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Sony PCG-U1
hexdcml writes "Just found this whilst browsing, Sony has now brought out the My Little Vaio range, (probably for rich kids..tsk) All I can say is WOW, this thing is tiny.
Makes me wanna ditch my lurvely little iBook and get this!
The site's in japanese, so you'll need to translate (for those how are non-japansese literate) using Babelfish or something." Dynamism.com has specifications in English.
Sony's latest prototype, the PCG-U1, is a wonderful and exotic piece of technology. The "U1" is the smallest and lightest model of the entire "Vaio" series. Indeed, it has long been Sony's conception to shrink a full-featured laptop into an always-carry device; they have succeeded with the Vaio U1. The entire package, including a Crusoe 867 MHz processor, 6.4" (XGA) TFT-LCD, 20gb HDD, 384mb RAM (max), weighs merely 1.8 pounds, and boasts an incredible footprint of only 7.3" x 5.5". The U1 is designed for easy operation even if the user is holding it in a standing posture. Assuming use with both hands holding the chassis, the PC has a "wide-stick" for the thumb of the right hand which functions as a mouse cursor. The left thumb rests on a button that works as the left and right mouse buttons. There is also a built-in zoom function, which works at the touch of a button. A scrolling "Jog Dial" is also mounted above the keyboard, and integrated ports include a PC card slot, firewire, LAN, a headphone/audio output. Additionally, a pair of built-in USB ports and a VGA output allow the machine to double as a desktop unit. The U1 demonstrates why Sony is recognized, even by hardened competitors, as the world's leader in miniaturizing consumer devices. Any individual, company, or organization could find a unique use for the U1. Whether the needs is for an eye-catching model unlike anything that has come before, or a powerful tool for use by a sales force out in the field, the Vaio U1 is an unprecedented and unrivaled powerhouse in an ultra-small package.
I'm the Devil the Windows users warned you about.
Yes. You can play Unreal Tournament/Half Life/Quake III/Your Favorite Game Here. Try that on a Palm. And this sure beats the processing power of my TI-89's 10 MHz MC68HC360.
Bad thing is, though, that when someone tries to steal it from you and you hit them with it, it's too light to leave a lasting imprint.
I'm the Devil the Windows users warned you about.
uhm check again.. there is built in ethernet, and considering how fast the 802.11x is changing, I would prefer the pcmcia wireless
Look at the pictures; it's intended (Torvalds' mother only knows why) for two-handed use. The right side has a knob/button that acts as the pointer, while the left side has two knob/buttons that act as the mouse buttons. Although it weighs only 1.8 pounds, I wouldn't want to use it in two-handed mode for long, and this layout seems like it would be hopelessly impractical unless you also carried along a USB mouse.
On the plus side, it looks like it would be fairly easy to defenstrate, except for the modem, which is almost certainly a winmodem.
I've been looking at the Japanese site, trying to find out how much it costs in Japan. I'm fairly certain that it would be cheaper there. Any takers?
:Peter
My Vaio SRX77 has built in wireless that works in linux, too.
.
Ethernet, Firewire, modem, and USB all work in redhat too. The memory stick is VERY useless, I agree (but it works, though I don't know what it's good for. . )
Can't comment on getting to the harddrive- not like you replace it that often. Dropping in new memory took like 5 minutes, pretty simple.
Honestly, I think the keyboard is excellent, myself. Took me an hour or so to get used to it, but it's about as good a keyboard as I've used on a laptop. .
From my experience, Vaio's are MUCH better now than what you had. . .
I tried out the iBooks, but I thought that OSX was way too slow, especially for all the stuff I do in the shell. OSX was really sluggish in the shell. . . I'm very glad I went with my VAIO.
The Japanese name for this thing is "Ichiban chiisai Vaio", which translates directly as "number 1 small Vaio". An idiomatic translation would be "The smallest Vaio", although in Japanese as well as English "Number 1" also connotes "best".
There's no suggestion in the Japanese name that it's aimed at kids; rather that it's ultra-portable, something you could put in your purse, fit into your 3-square-meter million-dollar Tokyo apartment, or use on a packed Shinkansen.
The English trademark "my first Vaio" gives a different impression of the device, at least to native English speakers, but native English speakers are not the primary audience for this.
Hypermedia, virtual worlds, human interface, truth, beauty.
It's designed for the "Thumb Generation", the Japanese who have taken to 3G wireless technologies with abandon. Because they use cell phones for messaging, they're developing amazingly adroit thumbing skills. The suggested thumb use for this Vaio is demonstrated here.
With a base price of $2199....umm...yyeeeaaaahhhh
So buy it for USD $1329 from here, instead. Looks like a shop in Japan that ship direct to you (as opposed to Dynamism's ship to them then to you)
The keyboard has hiragana on it, which is the Japanese syllabic writing system for native works. Shift (I think) outputs the equivilant katakana, which is the syllabic writing system for borrowed (foreign) words. An input system on the computer automatically replaces the kana with the kanji for words that can be written in kanji as you go.
:)
There are actually dozens of systems for inputting Chinese and Japanese in computers. That is the most common for Japanese today to my knowledge. In China the most common is to have a keyboard with special characters that represent the sounds in Chinese using a system called BoPoMoFo. Unlike the Japanese Kana, the BoPoMoFo characters are never used when writing; only for typing.There actually are Chinese keyboards with large arrays of Hanji (same as Kanji, but how the Chinese say it). Watch the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies to see Bond be intimidated by one
If anyone cares to know more I'd recomend this book published by Oreilly.
Oh, and PinYin is the romanization system for Chinese endorsed by the government of the PRC. The BoPoMoFo keyboard symbols represent PinYin sounds.