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885g Pentium Sub-Notebook
Alicia (ad454) writes "A new sub-notebook was released in Japan today,
the JVC InterLink Victor MP-XP7210,
which is one of the smallest notebooks around in
recent years that does not have a Transmeta emulation processor.
It has a true Pentium-III 800MHz processor, weighs only 885 grams, and is only 225x152x28mm in size.
It also comes with 256MB ram (384 max), 30 GB harddrive, 1024x600 TFT display, SoundBlaster Pro compatable audio, V90 56kbps fax/modem, 10/100 ethernet, USBx2, IEEE1394 (ilink/firewire), cardbus type 2 PCMCIA, and SD memory slot. You can get the specifications, which are in Japanese; you can use Alta Vista to translate it.
A number of stores in Tokyo are selling it for (JPY)209,800.
It would be interesting to hear what type of
opensource Unix (NetBSD, Linux, etc.) and X-windows driver support exists for it.
Although some may find the keyboard and screen too
small, many of us find it quite useable, especially when compared to a PDA."
I'd rather get a Sony Vaio U with Transmeta CPU.
Have a look at these specs.
***Quis custodiet ipsos custodes***
209,800 Yen = 1,687.06 US-$
Can anyone post the actuall spec's for us lazy folk. As well, where does one get one of these fancy books? I doubt my local future shop has any in stock..
$1681.10 USD. Not bad at all
.sig error: carrier signal lost.
I am sorry, but I am not big on the idea of using a laptop from JVC. Nothing against JVC, but that are not in the computer market. Laptops are complex devices, and when a new company enters this market, their first couple of products are usually full of bugs. I remember the hell I went through supporting a few Sony laptops when they first came out, at my last job. Drivers were crap, tech support was non-existant, and you could fry an egg on them once they had been running for 10 minutes.
It will be interesting to read any reviews...in english that is. Babblefish just doesn't cut it for me. I wonder if it will come to the US.
-Pete
Soccer Goal Plans
why firewire? i guess it has (barely) the juice to do video editing, but not nearly the screen real estate video editors want. I guess you could use that for external storage, but then if you are using those the device isn't so portable anymore. The price is smaller than i expected ($1690.57) and that will probably get even lower if it hits the states. I think it's an ok little subnotebook, but still MUCH bigger than a pda, and too limited to be of any real use.
or 1,789.15 Euro
or 2,613.96 Canadian
or 3,018.88 Australian
Cheaper than I expected, really. Anyone else remember the days when any decent laptop ran you at least $3,000 US?
Why couldn't slashdot do some work and save me some time by converting Yen to Dollars!!
Man, that notebook is almost lighter than the heatsink on my CPU!!
And, of course, it adds firewire but it is not a good port but instead the crappy mini ones that don't provide power. Oh joy.
I guess the specs of the nice large ports require too much power to make it meet the standard with most laptops so they use the smaller non-powered ports. After all the nicer large ones need 15W according to spec.
Of course the battery life on that sucks ass anyway. I would never buy it.
Well that page was spectacularly useless.
For an English-language press release try: here instead.
(and dont forget to notice the big bold capped FOR THE JAPANESE MARKET ONLY)
(2,3-Benzopyrrole)
I think laptop can get to small. Really this just seems useless. I'll rather have a Thinkpad.
I didn't say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame it on you.
Why do so many things still have the Microsoft tax?
Luke-Jr
Thas is beganning to whory me.
Yeah, despite the fact that it's an excellent piece of technology, there's still some things(like PDA's) that does a better job at being a PDA. If you want a laptop, get a proper laptop .
Hmm, I'm sure a lot of people will think differently...
Nevermind.
I'm just jealous because I can't afford one yet...
"I used to have that really cool,funny sig
There's a fine line between sub-notebook and PDA. While on the inside, a sub-notebook such as this one would woop on any PDA at the moment, what more is it really going to do for you over lets say an iPAQ for $1000 less. Are you really going to want to type a lot of emails on that tiny frustrating keyboard or atleast emails of any greater length than you tap out on your iPAQ? A P3 800 is nice but are you really going to be playing Quake on it or typing that research paper in Office XP? Also surfing websites on that tiny screen at insane resolutions would get old real fast. The 30GB storage is nice and I think is one thing PDAs need to address in the near future but other than that, I don't see the cost benefit. Perhaps I just don't have the patience for expensive impractical toys.
What bothers me with these sub laptops with tiny keyboards and screen sizes is the OS they try to run: Windows XP. The input manager in this OS is not appropriate to use such little cursor devices. The screen is way too small to do anything very seriously. On the other hand, WinCE (at least the UI, not the kernel) or better Linux Familiar (www.handhelds.org) would look way more appropriate. Why bother with XP?
PPA, the girl next door.
-- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
When I read the subject, the first thought that popped into my head was "885 GHz! Holy cow, how did they do that?"
Then I noticed the rest of the writeup and the small "g". Darn.
1024x600 TFT Well if you're gonna name all the specs why don't you post the size in inches/centimeters instead of pixels? After all that is more important. Nobody would want 800x600 on a 1 inch LCD, would they. And usually the max resolution is one that displays on the screen small but readabel(SP?). Anywho for those who would like to know the real screen size it's 8.9 inch (me thinks). I don't have japanjese fonts and i'm on 56K, don't wanna download. If i;m wrong correct me please
The new LifeBook is only slightly larger, has a 7-hour battery, 1280x768 screen, DVD, 3 lbs, and built-in wireless.
Its not even a genuine Transmeta® processer with Linux© Inside? WHAT a ripp-OFFFFF!
I've got a real yen for one of those!!!
"Whenever the cause of the people is entrusted to professors, it is lost." ~ V.I. Lenin
885 grams == 1.95 pounds
This article is a bit of a ridiculous pitch, here are Other machines come close:
The Dell X200 = 2.8 pounds (800 MHz processor, 12.1)
Fujitsu Laptops (Various w/Transmeta) - P1000 is 2.2 pounds, $1299 starting
The Toshiba Portege - 2.6 pounds PIII750, bit expensive, $2199
-Sean
In case you were wondering, that's around US $1700 by today's exchange rates.
"If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards."
Offtopic or not, he makes an interesting point.
Forget the SD slot if you want to use Linux. The SD specs are under NDA, even the Zaurus uses a proprietary driver to access the port.
What about the sony u1 that slashdot already had an article about?
It weighs less (820grams) has smaller dimensions (184.5 x 139 x 30.6) and has virtually the same specs (but with an 867MHz Crusoe instead and only a 20GB drive).
It also costs way less! 149,800 yen.
What is it with these tiny laptops that don't have longer battery life than an iBook or tiBook which has around 5 hours of battery life. I would think that if you had a tiny laptop, you'd probably be using it mostly away from any power source.
Expect a slow AltaVista response from this, but here's the easier way to click directly to a translated version of the specs page:
Translation
Most of the cool things never make it to sateside.
Some japanese electronics shopping areas have become a regular pornopopulust of technologia. The land of techno-lust deluxe.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Well, considering the exchange rate is constantly changing, I guess the actual cost in USD would be determined by what time they got a exchange quote and from what bank or institution. Seeing as they aren't more than $10 off from eachother, your troll is less than logical or amusing.
ahem...
:)
imagine a beowolf cluster of these!!!
Back in May on Slashdot there was this article on the Sony Little Vaio. It seems to have comparable specs, but I think I like the way the pointer works better. There is a stick on the right side of the keyboard that is made for you to move and click with your right thumb.
It is kind of interesting how vendors are coming at the portable market from different angles. You have devices like these superlights from JVC/Sony/etc., then you have the smaller PDA's from Palm/Sony/HP/Sharp. Then of course there are the mobile phone makers developing organizers, etc into their phones. And finally there are a plethora of companies making "webpad" devices.
I guess what I am waiting for is the ideal convergence of these devices. I like the superlights because they have the keyboard, pointing device, and the clamshell design, but they are still a little large for casual carrying around (ie. can't fit in the pocket.)
Who knows where things will end up.
--Jon
Wow. You mean to tell me that someone made a smaller notebook!? Next thing you know Ill be hearing about faster processors as well!
Check out OQO.com for a really small computer.
If this interests you, you should take a look at the Sony VAIO SRX Series. Here are the specs for the latest model:
P3-850
256 Meg RAM (exp to 384)
30 Gig HD
V.90 Modem, 802.11b, 10/100 all built in
Firewire, USB, Sony Memory Stick, PCMCIA slot
4 Hour battery life (8 with double life battery)
I have one and absolutely love it. It is the same size as my paper notebook and just slightly heavier (2.7 lbs).
Here is a link to the product page in English in case you can't read Japanese
Isnät the main advantage a notebook has over a pda the keyboard. And since there are new fresh ideas emerging as howto solve the keyboard problem(www.senseboard.com)wouldn't the ideal solution be a pda with a crusoe procesor, a 20 gb microdrive, colour screeen and a senseboard?
I wonder if it really means Sound Blaster PRO compatible... I used to have one of these cards, and it's 8 bit, rather than 16 bit like most generic, non-dsp sound cards now. This means that, for example, mp3s will sound absolutely horrible (kind of like listening to music on AM radio), if they'll play at all.
When I first heard about mp3's in early '97, I ripped a song and tried playing it on my 486 with a Pentium 83MHz overdrive chip, and a sound blaster pro. Sounded just awful. I knew then that for my next computer I'd need a 16 bit sound card...
He said, "You'll be able to tell your grandchildren that you helped assemble the first NT supercomputer," and I cringed.
I do agree with you about new companies in the picture.. However, I don't think JVC is new to this industry. I just don't think they import any to the USA. Look at Panasonic. I haven't seen any Panasonic/Matsushita or even Sanyo or Sharp laptops here. When I went to Japan a few months ago on business, they all had a plethora of cool laptops in japan.
Lifebook P-1032 (700MHz Crusoe, 128 MB, 20 GB, Windows XP, 8.9" TFT)
The coolest part of this one is the fact it has a touch screen just like we have come to expect for pda's. And, I have a friend that is running debian on one without any trouble.
And, it weighs in under 1kg.
Pricegrabber has it for $1393 shipped to my home.
Sig Return: 204 No Content
you rule!
Why are all the little notebooks using dinky 20g
harddrives and topping out at 256/384MB? It peeves
me that the first thing i have to do when i spend
a couple grand on a lap is replace the hard drive
and expand the memory. It peeves me even more that
the memory doesn't expand to something reasonable
for a modern application load, like 1G/2G
reasonable. Finally, what's up with the display
sizes? I know they can put a decent resolution
into a 10" screen -- but you can't find one on the
market. The newer picturebooks and librettos are
almost reasonable, at 1280x768.
And this crappy proprietary hardware stuff has
got to stop. I'm not going to buy a piece of
hardware I can't control.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
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