How is this for an ultraportable?

From the Register:

"ES 2007 Sony will bring its Flash-based Vaio UX ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) out of Japan next month when it ships the UX Premium Micro PC in the US. Premium by name, premium by nature - the handheld wireless computer will retail for a whopping $2,500.

But boy does it look smart. Unlike the current UX, the Premium edition - aka the UX390N - comes entirely in black and sports a blue-backlit black QWERTY keyboard. Internally, the star of the show is the 32GB NAND Flash-based solid-state drive, backed by a 1.33GHz ultra-low voltage Intel Core Solo U1500 processor and 1GB of 400MHz DDR 2 SDRAM.
The UX390N's display is a 4.5in, 1,204 x 600 touchscreen powered by the Intel GMA950 graphics core integrated into the machines 945GMS chipset. It's Vista-ready, said Sony, but not up to Vista Premium spec, despite the host machine's name.

The 0.5kg UMPC has 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a GSM/GRPS/EDGE cellular modem on board. There's a VGA (300,000-pixel) camera on the front and a rear-mounted 1.3 megapixel camera.

The UX Premium Micro PC will ship in February, Sony said."

This and an Mbox Mini and you have a pretty kick ass portable rig?

I want one.

I'm not much of a computer geek, but what's the functional difference between flash memory and RAM? Something about the bus?

Flash in this instance is a replacement for a platter-based HDD.
This device still has RAM- but rather than a HD with moving parts- the HD is flash based- hence faster and more reliable.

RAM does't retain data upon powering down/off, while flash based information is written to the medium and stored for later recall.

And, unless this new flash based HD uses a newer technology, it shouldn't write faster than a mechanical platter-based HD - even a 3200RPM. No doubt, it will be way more reliable and cost efficient. Looks nice! Where's Apple"s version?

Not trying to put a damper on this product, especially considering its sheer GREATness, but isn't the fact that FLASH Memory has a relatively limited lifespan well documented? Can't you only write to it several thousand times?

This was one of the issues the manufacturers had to overcome.
I believe it has been addressed.

Have a look at these:

http://www.storagesearch.com/semico-art1.html

http://www.storagesearch.com/bitmicro-art1.html

As an Apple dealer, I have no official comment on anything they may or may not be working on.... not that I have any inside info anyway. heh

But, wouldn't tomorrow be a great day for a new device like this from Apple?

Carpal Tunnel, thy name is Vaio

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=100446 heh

heh yeah, those keys are small. Like the touchscreen idea though. I'll wait for the Mac version.

Saw this one already:

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/...readid=1477637

wikkid small and portable, but I'd hate to have to edit on something that tiny!!!

Very cool tho!

Verne Troyer's mobile rig???

heh