Get rid of laptops?

It's a impellent thought getting rid of that bulky notebook computer in your bag in barter for something tiny, sleeker, and just capable of action the things you need it to do. Most family, back all, don't need to run Photoshop or 3D games when they're on a business trip or on top in class. They exact have to research their e-mail, surf the Web, conceivably hack concertedly any office documents or rectify a database. Why can't something tiny do the plot??
It's a compelling nightmare, but it's something we haven't in truth seen departure into validity yet. The most latter-day catastrophe: Palm's Foleo, a sleek, $500 Linux-based mini-laptop that was nullified by Palm a few weeks ago. The Foleo lower to side with a mass of awkward teens in the fete. Call them sub-laptops, or UMPCs, or ample-PDAs. I term them the Center Things.
Our prized Middle Thing is the OQO Model 02. Yes, it's exorbitant-a recent result cut took the base model down to $1,299-but for that you get a great 5-inch screen, a accessible thumb keypad, EVDO wireless Internet, and exact sufficient ability to run Windows XP. The OQO's top contestant is the Sony VAIO VGN-UX180P, which is a bit speedier, but a lot less fit in the screen-and-keyboard department.

The Vulcan FlipStart is even and plush than the OQO, and the plump clamshell "has all the allure of an electrified fence," according to our editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff. So what's its glamour? Extravagantly, star potential: it comes deriving out of a outfit backed by Microsoft generator Paul Allen. The 5.6-inch screen, copious for a Between Thing, is addition strength, and the battery life is all right. But higher-end applications will be hobbled by the non-upgradeable 512MB of RAM.

So far, these mini-PCs are priced like toys for the bleeding-crook elite. Two marks we've reviewed have burst the $1,000 barrier, but they're contrarily crippled. The Raon Everun, a brand-new import starting with Korea, advocates to equipment Windows XP into something the size of a voluminous smartphone and charge "only" $799. That's marvelous, as is the battery life-up to 11 hours applause to a rad-low-efficacy processor. Efficacy and keyboard distinction, on the fresh hand, aren't up to the mark.