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Nimble V5 - The OQO Killer? 120

Posted by timothy from the bargain-at-half-the-price dept.
prostoalex writes "OQO was supposed to be a big advance in the personal computing field, but, alas, made it quick to vaporware list. Now another company will try its luck with a mini-mini-PC. The Register, PC World and MSNBC are all running paragraph-long blurbs about pocket-size Nimble V5 from Nimble Microsystems. The specs are - VIA 733 MHz, 128 DDR266, 30 GB HDD, USB 2.0, PCMCIA, no display, $699, supposed to ship this fall. Full specification available from company's Web site."
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Nimble V5 - The OQO Killer? More

Nimble V5 - The OQO Killer?

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  • I guess the site is hosted on one of their V5's... posted 2 minutes ago on slashdot and already slowing down...

  • Wow, its small! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Uart ( 29577 ) <feedback@@@life-liberty-property...com> on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:29PM (#6262963) Homepage Journal
    What is the intended market of these babies? I mean, it can't be midgets, we all know from the commercial that Verne Troyer (minime) uses a 17" powerbook.... ...oh, and imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things!
    • ..oh, and imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things!

      Drat! I wanted to say that! Oh wait, I can top that:

      How about a MOSIX cluster of these!

      • How about a MOSIX cluster of these!

        Hey, where have you lived?

        It obviously should read: "How about a openMosix cluster of these!"

        Or better: "How about running clusterKnoppix on these!" :-P

    • Re:Wow, its small! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by deadsaijinx* ( 637410 ) <animemeken@hotmail.com> on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:37PM (#6263010) Homepage
      the intended market seems to be people who want to do video conferencing on the go. though i'm not too sure how big the market for that is

      • Re:Wow, its small! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by rusty0101 ( 565565 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:54PM (#6263097) Homepage Journal
        Might I point out that it seems silly to market as a video conference device if it does not have a display. To me that seems to defeat the purpose of video conferencing.

        I am pretty sure that the only way this would work is if it has a composit or s-video out to plug into whatever monitor happens to bey available. Presumably the usb is there to support a camera. (something else to carry around) Along with the Wall-wart, the keyboard/mouse combo, and a 5" lcd tv you need to carry around for locations where you can't plug into an available tv, it kind of defeats the purpose as a video conferencing device.

        With all those requirements, a laptop with a pinhole camera would make more sense.

        Just my observations.

        -Rusty
    • Small and purty. I still have a small temptation to go completely retro [vwh.net] but I now think I'm being lured to the shiny side of the force.

  • Broken English (Score:3, Funny)

    by davidstrauss ( 544062 ) <`david' `at' `davidstrauss.net'> on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:30PM (#6262970)
    "Decorate your house with elegant PC"

    The slightly broken English on their main page kind of takes away from the elegant image they seek.

    • They're merely asking you to be more Politically Correct.
    • This reminds of a lot of Chinese restaurant menus. I swear they do it on purpose. Just they other day I saw the following:

      "Eat our magically delicious food to make tummy happy."
      "Succulent tasty bites with choice ingredient and orange."

      It makes me want to open up a restaurant with descriptions like:

      "Disgusting old meat that make you barf long time."
      "Like dog shit on hot road it make you gag."

      Hint: if you want to sell a product, hire somebody to check your grammar and spelling.
  • Seems to me like OQO is killing itself just fine without any help.

    I've wanted one for a year and a half, but the ever-receding launch date has gotten out of hand. I know they were accepting pre-orders at some point. Wonder if those people will ever see an OQO or thier money...

    In concept, of course, the idea just rocks.

    Cheers,
    prat
    • oqo now has to compete against the tablet pc. pda's are becomoing more powerful. cell phones are becoming pda's. this is not a market i would want to compete in, but is facinating none the less.

      btw, how does a computer the size of a large book compete with something like a tablet which can fit in your pocket? poor comparison!
    • I fell in love with the OQO concept as soon as I saw it. It's a pity that complications arose. I recently contacted OQO for an update, and got this response: Hi Jason and thanks for your interest in OQO. Yes - yes - yes - the product is definitely coming out. We are planning a major product launch in mid-September at PC Expo in NYC. Let me know if I can answer any specific questions. Regards, Steve Halland This was received on 06/10/03

  • I always wanted to.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by nano2nd ( 205661 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:31PM (#6262979) Homepage
    .."Workout the task without noisy PC" and whats more, it comes with "New life style".

    Where do I sign up??
  • The specs are - VIA 733 MHz, 128 DDR266, 30 GB HDD, USB 2.0, PCMCIA, no display, $699
    What kind of OS do they run? It must be Windows, unless it's some 'hyper-engineered' one they build themselves, you can get the hardware for about $400-500 in the USA, AFAIK.

    Site is down so I couldn't check...

  • Excuse me, if I may (Score:3, Insightful)

    by tomstdenis ( 446163 ) <tomstdenis.gmail@com> on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:37PM (#6263013) Homepage
    What's the dillio with these "mini computers".

    The whole reason desktops are so honking huge is because they have these PCI slot thingies you can cram shit in. If you really want to make a small computer do all surface mount stuff and dispense with the user upgradeable slots. I mean the PCI/AGP slots on an ATX mobo take up close to 1/2 of the mobo. If you removed them ... voila smaller board and smaller case required.

    Aside from the fact nobody makes computers like this [e.g. no third world labour setup to manufacture them yet] why is this such a special thing? I mean we have the technology in this day and age todo it.

    Tom

    • Re:Excuse me, if I may (Score:4, Interesting)

      by lpret ( 570480 ) <{moc.liamtoh} {ta} {24terpl}> on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:44PM (#6263051) Homepage Journal
      Getting rid of PCI/AGP slots only help with size, but it does nothing for less power required and less heat. By not having as much heat, your CPU can potentially run fanless, taking a lot of bulk out of the PC. Perhaps you can't think of a reason you need one, but that doesn't mean someone else doesn't.

      • The problem with the VIA CPU is performance... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Svartalf ( 2997 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @05:10PM (#6263662) Homepage
        It's okay, but unless you're talking about their 1GHz version, the performance is mediocre at best. The 733 MHz CPU compares favoribly on integer operations when compared to an equivalently clocked Celeron (About 1.25 times faster on average- mostly due to the higher FSB...) but is only about half as good as a Celeron on floating point operations. This is because the FPU is underclocked on all but the Nehemiah cores (1GHz and above...) by half the clock speed of the CPU.

        The power consumption's great, but you need to be aware of the tradeoffs for that reduction in power- especially in the case of the earlier C3 cores. You want to use this as a set-top box machine or maybe as a home theatre PC if you're not planning on doing majorly strenuous things with it. As a business PC, it will do okay so long as you're doing something like worprocessing as your predominant task. Spreadsheets are going to drag miserably with this machine offering. A Nehemiah core machine would present itself well in the context of an office PC and while their price is MUCH higher than it ought to be for such a machine.

        Fry's sells the 1GHz motherboards for about $140, the memory would set you back $60-120 depending on how much, a hard disk will set you back another $50-120 depending on what you bought, the special case for the new form factor motherboard will set you back $60-80.

        So, doing the math, $310 is the base price for a better machine in a similar size factor.
        • A DVD drive runs something like $50 or so for a decent one not on sale. So, the price is more like something along the lines of $360. Still quite a bit less than the $700 that this bunch is asking for it. I don't believe in paying THAT much a premium for "smaller" unless it brings something along with it like Laptops usually do.
      • It has "USB (2.0) x 4, Ethernet Port x 2, PS/2 x 4, VGA x 2".

        4 USB ports are fine..
        but 2 ethernet ports - proxy server??,
        4 ps/2 ports - 1 mouse, 1 keyboard, rest??
        2 vga ports - ?!

        I haven't heard of a weirder configuration than this before.
    • That's 'wat da dilly, yo?', jive turkey.

  • But why? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by orangesquid ( 79734 ) <orangesquid AT yahoo DOT com> on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:37PM (#6263014) Homepage Journal
    Why spend $700 on it, when you could spend $400 on an equally-powered, larger (not as easy to lose, sturdy/rugged), and easier to repair, maintain, and upgrade, system?

    Unless these things become as common cell phones, there won't be much point to them, except for some very "sophisticated" businessmen.

  • USB 2.0 (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:38PM (#6263017)
    Is that fullspeed or high speed?

    --
    What do you wan't to learn today? [wikipedia.org]

  • Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jcsehak ( 559709 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:41PM (#6263038) Homepage
    I'm not trying to troll here, I really want to know why anyone would get one, besides the coolness factor. I mean, if you need something small and quiet, you get a laptop. If you need maximum expandability (PCI slots, room for a big fancy heatsink, etc.), you get a tower system. When you add a $200 display, the price tag goes to $900. That's how much an iBook costs. I'm sure there are even cheaper laptops on the PC side. This seems like the worst of both worlds.

    • Re:Why? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by the uNF cola ( 657200 )
      Simple. They want or need one. Supply and demand baby.

      Where would you use one? For say, an entertainment centre... or in a studio (1 room apt) or other tight spaces. I don't like having 4 full size computers under my desk, PLUS my mac. Getting 4 of these would free up MUCHO space.

      • Re:Why? (Score:2, Funny)

        by slittle ( 4150 )
        Nothing's free dude. VIA processors have the computational power of a crooked slide rule - you'd need at least a dozen of them to equal your current capacity.
        • As one may say, you get what you pay for. If you need something small and uber-fast, then you go for something that's small and uber-fast. If i wanna host an internal webserver, imap and dns for my domain and my household... it'll prolly hold up fine.

          If i need something to host something that intense, go with mini-atx or something.

      • Re:Why? (Score:1, Flamebait)

        by deadsaijinx* ( 637410 )
        giving them to me would also free up the space ;]
    • I could see this working well (size-wise) in embedded applications... if it had a little IO.

      But that doesn't seem to be their target and there are already products (most notably PC/104Plus) that fit the bill quite nicely.

    • I really want to know why anyone would get one

      Look at the advert - you will attract beautiful blond women, who will want to drape themselves ecstatically over your nimble.

    • Re:Why? (Score:3, Informative)

      by mdielmann ( 514750 )
      I mean, if you need something small and quiet, you get a laptop.

      I beg to differ. When the fan on my Thinkpad kicks in, it's almost as loud as my desktop. Considering it's 18" from my head, as opposed to the >36" for my desktop, I wouldn't call it a quiet solution.

      I'm thinking of getting a fanless computer for my next desktop. I don't do a lot of gaming where I need the high-end CPUs, and value silence more than unused clock cycles. OTOH, I'll probably build my own in the faint hope of saving a few
      • I know this is OT for the story, but I have my server in another room, and all my other computers are all P133 Dells with no fan as xterms. My lab is whisper quiet except the AC. I play, like, zero games, so it's a perfect setup for me.
        • Yeah, I was thinking of that as an alternative to paying the premium for a quietdesktop computer, but I work in a Windows environment :( and running Citrix or Terminal Services is such a PITA. It doesn't seem to matter how much you throw at it, it never runs fast enough for you to forget the lag...

  • Anything running VIA... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Ransak ( 548582 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:45PM (#6263055) Homepage Journal
    ... doesn't inspire confidence in me with their past [ina-community.com] track record [viaarena.com] of problems [pcbuyersguide.com]. Given my past experience with the Asus AV7266 [asus.com], I steer clear of all products using their chips.

  • mini-mini? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by viware ( 680138 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:46PM (#6263058)
    Ok, 7.5x7.5x2 inches is not my definition of fitting in the palm of my hand. Thats bigger than the drive bay mini computers.

  • Full specs from website (Score:4, Informative)

    by Ricin ( 236107 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:49PM (#6263068)
    CPU: VIA C3 Eden 733MHz

    Memory: 128MB DDR266 SODIMM (expandable to 512MB)

    Hard Drive: 30GB

    Display Support: 1280x1024 maximum selectable resolution and up to 32-bit color

    Audio: AC 97 compatible, Built-in Microphone, 3W
    Amplifier, 4Ohm speaker, 3.5mm stereo jack x 2 (Ear/Mic Jack)

    Front button: V5/PC switch button, Two Channels indicator, Volume Control Knob, Mic mute Button
    Status Indicator: V5 channel (Blue); PC channel (Orange)

    Power: Output: 18V DC, 3.4A, Input: Auto-sensing 100-240VAC, 50-60Hz Universal

    I/O ports: USB (2.0) x 4, Ethernet Port x 2, PS/2 x 4, VGA x 2

    Network Connectivity: IEEE 802.3 10/100BaseT x2
    IEEE 802.11 Wireless PCMCIA

    Operation System: Windows XP Home Edition / Professional Edition

    Dimensions (W x D x H): 5.2 x 19.5 x 19.5 (cm), 2â x 7.7â x 7.7â (in)

    Expansion Slot: PCMCIA Type II slot x1

    Weight: 2.2lbs/1.0kg

    Operation Environment: Temperature: 32ÂF to 97ÂF (0ÂC to 36ÂC), Humidity: 20% to 80% (non-condensation)

    Accessories: Power adapter, Ethernet Cable, KVM cable, User Manual

    Regulatory Approvals: FCC, UL, CE

    -----
    Looks interesting for someone who likes to carry her PC with her and her monitor on his back

    • My Fujitsu P1120 [fujitsupc.com] has more or less similar specs, weighs the same, and comes with a beautiful touch screen display.
    • not too bad. not too good either. then again the site is down so I haven't been impressed yet with its compactness.

      The one thing I don't understand is why they put ps/2 ports in it and 4 at that. I would think that in trying to achieve a minimal form factor they would do away with the legacy/unneccesary connectors that just take up room. Why would anyone use serial for keyboards/mice anyway? Apple hasn't for 5 for so years and they seem to be coping well. USB should have completely replaced it years ago,

      • Re:Full specs from website (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        My gut sense is that it is just a mini-itx mb in a small case. There are plenty of tiny PCs available already that are powered off of 110. As far as being inovative or interesting, hardly, it's just another offshore vendor trying to tart up their badge engineered crap.

        I was (am?) really looking forward to the OQO. As far as I'm concerned the perfect portable PC is about the size and weight of an eBook, has no keyboard but operates portably via touch screen kbd or sytus. Has no cdrom/floppy internal, but

  • Looks like... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stubear ( 130454 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:54PM (#6263096)
    ...yet another piece of technology looking for a use instead of filling an actual need.

  • Nice idea, but... (Score:4, Informative)

    by WegianWarrior ( 649800 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @02:56PM (#6263101) Journal

    ...judging by the spesifications [nimblev5.com] is isn't much more than one of the lower-power mini-itx motherboards from VIA [via.com.tw] and some bundled perhipals.

    So why not do as the good people over at mini-itx.com [mini-itx.com] and roll your own? You may not save all that much money on it, but you can get a system thats tailormade for your needs and absolutly one of a kind... or you can molest some poor [mini-itx.com] old [mini-itx.com] computer [mini-itx.com] and [mini-itx.com] pimp [mini-itx.com] it [mini-itx.com] out [mini-itx.com] with some new, faster hardware.

  • How does one unavailable product kill another unavailable product? Sounds like Marketing has been reduced the school yard taunts about whos favorite super hero could beat up the others.

  • Yes, but... (Score:2, Redundant)

    by macemoneta ( 154740 )
    ...Is it USB 2.0 Full Speed or High Speed?

  • this is totally different from an OQO! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RevAaron ( 125240 ) <revaaronNO@SPAMhotmail.com> on Saturday June 21, 2003 @03:15PM (#6263182) Homepage
    How is this supposed to be an OQO killer? Granted, I can't get through to the site- it's 'dotted. However, I've seen the specs as posted here, and to me- as a person who really wants an OQO bad- it doesn't look like it'd replace the OQO.

    Mostly, this thing doesn't have a display. Or touch screen. Making it a portable computer, but not a palmtop. The OQO is cool for a number of reasons, but one of them is that it is a real and quite fast machine in the form factor of a PDA. Yet, it can be "converted" into a real desktop or real laptop using docking stations. With an OQO, you can slip it into the docking station and expand it with a new AGP video card or new PCI cards. This is just a low-lower mini-ATX board. Nothing that special, although I'm sure there are some folks who would find the V5 useful.

    I mean, this Nimble thing doesn't even run on a battery. It is very portable, in that it's small enough to take your office machine to and from home, keeping monitor, keyboard, etc at each location.

    The only thing I've seen that comes close to being an OQO killer- but is just as much vaporware- is the MCC [antelopetech.com], or the Mobile Computer Core. Like the OQO, you can slip it into a number of "docks," making it a PDA, a notebook, or a desktop. I'd rather have the MCC's PDA over an OQO because it has a bigger screen but without being too big, but such dreaming is worthless when no one will make one of these...
  • It has no display, so it is not at all like OQO.
    BTW, the display shortage is the only thing that is still delaying the OQO launch.

  • Hush-Technologies (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Jagasian ( 129329 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @03:25PM (#6263225)
    Hush Tech [hexus.net] makes a far better tiny computer that is also completely silent (except when using the DVD/CD drive). It looks allot nicer too, when used as a set-top box. The thing is powerful enough to be a DIVX/MP3 player, but it can also double as a TiVo or emulation based console gaming system.
  • This one has been in development for a long time, and might yet solidify itself from the vapor surrounding the project.

    http://minipc.vulcan.com/default.asp

  • nicer C3 machines out there (Score:4, Interesting)

    by 73939133 ( 676561 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @04:00PM (#6263375)
    If you just want a small, light, portable PC, I think something like the Hush PC [mini-itx.com] is a better choice.

    If you want something smaller, you can get systems that fit into a drive bay here [caseoutlet.com].
  • Ug-ly!
    No, that thing wouldn't look good anywhere in my opinion, but then I do prefer the simple, square, black boxes. And the one I bought was cheaper as well...
  • Yellow dog Linux has had similarly sized Ultra small machines called the "briQ" [terrasoftsolutions.com] for a long time now.

    The only real difference here is that this "Nimble" thing is x86 compatible. whoop-tee doo.

  • zerg (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Lord Omlette ( 124579 ) on Saturday June 21, 2003 @04:42PM (#6263549) Homepage
    I'm in the market for a tiny computer, does anyone know how this compares to Cappuccino PCs [cappuccinopc.com]?
  • I can finally Workout the task without noisy PC!!

    Although I'm still unclear on how Internet shrinking the world?

    Oh well.

  • These [cappuccinopc.com] are smaller(Dimension: 150mm x 106mm x 32mm (6" x 4" x 1.25")), cheaper ($499), have higher clockspeeds, have TV/VGA out, touchpad, but no cd, ... and can be bought online, even without windows (+ $125).

    Exists since at least 2 years

  • I have a better Idea (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Try a Sony U101 [mattdm.org]

    Mod me up if this makes you drool :)

    Sure it comes only with Japanese Win XP, but who cares when you're just going to send it to the big bit bucket in the sky where it belongs anyway? RH9 installs nicely.
  • OQO reminds me of SCO!
  • I.E. no 'windows tax'.

    Something like this would make a wonderful mini server to carry around, but would hate to pay the extra $ for windows just to erase it..

  • The specs are - VIA 733 MHz

    Why in the hell does everyone use VIA's processor in everything now? It's just about the most underpowered processor I've ever seen (and I've been involved in integrated/embedded processor integration and programming for years, so I've seen a lot of low-power processors).

    The 800MHz C3 system I bought from Walmart (and later returned) was so underpowered that it couldn't even play a DVD without jumming (or seriously lowering the quality). Perhaps there are some optomizations th

    • Except the M10000 is the Nehemiah, which sports extreme advances over the 800. M10Ks have full speed copros now, and a Multimedia chipset with hardware decoding of DVD video, plus a electronic noise based random number generator. Via chipsets are also used because they still consume half the wattage of their Pentium-M 'competition*'

      * in quotes because the boards don't realy compete with each other. The VIA chipsets are for embedded systems, not laptops. Also, the VIAs were designed ground-up for low powe

  • And don't even mention "low power consumption". To make up for it's performance this thing would have to generate electricity.

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