOffice.Org's Website.

For myself, I chose a model with the Windows XP Home operating system and the full version of Office 2007, which installs and works nicely in the environment. The unit I bought had Office 2007 Home and Student installed.

3D on a UMPC?

With a 1.6 Gigahertz processor I wondered if it might be possible to run any kind of 3D design program on this. It turns out you can! Very nicely in fact. I was able to install Microsoft's free offering Caligari TrueSpace 7.6  right from the web. The performance was very workable. I could export DirectX models and renderings out for use in WPF and Silverlight applications very easily. Truespace's DirectX exporter makes it easy to convert objects for use in full WPF 3D as well.

Features

What really struck me as exciting about these units are the customized configurations available.. For instance some offer Solid State Drives (SSDs) which so far have been very low power, but not very exciting size-wise, especially if you are not using a Linux configuration. Acer offers some models with a regular hard drive (HDD) in configurations of 120GB or even 160GB if you order your unit through a non-retail store. If you aren't just using the office or web browser application built-in or you plan to install applications I recommend the more storage in the unit the better. Even though 512MB of RAM is fine in most cases the cost of the 1GB RAM units are also a better value, especially for the RIA consumer and developer.

Battery Life

A 3 Cell unit will get you just over 2 hours of battery life, a 4-Cell gives you just over 3 hours, and the 6 cell battery gives you around 5 and a half. Not all units come with anything more than a 3 Cell battery. Acer offers a heavier replacement 6 cell battery separately for units.  Either way, these units really shine for low power low heat emissions and up-time. I am very happy with the 3 cell.

Memory Card Readers

Floppy disks and even CDs seem to be disappearing in favor of cheaper more lightweight less expensive to manufacture memory cards. Because of this the sizes have gone up for memory cards and memory sticks. Most units come with at least one SD/MMC card reader, the AspireOne comes with a 5-in-One card reader, which is perfect for the multimedia/RIA developer who works with many sources of content.

Editors Note: I found my own purchase, an Acer AspireOne with a 120GB drive and 1GB of RAM (running Windows XP Home) at a Walmart SuperStore for $349..

WIRELESS

Most come with either  wireless B or G as an option which is fine for a portable unit, however there are some units out there that can even do "N" which seems kind of useless unless you are using your unit to playback U-PNP (universal plug-n-play) audio or video or both from a streaming server. Both Asus and Acer seem to have units that are prepped to support the upcoming WIMAX (mobile WIFI) standard units.

Vista??

HP's Mini-Note fits into this category, although it uses a different processor (the VIA C7), and comes in a 1GB or 2GB of RAM model. The Windows operating system on this unit offered is Vista Business. That unit also has a 6-cell battery standard, instead of the 3-cell that comes with their Linux OS model.

AUDIO

Most have great built-in HD audio offerings..

WEBCAM

Most offerings are a 1.3 megapixel webcam..

Some of the Current Offerings

Dell's Mini-9

The Dell Inspiron Mini-9 Specifications:

Processors

Intel^®  Atom^TM  Processor (1.6GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)

Operating System

Genuine Windows^®  XP Home Edition SP3

Ubuntu Linux 8.04 with custom Dell interface

Memory

Up to 1GB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM.

 Chipset

Intel^®  945PM / GS Express Chipset

 Graphics

Intel^®  Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950

LCD Display

Glossy 8.9 inch LED display (1024X600)

Audio and Speakers

One external speaker

 Hard Drives

Up to 16GB configured with a Solid State drive.

Optical Drives

None

Ports

USB 2.0 (3)

Integrated 10/100 LAN (RJ45)

15-pin VGA video connector

Audio jacks (1-line out, 1 mic-in)

3-in-1 Media Card Reader

AC adapter connector

Power

4-cell 32WHr Li-Ion Battery

Camera

Optional 0.3MP or 1.3MP webcams

Wireless

Wi-Fi Options:

802.11g mini-card

Bluetooth Options:
Bluetooth^®  Internal (2.0) mini-card

Ports, Slots, Chassis

Externally Accessible

USB 2.0 (3)

Integrated 10/100 LAN (RJ45)

15-pin VGA video connector

Audio jacks (1-line out, 1 Mic-in)

3-in-1 Media Card Reader

AC adapter connector

Dimensions & Weight

Width: 9.13" (232mm)

Height: 1.07" (27.2mm) front / 1.25" (31.7mm) back

Depth: 6.77" (172mm)

Weight: Starting weight of 2.28 lbs. (1.035 kg)⁴(8.9" display, 4 cell battery). Weights will vary depending on configurations and manufacturing variability.

The Acer AspireOne

Operating System

Genuine Windows is authentic Windows software that is properly licensed and legally installed. Learn more about the special benefits reserved for genuine Windows customers by visiting www.microsoft.com/genuine.

Genuine Windows^® XP Home Edition

Linpus™ Linux® Lite version

Processor
Intel® Atom™ Processor N270
(512KB L2 cache, 1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB)

Chipset
Mobile Intel® 945GSE Express

Memory
1GB (512MB onboard/512MB SODIMM slot) DDR2 533 SDRAM
or
512MB DDR2 533 SDRAM

Storage
120GB* hard drive
or
8GB* NAND flash memory (SSD)
SD Card reader
Multi-in-one card reader:
- Supports optional MultiMediaCard™, Reduced-Size MultiMediaCard™, Secure Digital, Memory Stick®, Memory Stick PRO™ or xD-Picture Card™
- With optional adapter supports optional Memory Stick Duo™, Memory Stick PRO Duo™, miniSD™, microSD™
Optional external USB 1.44MB* diskette drive
*When referring to storage capacity, GB stands for one billion bytes and MB stands for one million bytes. Some utilities may indicate varying storage capacities. Total user-accessible capacity may vary depending on operating environments.

Video
8.9" WSVGA (1024 x 600) TFT LCD, Acer® CrystalBrite Technology
Up to 262,000 colors
LED backlight
Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Integrated Acer® Crystal Eye webcam
VGA port

Audio
Two integrated stereo speakers
Integrated digital microphone
Headphones/speakers/line-out and microphone ports
Microsoft® DirectSound® compatibility

Interface Ports
DC-in
RJ-45 LAN
VGA
Headphones/speakers/line-out
Microphone
Three USB 2.0

Card Slots
SD Card reader
Multi-in-one card reader:
- Supports optional MultiMediaCard™, Reduced-Size MultiMediaCard™, Secure Digital, Memory Stick®, Memory Stick PRO™ or xD-Picture Card™
- With optional adapter supports optional Memory Stick Duo™, Memory Stick PRO Duo™, miniSD™, microSD™

Communications
Acer® InviLink 802.11b/g wireless LAN, Acer® SignalUp technology for enhanced antenna efficiency, WI-FI CERTIFIED™
10/100 LAN
Integrated Acer® Crystal Eye webcam

Included Software
With Windows® XP Home Edition:
Acer® eRecovery Management
Acer® Launch Manager
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
McAfee® Internet Security Suite (trial version)
With Linpus Linux Lite:
Aspire® one Mail
Messenger
OpenOffice.org version 2.3
AOA150-1570 only:
Microsoft® Office Professional 2007 (60-day trial)

User Interface
84-key keyboard, embedded numeric keypad, hotkey controls, 1.6mm minimum key travel, international language support
12 function, four cursor keys
WLAN switch with LED
Power button with LED
Touchpad with two buttons
With Windows® XP Home Edition: one Windows® key
With Linpus Linux Lite: one Home key

Dimensions & Weight
9.8" (249.0mm) W x 6.7" (170.0mm) D x 1.1” (29.0) H / 2.2 lb. (995g) with NAND flash memory, 2.3 lb. (1.04kg) with hard drive
Size and weight may vary depending on configuration

Power
30-watt AC adapter
Lithium ion batteries:
- Six-cell - up to 5.5 hours life with hard drive depending on configuration and usage or
- Three-cell - up to 3.0 hours life with NAND flash memory, up to 2.5 hours with hard drive depending on configuration and usage

 ASUS EEE PC

Editor's Note: Asus was the first to market with a unit in this category and went a long way to really make this unit size and market a reality. Many of the Asus units come with a solid state hard drive offering. Although for my work I still prefer a machine with at least an 80GB hard drive. It all depends on the environment that you are using it in.

Asus EEE PC 1000H

CPU
1.6-GHz Intel Atom

RAM
1GB

RAM Upgradable To
1 GB

Hard Drive Size
80GB

Hard Drive Speed
5,400rpm

Hard Drive Type
SATA Hard Drive

Optical Drive Type
none

Display Size (inches)
10

Native Resolution
1024x600

Graphics Card
Integrated graphics

Wi-Fi
802.11b/g/n

Bluetooth
Bluetooth 2.0

Operating System
MS Windows XP Home

Ports (excluding USB)
Ethernet;Headphone;Microphone;VGA

USB Ports
3

Card Slot(s)
2-1 card reader

Warranty/Support
One-year limited, 6 months for battery/24/7 toll-free phone

Size
10.5 x 7.5 x 1-1.5 inches

Weight
3.2 pounds

HP MINI-NOTE

HP MiniNote Specifications

Model number
KX872AA
FF009AA

Operating system installed (either):
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
Genuine Windows Vista® Business

Processor
Via C7-M (1.2G) (Linux)
Via C7-M (1.2G) (Vista)

Memory
1024MB DDR RAM (Linux)
2048MB DDR RAM  (Vista)

Network Support
56K Modem, 802.11b/g,Bluetooth (Linux)
56K Modem, 802.11a/b/g,Bluetooth (Vista)

Disk
120GB HDD (Linux)
120GB HDD (Vista)

Battery
3-Cell LiIon Battery (Linux)
6-Cell LiIon Battery (Vista)

Warranty
1 year (Linux)
1 year (Vista)

OS
Linux or Vista Business