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Handhelds Hardware

885g Pentium Sub-Notebook 94

Posted by CmdrTaco from the little-is-sometimes-better dept.
Alicia (ad454) writes "A new sub-notebook was released in Japan today, the JVC InterLink Victor MP-XP7210, which is one of the smallest notebooks around in recent years that does not have a Transmeta emulation processor. It has a true Pentium-III 800MHz processor, weighs only 885 grams, and is only 225x152x28mm in size. It also comes with 256MB ram (384 max), 30 GB harddrive, 1024x600 TFT display, SoundBlaster Pro compatable audio, V90 56kbps fax/modem, 10/100 ethernet, USBx2, IEEE1394 (ilink/firewire), cardbus type 2 PCMCIA, and SD memory slot. You can get the specifications, which are in Japanese; you can use Alta Vista to translate it. A number of stores in Tokyo are selling it for (JPY)209,800. It would be interesting to hear what type of opensource Unix (NetBSD, Linux, etc.) and X-windows driver support exists for it. Although some may find the keyboard and screen too small, many of us find it quite useable, especially when compared to a PDA."
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885g Pentium Sub-Notebook More

885g Pentium Sub-Notebook

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  • With only 1.5h battery time (Score:3, Informative)

    by mocm ( 141920 ) on Saturday June 15, 2002 @10:19AM (#3707646)
    I'd rather get a Sony Vaio U with Transmeta CPU.
    Have a look at these specs [conics.net].
    • What is it with these tiny laptops that don't have longer battery life than an iBook or tiBook [apple.com] which has around 5 hours of battery life. I would think that if you had a tiny laptop, you'd probably be using it mostly away from any power source.
      • What is it with these tiny laptops that don't have longer battery life than an iBook or tiBook [apple.com] which has around 5 hours of battery life.

        These tiny laptops are far, far smaller than even the already small iBook - smaller form factor means less space to put a battery.

        The iBook also owes some of it's long battery life to that fact that it's a bit underpowered for the task - OS X is fairly slow in my opinion, whereas a PIII 700 will run Windows 2000 or Linux just fine without lag.

      • Most Sony Vaios mini-notebooks can last 10 hours or longer with an additional battery. That is much longer than the iBook or Titanium isn't it?
      • My Sony Picturebook, with a Quad battery, can last 10 hours. Doesnt that beat the iBook? And mine can run Linux on an x86 architecture. Although my current 128mb of ram chokes Windows 2000 it runs Gentoo quite well (Gentoo w/ enlightenment consumes 50mb on average). What are the advantages of an iBook? (And that sentence is serious, not a troll ;) My picturebook is smaller, lighter, and has a long battery life. And it was $1200 new (last years model).
    • I have one (baought my from dynamism [dynamism.com] and i can get up to 4 hours of battery life. This little machine has actually proven to be quite useful. the battery being the black thing under it, is, i admit, a bit small, but its a compormise between size and sexiness. and it is definitly sexy.

      The built in network card has support for PXE booting so you could probably get your own linux distro on it.
      Its small size makes is optimal for war driving ;-)
  • Can anyone post the actuall spec's for us lazy folk. As well, where does one get one of these fancy books? I doubt my local future shop has any in stock..
  • I am sorry, but I am not big on the idea of using a laptop from JVC. Nothing against JVC, but that are not in the computer market. Laptops are complex devices, and when a new company enters this market, their first couple of products are usually full of bugs. I remember the hell I went through supporting a few Sony laptops when they first came out, at my last job. Drivers were crap, tech support was non-existant, and you could fry an egg on them once they had been running for 10 minutes.

    It will be interesting to read any reviews...in english that is. Babblefish just doesn't cut it for me. I wonder if it will come to the US.

    -Pete
    • I do agree with you about new companies in the picture.. However, I don't think JVC is new to this industry. I just don't think they import any to the USA. Look at Panasonic. I haven't seen any Panasonic/Matsushita or even Sanyo or Sharp laptops here. When I went to Japan a few months ago on business, they all had a plethora of cool laptops in japan.

    • Re:JVC Laptop? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by QuaZar666 ( 164830 )
      What makes you believe that JVC makes it? Most Laptops are made by 3rd partys such as Quanta, Toshiba, and a few others and then people put there names on it.

      The new Imac is even made by Quanta. The name on the machine does not mean they made it.

      -Qua
  • why firewire? i guess it has (barely) the juice to do video editing, but not nearly the screen real estate video editors want. I guess you could use that for external storage, but then if you are using those the device isn't so portable anymore. The price is smaller than i expected ($1690.57) and that will probably get even lower if it hits the states. I think it's an ok little subnotebook, but still MUCH bigger than a pda, and too limited to be of any real use.
    • You should see some of the small firewire drives that're available out there now. I've seen a few different models specifically designed to match the look and feel of Apple hardware like the Powerbook Titanium that're so small they'll easily fit in your shirt pocket.

      Plus, there's a chance you could even use an iPod with one of these things. iPods are simply another tiny firewire drive that happens to play music. In fact, you can even -boot- a Mac from one of them.
    • ``why firewire? i guess it has (barely) the juice to do video editing, but not nearly the screen real estate video editors want.''
      Sorry, I'm missing the connection here. FireWire is good for lots of things. It isn't yet as widely supported as USB, but it's an excellent way to connect things like CD-burners. Overall I think that this is a pretty interesting product, although I would still prefer a PDA over a notebook for the longer battery life, lower price, and hiher portability (materialwise, not softwarewise).
    • I disagree.

      My Inspiron 5000e has an 800 MHz PIII chip in it, and you could boil water on the right side of the keypad under a heavy CPU load.

      On the contrary, I think this thing looks like an expensive hand warmer that doubles as a PDA.
  • or 1,789.15 Euro
    or 2,613.96 Canadian
    or 3,018.88 Australian

    Cheaper than I expected, really. Anyone else remember the days when any decent laptop ran you at least $3,000 US?

  • YEN!!! (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Why couldn't slashdot do some work and save me some time by converting Yen to Dollars!!
  • Man, that notebook is almost lighter than the heatsink on my CPU!!

  • Oh come on (Score:5, Informative)

    by indole ( 177514 ) <fluxist.gmail@com> on Saturday June 15, 2002 @10:29AM (#3707681) Homepage

    Well that page was spectacularly useless.

    For an English-language press release try: here [jvc-victor.co.jp] instead.
    (and dont forget to notice the big bold capped FOR THE JAPANESE MARKET ONLY)

    • Re:Oh come on (Score:3, Informative)

      by jsse ( 254124 )
      FOR THE JAPANESE MARKET ONLY

      They couldn't help, in view of high tariff on Japanese-made electronics. Like Sony, they've to find markets where they could get a quick sales for new products. Yes US is a huge market, but it's not a desirable market for new product initial lanuch.
  • One of the Japanese to English translations that we all know and love:

    "Maximum correspondence speed: 56 kbps (believes) 33.6 kbps (delivers a letter) / FAX14.4 kbps V.90/K56flex.. Standard.. (from. Cuts for)"


    "Sound Blaster Pro. mutually. Inside."

    "LCD expresses (main body) 1024×600"
  • I think laptop can get to small. Really this just seems useless. I'll rather have a Thinkpad.
  • Thas is beganning to whory me.
  • Yeah, despite the fact that it's an excellent piece of technology, there's still some things(like PDA's) that does a better job at being a PDA. If you want a laptop, get a proper laptop .
    Hmm, I'm sure a lot of people will think differently...
    Nevermind.
    I'm just jealous because I can't afford one yet...
  • There's a fine line between sub-notebook and PDA. While on the inside, a sub-notebook such as this one would woop on any PDA at the moment, what more is it really going to do for you over lets say an iPAQ for $1000 less. Are you really going to want to type a lot of emails on that tiny frustrating keyboard or atleast emails of any greater length than you tap out on your iPAQ? A P3 800 is nice but are you really going to be playing Quake on it or typing that research paper in Office XP? Also surfing websites on that tiny screen at insane resolutions would get old real fast. The 30GB storage is nice and I think is one thing PDAs need to address in the near future but other than that, I don't see the cost benefit. Perhaps I just don't have the patience for expensive impractical toys.
    • Are you really going to want to type a lot of emails on that tiny frustrating keyboard or atleast emails of any greater length than you tap out on your iPAQ?

      When I'm in my office or at home, I'd plug it into an external display, keyboard, etc. But no matter where I am, I have all my data, all my apps, etc., and the small screen and keyboard is good enough for short-term access. I can use it in a plane, on a bus or in a cab if inspiration strikes. I can copy any reasonable amount of data onto it from wherever I am.

      PDAs do have the advantages that they effectively don't need to boot, and the app when you start is the same one that was there when you last shut it down.
  • What bothers me with these sub laptops with tiny keyboards and screen sizes is the OS they try to run: Windows XP. The input manager in this OS is not appropriate to use such little cursor devices. The screen is way too small to do anything very seriously. On the other hand, WinCE (at least the UI, not the kernel) or better Linux Familiar (www.handhelds.org) would look way more appropriate. Why bother with XP?

    PPA, the girl next door.

  • 885g, wow! (Score:3, Funny)

    by cheebie ( 459397 ) on Saturday June 15, 2002 @10:53AM (#3707755)
    When I read the subject, the first thought that popped into my head was "885 GHz! Holy cow, how did they do that?"

    Then I noticed the rest of the writeup and the small "g". Darn.
  • The new LifeBook is only slightly larger, has a 7-hour battery, 1280x768 screen, DVD, 3 lbs, and built-in wireless.
  • I've got a real yen for one of those!!!

  • Other machines (Score:4, Informative)

    by smoondog ( 85133 ) on Saturday June 15, 2002 @11:01AM (#3707790)
    885 grams == 1.95 pounds

    This article is a bit of a ridiculous pitch, here are Other machines come close:

    The Dell X200 [dell.com] = 2.8 pounds (800 MHz processor, 12.1)

    Fujitsu Laptops (Various w/Transmeta) [fujitsupc.com] - P1000 is 2.2 pounds, $1299 starting

    The Toshiba Portege [toshiba.com] - 2.6 pounds PIII750, bit expensive, $2199

    -Sean

    • Re:Other machines (Score:3, Informative)

      by juuri ( 7678 )
      Sharp has an awesome series called the UM stateside that were called the "Murasame" in Japan. I bought one of the Japanese models because they weren't supposed to come stateside but they did...

      Anyoo here is the list [sharpplace.com] of the models which start at $1299 for a 2.9lb 2/3 of an inch thick laptop.
    • I can beat all of those with my Libretto 70ct -- 850g (1.88lb)

  • Price (Score:1, Redundant)

    by ZeLonewolf ( 197271 )
    In case you were wondering, that's around US $1700 by today's exchange rates.
  • Forget the SD slot if you want to use Linux. The SD specs are under NDA, even the Zaurus uses a proprietary driver to access the port.
  • What about the sony u1 [dynamism.com] that slashdot already had an article about?

    It weighs less (820grams) has smaller dimensions (184.5 x 139 x 30.6) and has virtually the same specs (but with an 867MHz Crusoe instead and only a 20GB drive).

    It also costs way less! 149,800 yen [sonystyle.com].
  • Expect a slow AltaVista response from this, but here's the easier way to click directly to a translated version of the specs page:
    Translation [altavista.com]
  • The Japanese have always had a lot of cool things that a geek would kill for. I can recall seeing a some thing similar many years ago that was completely competitive to the laptops of the time.

    Most of the cool things never make it to sateside.

    Some japanese electronics shopping areas have become a regular pornopopulust of technologia. The land of techno-lust deluxe.

  • Back in May on Slashdot there was this [slashdot.org] article on the Sony Little Vaio. It seems to have comparable specs, but I think I like the way the pointer works better. There is a stick on the right side of the keyboard that is made for you to move and click with your right thumb.

    It is kind of interesting how vendors are coming at the portable market from different angles. You have devices like these superlights from JVC/Sony/etc., then you have the smaller PDA's from Palm/Sony/HP/Sharp. Then of course there are the mobile phone makers developing organizers, etc into their phones. And finally there are a plethora of companies making "webpad" devices.

    I guess what I am waiting for is the ideal convergence of these devices. I like the superlights because they have the keyboard, pointing device, and the clamshell design, but they are still a little large for casual carrying around (ie. can't fit in the pocket.)

    Who knows where things will end up.

    --Jon
  • If this interests you, you should take a look at the Sony VAIO SRX Series [sonystyle.com]. Here are the specs for the latest model:
    P3-850
    256 Meg RAM (exp to 384)
    30 Gig HD
    V.90 Modem, 802.11b, 10/100 all built in
    Firewire, USB, Sony Memory Stick, PCMCIA slot
    4 Hour battery life (8 with double life battery)

    I have one and absolutely love it. It is the same size as my paper notebook and just slightly heavier (2.7 lbs).
  • Here is a link to the product page in English [jvc-victor.co.jp] in case you can't read Japanese

  • Sounblaster Pro = 8bit sound (Score:3, Interesting)

    by zealot ( 14660 ) <xzealot54x.yahoo@com> on Saturday June 15, 2002 @01:06PM (#3708261)
    I wonder if it really means Sound Blaster PRO compatible... I used to have one of these cards, and it's 8 bit, rather than 16 bit like most generic, non-dsp sound cards now. This means that, for example, mp3s will sound absolutely horrible (kind of like listening to music on AM radio), if they'll play at all.

    When I first heard about mp3's in early '97, I ripped a song and tried playing it on my 486 with a Pentium 83MHz overdrive chip, and a sound blaster pro. Sounded just awful. I knew then that for my next computer I'd need a 16 bit sound card...

  • 1kg...is sold in the US for under $1500 (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ndege ( 12658 ) on Saturday June 15, 2002 @01:55PM (#3708404)
    Lifebook P-1032 (700MHz Crusoe, 128 MB, 20 GB, Windows XP, 8.9" TFT)

    The coolest part of this one is the fact it has a touch screen just like we have come to expect for pda's. And, I have a friend that is running debian on one without any trouble.

    And, it weighs in under 1kg.

    Pricegrabber has it for $1393 shipped to my home.

  • crippled little things (Score:3)

    by aminorex ( 141494 ) on Saturday June 15, 2002 @04:17PM (#3708898) Homepage Journal
    Why are all the little notebooks using dinky 20g
    harddrives and topping out at 256/384MB? It peeves
    me that the first thing i have to do when i spend
    a couple grand on a lap is replace the hard drive
    and expand the memory. It peeves me even more that
    the memory doesn't expand to something reasonable
    for a modern application load, like 1G/2G
    reasonable. Finally, what's up with the display
    sizes? I know they can put a decent resolution
    into a 10" screen -- but you can't find one on the
    market. The newer picturebooks and librettos are
    almost reasonable, at 1280x768.
    And this crappy proprietary hardware stuff has
    got to stop. I'm not going to buy a piece of
    hardware I can't control.

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