Right now it replaces most of the webbrowsing and reading functionality of my notebook. I think that within 15 years a n810-sized device will have enough computing power and storage to do what the average person needs, just like a notebook has replaced a desktop for most people now (except for General Antilles). You then just need to just hook it up to a roll-up-screen and an external keyboard.

How can it be a failure? It barely got into the prototype stage...

My desktop is plenty powerful for what I do; in fact, it's overkill. I never play any games or run any particular cpu intensive programs. That's why the n800 is perfect, it suits my simple needs and it's very small and portable. A laptop would simply be a waste of money for me.

Bottom line is that a Tablet device and iGo keyboard nestle nicely together in a shirt pocket.

For websurfing, IMing, emailing, WOIPing, Media-Playing and notetaking (even w/voice recording)...that's all you need.

Asides from the obvious CPU/RAM upgrades, the only truely revolutionary step would be a larger virtual screen somehow.

I bought the N800 exactly because it could be a laptop replacement for me, and actually be more useful to me than a laptop. I realize a lot of people do need a laptop.

It's easy to see something new and expect it will replace the old. I personally don't want a web based word processor. I don't want my data going who-knows-where. But a company might want two people updating the same document at the same time. That might work for them.

Frankly, i see typical office apps - spread sheet, word processor, etc., as desktop - especially for the home market.

Death of the PC is just hype at this point. You'll have to pry OpenOffice from my cold dead fingers.

I had a 3.5 pound subnotebook in the mid 90's. 486/25. I loved it. It died after 3 years, and i couldn't justify replacing it that quickly. So i replaced it with a Palm. At 1/6th the cost, replacing it after 3 years was more doable. But i've repaced the Palm with a 770. The 770, with 64 MB RAM, and 2 GB 'disk', kicks over the 486. But the software back then was much smaller, and i had better functionality then. Of course, no one would use Netscape 4.73 anymore. And video was out of the question. It might have been able to play mp3's (it might not) but there wasn't enough disk anyway. I wrote database backed web apps on it, and read books and manuals. 640x480 monochrome.

I still remember the Spectrum 16...

The 770 supports text to speech (with flite). It has a microphone. So, you can already take notes verbally (maemorecorder). If it could do speech->text, even if it weren't in real time, then i could see death of the keyboard. But i hear further than that - death of the written word by 2050. I don't see it. I'd like to play with speech->text, but in the mean time, i'll get a bluetooth keyboard.

Spectrum 16 - uhm, Sinclair? That's nearly as primitive as my first machine. $900 and worth every cent. But today, really, get an 8080 software emulator for whatever you've got. Cheaper (probably free). Easier to use. Faster. Less noisy. Hours of fun.

For me, my NIT pretty much has replaced my need for a laptop. But there are still some annoyances:

1) I don't like being constrained to the small screen even when I'm at a desktop. Some form of remote display to my desktop machine, or video-out (or both would be ideal). Being able to display the NIT's screen as a window on my desktop would be great ... but just including VNC Server in the base distribution wouldn't be enough: it needs to have encryption built in.

1b) a bluetooth keyboard is nice, but I'd still like to have an actual, easy to use, USB Host slot for bluetooth keyboard and mouse (which also means mouse support in the base product).

2) Some basic productivity apps, all of which are syncable to my desktop (or to Google): Calendar, Contacts, Todo, real IMAP email, Word Processor*, Spread Sheet*. (* even if they're just viewers, and not editors) All included in the basic OS, all fully integrated with everything else on this list. Modest is getting there in fixing the IMAP client problem... but I shouldn't need to add on things like GPE and Erming ... especially when the GPE stuff doesn't appear to use the included contacts app.

3) the included Xterm app really needs to be replaced with the enhanced xterm. It doesn't remember your settings (toolbar or no toolbar, etc.). It doesn't let you set the background text color (I'd definitely prefer white text on a black background). It's nice that they finally included it with OS2008 ... but they included the wrong implementation. (it would also be nice if there was an easy way to select 80x24, since the resolution ought to support it; but I don't now what font and font size you need in order to get that)


From there, it would probably replace my home desktop (I'd only need my home server) as well as mean that I'd never really look at a laptop again. But I'd still have my desktop at work. Though, my home desktop might get replaced by a very thin client or KVM switch (depending on the display options for #1) (the KVM would be sharing the home server's monitor/keyboard/mouse with the NIT, for when I want to work on a larger keyboard and display).

But, that's really all I need a laptop for at this point: a larger display, and a larger keyboard, than the NIT. Well, at some point, maybe also more storage space. But that could be handled with Bluetooth HDD/SDD devices.