ULPC Identity Crisis
August 12, 2008 - Tom Greer
Filed Under Netbook Market |
When I first launched this site, I wanted to focus on the Ultra Low-cost PC (ULPC) niche. It was clear the the Eee PC was in a league of its own - and that there were soon to be many competitors. But everyone was referring to these product with different terms.
Some old terms were expanded to include the Eee PC and its lemmings. Ultraportables, for example. The problems is, when you talk about ultraportables you include a lot of other products that are not in this market niche.
ASUS-Lamborghini VX3
Similarly. the UMPC crowd is trying to claim these newcomers as well. But when I hear the term ‘UMPC’, I picture a product without a keyboard that fits Microsoft’s project Origami concept. The Eee PC is clearly not a UMPC in my mind.
Samsung UMPC Image from microsoft.com
For a while, people tried the terms mini-laptop and mini-notebook. These are easy to understand. You still see them used once in a while, but they really have not caught on.
The Ultra Low-cost PC (ULPC) term developed some traction earlier this year. It got a boost when Microsoft used this term when they extended Windows XP’s life by announcing a special program for ULPCs (they have alternately referred to these devices as ULPCs or ULCPCs). I like the ULPC term because the low-cost is the primary differentiator for these devices.
The term “netbook” was invented by Intel, I believe. This new term has now been widely adopted to cover this class of machines. I’m not sure why, but I actually like this term a lot. It rolls off the tongue a lot easier than ULPC. Most importantly, when someone said netbook, you knew what they were talking about.
A while back, I adopted the netbook (and nettop) terminology and changed our masthead to reflect this.
But now, the netbook term has become so hot that now every laptop manufacturer seems to want to call their latest invention a netbook. That’s great when the shoe actually fits. But sometimes it clearly does not.
Fujitsu Lifebook U2010 Ultraportables
For example, the Fujitsu Lifebook U2010 is certainly an ultraportable. It ships with Microsoft Origami, so that makes it a UMPC. Because it ships with an Intel Atom CPU, many blogs and news outlets are referring to it as a netbook. Here are a few: Engadget, TrustedReviews and T3.
With a rumored price tag of around $1300 and configured with Origami, that doesn’t fit my mental image of a netbook.
Similarly, Toshiba recently unveiled a prototype of a new 5.6″ UMPC. Here is a picture:
Toshiba 5.6" UMPC Prototype
Softpedia and many others called it a netbook. Does that look like a netbook to you? Me neither.
On the other hand, there is the M912 that Gigabyte is introducing. Here is a machine that sits in the grey area.
Gigabyte M912
Here is a product that shares many features with second-generation netbooks: Intel Atom processor, 8.9″ display, a compact keyboard, 1.3 megapixel webcam… But it adds some twists, like the screen which rotates and is touch sensitive like a tablet PC. It also ships with a larger-than-typical hard drive (160GB). And you can get it with Windows Vista. Prices start at $699.
That is close enough to me to wear the netbook label. So I have decided that I will be covering this in an upcoming article.
The issue with which I am presently wrestling, is that not all netbooks are ULPCs. Clearly, Asus is planning to introduce a number of higher end ultraportables that will bear the Eee PC label. I expect that some of these will not be “low-cost”. Other manufactures will follow suit.
Since my website is dedicated to ULPCs, where do I draw the line? When does a notebook get small enough to become a netbook?
I don’t have a clue. If you have some recommendations, please comment below.
In the meantime, I’ll just have to decide as they come along. I think I’ll be very busy.
What is a ULPC?ULPC Downsizers - Who are they?What ULPC Customers WantSubnotebook vs. UMPC vs. Netbook RevisitedNetbooks Have Killed Off UMPCsComments
One Response to “ULPC Identity Crisis”
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Your website and articles are most insightful and I believe, clairvoyant on the upcoming PC industry’s future trends. I will be visiting your website from now on on a regular basis, as I agree on the whole with your insights.
Keep those interesting comments coming, please.
Peter.