http://www.dynamism.com/#Product=inkia_mid5
http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/01/15...slate-computer

This seems like a LITERAL full-on laptop in a pocket size computer. Nice! Maybe THiiiiiiiS is what should replace my N800 for its $350 pricetag? I'll bet Debian or even Ubuntu would work out-of-the-box (so to speak), given the chipsets and processor they list. NEAT!

Gotta wonder whether it'll boot USB drive or USB CD-ROM drive. NEAT... and VERY VERY hackable, I'd bet.

The price is just right, but not good for Linux . Problem will be linux driver support for the Intel GMA 500.

That sorta depends. GMA 500 support seems pretty good in Ubuntu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#GMA_500_on_Linux

You'll probably get the best support by running Moblin, it should be amazing on that device and it has the best support for GMA chipset of any Linux distribution.

Atom.. = poor batterylife

Dunno about the Inkia mid, but the Viliv X70 (also with Atom) boasts more than 5 hours of video or 6 days stand-by. It probably has a bigger battery, but still, equating Atom to poor battery life is not necessarily correct...

I'd be more concerned about the lack of both video-out and keyboard. A device meant for viewing content needs the former while one meant for communication needs the latter, IMO.

Edit: Well, to answer my own objection, here's a very concise and logical article explaining why Atom is NOT a good idea:

http://www.alltouchtablet.com/articl...tom-cpus-1024/

...so I guess meizirkki was right after all...

while i dont like the idea of a atom in such a device, i am unsure about the articles need for HD. It seems the tech world is HD crazy, even on device screens that make such resolutions pointless (especially if there is no video out that can handle the HD traffic).

tho i guess the argument can be that in the future, everything will be HD resolution by default, and as such one need to be able to decode it, even if one cant make use of it. If that is the case, i say we rather lobby for a format that can handle both SD and HD in the same container, and switch between them depending on the playback. Storage is cheap these days.

But that would leave marketing and tech pundits without a job, so thats probably asking for a scolding by the blog sphere...

tso, I think that blue-ray disks do provide a lower resolution stream than the HD one (not sure, I don't own any blue-ray media or devices myself).

The idea of having different versions of the media to make it backwards-compatible is really logical, since the relative storage requirements for lower resolution content are an order of magnitude smaller than those for the hi-res one. However, this idea has not penetrated much the tech world; for example, Skype (who are now introducing HD video telephony) are saying that it is going to be two-way only, i.e. unless I have 3Mb/s upload speed and a hi-res videocam, I cannot see the other end in HD (even though my download speed is sufficient and THEY may have the proper video equipment). Similar logic applies to the long-delayed video telephony in the mobile devices: while they function perfectly well within the 3G video calls, Skype says the resolution is inadequate to use together with a desktop client, which is total BS because it could be asymmetric just as well... I guess other companies aren't much smarter than Skype in this regard...

also, it can be a incentive for consumers to buy replacements for "older" products...

As the owner of an OQO 02/e2 I would like to correct a couple of comments. First, the Atom is extremely thrifty when it comes to power versus any other x86 chip currently in production. It will not run at default speeds as long as an ARM chip but its speeds are higher than ARM chips which are currently in production. If you want to maximize battery life you can always run it at less than 100% of maximum (a feature available in Vista and Win7 and, I would assume, in some Linux distros). OTOH, the biggest battery drain is no longer the CPU, it's the screen, and a 5 inch screen sucks a lot more power than a 3.5 inch screen.

As far as the heat and fan noise mentioned in the linked article, my OQO runs a Via C7M chip at 1.5GHz. It generates enough heat that it requires active cooling and the fan is noticeable. However, one of the benefits of the Atom is that its thermal specs are significantly better. The Viliv S5 which runs at 1.33GHz is fanless. I would be very surprised if the Inkia which runs at 1.1GHz has a fan.

That said, the new crop of x86 MIDs is very interesting. They can definitely serve as a full computer in your pocket with three caveats. First, while they are faster than the NITs they are slower than most laptops - about the same speed as an average netbook. Second, regardless of the improvements that Intel has made, their battery life is measured in hours, not days. Third, they are bigger and heavier than the NITs - about 12 ounces for the Inkia versus 8 for the N810.

Personally I can live with their limitations and I use my OQO (which has the advantage of built in 3G) constantly.