The 12 Best Gadgets You Didn’t Buy
HP Jornada and Other HPCs
Google has been pushing its cloud-centric Chromebooks as the lightweight, long-lasting replacement for Windows laptops. But Microsoft spearheaded low-powered mini-notebooks way before they were cool. In the late 1990s, Microsoft and its OEM partners released 7 to 9-inch clamshell devices they called Handheld PCs. HPCs such as HP's Jornada line ran Windows CE, a scaled back version of Windows installed in ROM, while all local data was stored in solid state memory.
Like today's tablets, HPCs woke up instantly and lasted many hours on a charge. Most didn’t have Wi-Fi built-in, but you could add it via a card. Sadly, consumers couldn’t grasp the value of HPC and they faded away. If more people bought great systems like the HP Jornada 820 or IBM ThinkPad Z50, the era of always-on computing would have started years ago.
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September 28th, 2012 at 9:44 pm
But this particular piece of tech ( Lapdock) has inspired the next gen of tablet + keyboard = netbook combo … the Asus transformer line up, the new upcoming windows 8 tabs with docks ..
September 29th, 2012 at 12:09 am
Oh UMPC, how I miss you. I still remember a few years back how everyone tried to take a good glance at my awesome Vilive S5 UMPC at Starbucks, while they were stuck with using their netbooks.
September 30th, 2012 at 11:12 am
Well, that inspires me to watch a marathon of “Back To The Future” films on my Pioneer Laserdisc Player.
September 30th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
Oh man, if my contract would not end in 2013, The Kyrocera Echo would be mine! Maybe im the reason it stopped selling. :O
October 2nd, 2012 at 11:32 am
lol i did buy most of those things. I have viliv n5 (and s5), beos 4 retail box, kyocera echo, atrix with lapdock, and a dreamcast with network adapter and keyboard. My dad has a palm pre he got from working at HP, and he used to have the jornada and omnibook.
October 4th, 2012 at 10:19 pm
I miss my palm pre! Two android phones and one iphone 4s have not been good enough to make me forget my web OS wonder…
October 10th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Amigas were special. I miss that era of computing.
October 27th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Like some others here I have a Viliv S5, N5, and also an S7. These are great UMPCs that I use every day. It’s too bad that Viliv went under because they were really on the right track. The N5 affords me a full Windows 7 device with a keyboard, SD slot, USB, hours of use on battery power, and slips easily into a pocket. My S5 has 3G, 128GB SSD, GPS and all day battery. Awesome stuff. Also have a couple of Raon Digital Everuns and an OQO. All are/were unique devices but price doomed UMPCs to the beta/laserdisk/DAT club. Even in the age of the iPad I get “wow that’s cool” responses.