Slashdot Mirror
Nimble V5 - The OQO Killer?
prostoalex writes "OQO was supposed to be a big advance in the personal computing field, but, alas, made it quick to vaporware list. Now another company will try its luck with a mini-mini-PC. The Register, PC World and MSNBC are all running paragraph-long blurbs about pocket-size Nimble V5 from Nimble Microsystems. The specs are - VIA 733 MHz, 128 DDR266, 30 GB HDD, USB 2.0, PCMCIA, no display, $699, supposed to ship this fall. Full specification available from company's Web site."
I guess the site is hosted on one of their V5's... posted 2 minutes ago on slashdot and already slowing down...
What is the intended market of these babies? I mean, it can't be midgets, we all know from the commercial that Verne Troyer (minime) uses a 17" powerbook.... ...oh, and imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things!
Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
The slightly broken English on their main page kind of takes away from the elegant image they seek.
Seems to me like OQO is killing itself just fine without any help.
I've wanted one for a year and a half, but the ever-receding launch date has gotten out of hand. I know they were accepting pre-orders at some point. Wonder if those people will ever see an OQO or thier money...
In concept, of course, the idea just rocks.
Cheers,
prat
.."Workout the task without noisy PC" and whats more, it comes with "New life style".
Where do I sign up??
G4 Hackintosh
The specs are - VIA 733 MHz, 128 DDR266, 30 GB HDD, USB 2.0, PCMCIA, no display, $699
What kind of OS do they run? It must be Windows, unless it's some 'hyper-engineered' one they build themselves, you can get the hardware for about $400-500 in the USA, AFAIK.
Site is down so I couldn't check...
What's the dillio with these "mini computers".
... voila smaller board and smaller case required.
The whole reason desktops are so honking huge is because they have these PCI slot thingies you can cram shit in. If you really want to make a small computer do all surface mount stuff and dispense with the user upgradeable slots. I mean the PCI/AGP slots on an ATX mobo take up close to 1/2 of the mobo. If you removed them
Aside from the fact nobody makes computers like this [e.g. no third world labour setup to manufacture them yet] why is this such a special thing? I mean we have the technology in this day and age todo it.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Why spend $700 on it, when you could spend $400 on an equally-powered, larger (not as easy to lose, sturdy/rugged), and easier to repair, maintain, and upgrade, system?
Unless these things become as common cell phones, there won't be much point to them, except for some very "sophisticated" businessmen.
--TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
Is that fullspeed or high speed?
--
What do you wan't to learn today?
If I had mod points I'd mod you "hella redundant".
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
I'm not trying to troll here, I really want to know why anyone would get one, besides the coolness factor. I mean, if you need something small and quiet, you get a laptop. If you need maximum expandability (PCI slots, room for a big fancy heatsink, etc.), you get a tower system. When you add a $200 display, the price tag goes to $900. That's how much an iBook costs. I'm sure there are even cheaper laptops on the PC side. This seems like the worst of both worlds.
c-hack.com |
some assembled mini pc.
and whats that crap about the vaporware thingy ?
the parts to build one have been available for a long time at www.mini-itx.com.
i dont care about a company selling pre assembled via itx machines, looks too much like a slashvertisement.
... doesn't inspire confidence in me with their past track record of problems. Given my past experience with the Asus AV7266, I steer clear of all products using their chips.
"Powers. I have them."
Ok, 7.5x7.5x2 inches is not my definition of fitting in the palm of my hand. Thats bigger than the drive bay mini computers.
CPU: VIA C3 Eden 733MHz
Memory: 128MB DDR266 SODIMM (expandable to 512MB)
Hard Drive: 30GB
Display Support: 1280x1024 maximum selectable resolution and up to 32-bit color
Audio: AC 97 compatible, Built-in Microphone, 3W
Amplifier, 4Ohm speaker, 3.5mm stereo jack x 2 (Ear/Mic Jack)
Front button: V5/PC switch button, Two Channels indicator, Volume Control Knob, Mic mute Button
Status Indicator: V5 channel (Blue); PC channel (Orange)
Power: Output: 18V DC, 3.4A, Input: Auto-sensing 100-240VAC, 50-60Hz Universal
I/O ports: USB (2.0) x 4, Ethernet Port x 2, PS/2 x 4, VGA x 2
Network Connectivity: IEEE 802.3 10/100BaseT x2
IEEE 802.11 Wireless PCMCIA
Operation System: Windows XP Home Edition / Professional Edition
Dimensions (W x D x H): 5.2 x 19.5 x 19.5 (cm), 2â x 7.7â x 7.7â (in)
Expansion Slot: PCMCIA Type II slot x1
Weight: 2.2lbs/1.0kg
Operation Environment: Temperature: 32ÂF to 97ÂF (0ÂC to 36ÂC), Humidity: 20% to 80% (non-condensation)
Accessories: Power adapter, Ethernet Cable, KVM cable, User Manual
Regulatory Approvals: FCC, UL, CE
-----
Looks interesting for someone who likes to carry her PC with her and her monitor on his back
Okay checked the Register article:
The V5 measures 19.3 x 19.3 x 5cm (7.7 x 7.7 x 2in)
Uhm, well the EPIA motherboards are 17 cm x 17 cm, so I checked Froogle and mini-itx.com but indeed I couldn't find cases that wrap around the mobo that tightly.
But maybe somebody can enlighten us?
...yet another piece of technology looking for a use instead of filling an actual need.
...judging by the spesifications is isn't much more than one of the lower-power mini-itx motherboards from VIA and some bundled perhipals.
So why not do as the good people over at mini-itx.com and roll your own? You may not save all that much money on it, but you can get a system thats tailormade for your needs and absolutly one of a kind... or you can molest some poor old computer and pimp it out with some new, faster hardware.
Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
How does one unavailable product kill another unavailable product? Sounds like Marketing has been reduced the school yard taunts about whos favorite super hero could beat up the others.
Because the larger something is the more difficult it is to put in your pocket. The point here is mobility and functionality greater than current pocket computers.
...Is it USB 2.0 Full Speed or High Speed?
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
They're merely asking you to be more Politically Correct.
Look at the advert - you will attract beautiful blond women, who will want to drape themselves ecstatically over your nimble.
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
How is this supposed to be an OQO killer? Granted, I can't get through to the site- it's 'dotted. However, I've seen the specs as posted here, and to me- as a person who really wants an OQO bad- it doesn't look like it'd replace the OQO.
Mostly, this thing doesn't have a display. Or touch screen. Making it a portable computer, but not a palmtop. The OQO is cool for a number of reasons, but one of them is that it is a real and quite fast machine in the form factor of a PDA. Yet, it can be "converted" into a real desktop or real laptop using docking stations. With an OQO, you can slip it into the docking station and expand it with a new AGP video card or new PCI cards. This is just a low-lower mini-ATX board. Nothing that special, although I'm sure there are some folks who would find the V5 useful.
I mean, this Nimble thing doesn't even run on a battery. It is very portable, in that it's small enough to take your office machine to and from home, keeping monitor, keyboard, etc at each location.
The only thing I've seen that comes close to being an OQO killer- but is just as much vaporware- is the MCC, or the Mobile Computer Core. Like the OQO, you can slip it into a number of "docks," making it a PDA, a notebook, or a desktop. I'd rather have the MCC's PDA over an OQO because it has a bigger screen but without being too big, but such dreaming is worthless when no one will make one of these...
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
Your sig should read, "The preceeding comment was complete and utter flamebait and should be modded as such."
its clearer.
It has no display, so it is not at all like OQO.
BTW, the display shortage is the only thing that is still delaying the OQO launch.
***Quis custodiet ipsos custodes***
Hush Tech makes a far better tiny computer that is also completely silent (except when using the DVD/CD drive). It looks allot nicer too, when used as a set-top box. The thing is powerful enough to be a DIVX/MP3 player, but it can also double as a TiVo or emulation based console gaming system.
Can't we be friends?
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
This one has been in development for a long time, and might yet solidify itself from the vapor surrounding the project.
http://minipc.vulcan.com/default.asp
Just as irrigation is the lifeblood of the Southwest, lifeblood is the soup of cannibals. -- Jack Handy
If you just want a small, light, portable PC, I think something like the Hush PC is a better choice.
If you want something smaller, you can get systems that fit into a drive bay here.
oqo now has to compete against the tablet pc. pda's are becomoing more powerful. cell phones are becoming pda's. this is not a market i would want to compete in, but is facinating none the less.
btw, how does a computer the size of a large book compete with something like a tablet which can fit in your pocket? poor comparison!
Ug-ly!
No, that thing wouldn't look good anywhere in my opinion, but then I do prefer the simple, square, black boxes. And the one I bought was cheaper as well...
home
Yellow dog Linux has had similarly sized Ultra small machines called the "briQ" for a long time now.
The only real difference here is that this "Nimble" thing is x86 compatible. whoop-tee doo.
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
I'm in the market for a tiny computer, does anyone know how this compares to Cappuccino PCs?
[o]_O
I can finally Workout the task without noisy PC!!
Although I'm still unclear on how Internet shrinking the world?
Oh well.
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
These are smaller(Dimension: 150mm x 106mm x 32mm (6" x 4" x 1.25")), cheaper ($499), have higher clockspeeds, have TV/VGA out, touchpad, but no cd, ... and can be bought online, even without windows (+ $125).
Exists since at least 2 years
It's okay, but unless you're talking about their 1GHz version, the performance is mediocre at best. The 733 MHz CPU compares favoribly on integer operations when compared to an equivalently clocked Celeron (About 1.25 times faster on average- mostly due to the higher FSB...) but is only about half as good as a Celeron on floating point operations. This is because the FPU is underclocked on all but the Nehemiah cores (1GHz and above...) by half the clock speed of the CPU.
The power consumption's great, but you need to be aware of the tradeoffs for that reduction in power- especially in the case of the earlier C3 cores. You want to use this as a set-top box machine or maybe as a home theatre PC if you're not planning on doing majorly strenuous things with it. As a business PC, it will do okay so long as you're doing something like worprocessing as your predominant task. Spreadsheets are going to drag miserably with this machine offering. A Nehemiah core machine would present itself well in the context of an office PC and while their price is MUCH higher than it ought to be for such a machine.
Fry's sells the 1GHz motherboards for about $140, the memory would set you back $60-120 depending on how much, a hard disk will set you back another $50-120 depending on what you bought, the special case for the new form factor motherboard will set you back $60-80.
So, doing the math, $310 is the base price for a better machine in a similar size factor.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
A DVD drive runs something like $50 or so for a decent one not on sale. So, the price is more like something along the lines of $360. Still quite a bit less than the $700 that this bunch is asking for it. I don't believe in paying THAT much a premium for "smaller" unless it brings something along with it like Laptops usually do.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
EPIA-M10000 motherboard : $140
mini-ITX case (basic): $60
128Mb of DDR RAM: $60
40Gb HD: $50
16x DVD: $50
Total cost: $360
That's all it takes to make a basic business PC these days. It won't be a barn burner, but it will do the job nicely no matter what OS you choose, 98, Me, 2000, XP, *BSD, or Linux.
(OT: The "lameness" filter is really lame...)
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Nimbletech Search on Google
Just do a search on nimbletech and you'll see the history of heart and headache you may find yourself falling into. Nimble Technology resurfaced a few times as different Nimble* names, but the same old bull. Defective hardware, non existant customer service, they sold me a monitor that was either broken before it left their warehouse or during shipment (arrived 2 months late on top of that), and it wasn't even the right monitor! it took me weeks of calls in order to get anything taken care of.
you might be better off staying away, if this is the same company.
just check this out for an example
How is this system any different from the Lex Lite except that it appears to be windows only ?
http://www.lex.com.tw/case-light.htm
(or www.linitx.com for the UK supplier)
Alan
(awaiting the SV823A's arrival in the UK)
Try a Sony U101
:)
Mod me up if this makes you drool
Sure it comes only with Japanese Win XP, but who cares when you're just going to send it to the big bit bucket in the sky where it belongs anyway? RH9 installs nicely.
And does Intel inspire confidence in you since the Pentium FDIV bug?
I have seen so many problems with so many computers that I'm confident that someone who trust a company based on its past record is simply naive. In the same way, if someone refuse to consider any products from a company because of its past record then I'm confident this person is a fool.
BTW, I was bitten by the KT133 DMA bug and at first I thought I'd never buy anything from VIA and Creative Labs again (not because of their faulty produts but because they both lied about it). Well, guess what... two months ago I had to buy a new motherboard and, after reading a lot of reviews, I decided to go with a motherboard with a KT333.
OQO reminds me of SCO!
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
I.E. no 'windows tax'.
Something like this would make a wonderful mini server to carry around, but would hate to pay the extra $ for windows just to erase it..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Why in the hell does everyone use VIA's processor in everything now? It's just about the most underpowered processor I've ever seen (and I've been involved in integrated/embedded processor integration and programming for years, so I've seen a lot of low-power processors).
The 800MHz C3 system I bought from Walmart (and later returned) was so underpowered that it couldn't even play a DVD without jumming (or seriously lowering the quality). Perhaps there are some optomizations that allow it to perform better, but obviously it couldn't be much better.
If you want a cheap, low power processor, why not get a lower MHz Intel/AMD notebook processor? My 1.2GHz Intel notebook processor has a tiny heatsink, and a extremely small, very quiet fan, yet the heatsink is only warm to the touch even after hours and hours of Divx encoding and compiling. I'm sure a larger heatsink could be used, or just a silent fan.
Please OEMs, use decent processors. People aren't stupid... They might fall for the inflated MHz ratings for a while, but not for long. It really ruins your reputation quickly.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Can anybody tell me what on earth you could possibly need 4 PS/2 ports for? If you're olde worlde then Mouse and Keyboard take up 2, but the other two?
And then there's the minor matter of 2 ethernet ports. Surely it would be WAY more cost-effective for the target market to put only 2 ethernet port in. All I'm saying is the specs are enough to weird me out already.
I know this might be a selfish post but it is appropriate. I am president of a company called NorhTec. We are shipping a small, fanless computer and have been since February. Several people have told me they tried to get our slashdotted but the posts were rejected. There are several reasons why people would buy these smaller products. Most of them are designed as standalone embedded solutions. They can be used to drive everything from medical equipment or even musical insturments. They can play a role in robotics are be used for large remote deployments. One of the major uses we are finding is for instermentation. People use these computers to take measurements. There are many places where space is a premium. Automobiles, oil rigs, ships, trains, planes and busses are some examples. Laptops are often used for these applications but if the application doesn't require a screen (such as a gateway or firewall) then a microserver will do the job more efficiently.
It has "USB (2.0) x 4, Ethernet Port x 2, PS/2 x 4, VGA x 2".
4 USB ports are fine..
but 2 ethernet ports - proxy server??,
4 ps/2 ports - 1 mouse, 1 keyboard, rest??
2 vga ports - ?!
I haven't heard of a weirder configuration than this before.
Bush is on fire and its not good for my lungs.
It still needs a human Computer Device. and of course FrogPad is it!
And don't even mention "low power consumption". To make up for it's performance this thing would have to generate electricity.
lets see, its slower (VIA cpus are much slower per Mhz than a TM5800 Crusoe), it has less ram, and doesn't have a display. since when does this compete with OQO?
besides, OQO build prototypes. they were nifty. but what anyone would use them for or why they would actually buy them was still a mystery. three customers does not a product make. 50,000 customers and you've got something...