Why I Think UMPC

I believe for my day to day use I could replace my laptop with a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC for people who didn't know). Generally UMPCs are just small computers with screens ranging from 5-9" running the Windows OS for full application compatibility.

I would love to be able to have a computer that will work WITH me. I should be able to move around my house, be able to work on documents for school, or do edits and such for websites I work on. A laptop is just to large and not particularly stylish to carry around. In high school when you see someone whip out a laptop it just shouts nerd lol... I believe a UMPC can help me achieve all of these aspects. Portability for my work and a place to dock when at home for full screen usage.

Though I would use it for work its gotta have the power to provide some entertainment for me. I wouldn't mind carrying around one of these devices so I can get some good video playback on a decent sized screen. I'd also love to be able to play some RTS and old school games on it as who doesn't like to play games? For mp3 playback I would stick with my phone and of course it would be my infamous internet device through which I would do all my browsing on. A device that could provide a great environment for which I can do all of the above in and at a decent price is something that I find compelling.

My Hardware to Fulfill My Needs Pt.2

As a continuation from my previous post, I'll talk about other hardware I use day to day. Other devices include my Nokia N95 8GB smart phone, which I use as a all in one device, and a SimpleTech 250GB HD.

My storage and transfer options I use for my computers is a 250 GB Simpledrive external HD which I use to transfer files back and forth from my desktop to my laptop and for my laptop to play video files off of as it only has a 80GB HD. Now this external HD needs to have an available AC outlet so it can power it which is extremely inconvenient. My desktop has a 14 in 1 card reader and my laptop was suppose to have one, but the reader itself is missing from the socket so I must settle with this.

Now with on to my favourite device, the N95. With this phone I pulled out all the stops as a student like me doesn't make a huge amount of money so when I purchase a device I want to make sure that it gets its moneys worth of use. I don't like to carry around different devices to perform different tasks but before I had this phone I had some random phone off of Rogers, I used an Ipod shuffle for my music, and an Archos 604 for my video. Carrying around all these devices was extremely inconvenient for me so with my purchase of the N95 I got all of those devices wrapped into 1 compact device with the plus of the 5 megapixel camera. I like to take pictures of my family so the high end camera makes the use of having a camera on me all the time a great bonus. Most images, if not all, I post on this blog come from my N95 phone. Without this phone now surviving through days would be so much harder.

So this concludes how I use my hardware. Now you have a general idea of how I use my current hardware. Thus this begins my search for a new device to add to my collection, a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC for the people who don't know what that stands for). I will post findings on what I think about individual UMPC's and my thoughts on how I can use them in my day to day life to make things a lot easier for me.

My Hardware to Fulfill My Needs Pt.1

Right now I own a desktop and a laptop to deal with all my computing requirements and I use a N95 8GB smart phone to deal with many different needs as a all in one device.

I use my desktop for home use and I use it for anything that requires a lot of processing power. I use it to play the latest and greatest games, burn and lightscribe DVD's (as I do that a lot), and downloading anything necessary because of the bigger hard drive in comparison to my laptop.

I use my laptop for school and watching media around the house, and basically everything that's not major gaming so that I don't bog down my desktop. I prefer to watch my T.V. shows around the house and on the go as I never have much time to sit and enjoy an episode of something and I prefer to work on websites on my laptop so that I can bring it with me anywhere if I need it, but my laptop is in no way portable.

My laptop I do all my work on.

My laptop is a 15" celeron computer, the speed is fine for me for my needs, but 15" is just way to big to be really "portable". Also the battery is dead as I may get 20min on a full charge with this baby so I must stay plugged into an AC outlet at all times, defeating the purpose of a laptops portable even further. When I want surf the internet around the house without being at my desk or if I want to go watch a season of StarGate while I eat I have to lug this laptop upstairs and make sure I remember the AC adapter or my laptop will go into hibernate and stop my show or just whatever I am doing at the time.

I'll continue with the rest of my hardware in my next post as I bet this one is already long enough haha....

Welcome

Welcome readers to Tek Quarters, a blog for all things technology that affects us as consumers and me as a student. Major things I will be looking at are cell phones, computers, and UMPC's. Over the past 6 months I have had the opportunity to use various high end cell phones and I will post my thoughts on them, how I use them from day to day, as well as my search for the right UMPC that best suits me, a collection of my thoughts mainly.