Except for the (stupid) Windows CE “Netbooks”, there’s been nothing else out there that could preform like my old Psion netBook.

best design ever !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

however i don't really need web on my netbooks. i get along fine with the web on my mobile phone when out and about. not to everybodies taste but adequate for me.

if as the original poster wants something like the trs-80 then try the palm clone alphasmart dana. have been tempted by them myself.

This sentence would tend to contraindicate the model 100.

I believe the modern definition of “computing tasks” includes email and web connectivity. And a “mobile person” would need those networking capabilities to be wireless, no?

I even put GIS software on it (arcpad) and hooked up a GPS unit (eTrex) and did some real-time mapping and analysis.

Then I went and bought a Wifi card and found the real horrors of Windows CE and whatever version of internet explorer it had. Holy cow was any internet use a waste of time.

I ever knew of an organization that used these for training purposes, creating a wireless network and going at it. This was when the MobilePro was cheap since nobody was buying them.

The 'light' operating system with full compatability back to my desktop, instant on and the ability to find applications (windows CE apps) made me a huge fan. The confused looks from security personnel over 'what kind of laptop is this' was annoying to deal with. I always used to tell people it was a glorified palm pilot but the 'full' keyboard made it actually useful.

Loved the platform. Loved the concept. Hate that it is, essentially, dead. These netbooks are just slimmed up laptops instead of new platforms as described above.

(Psion 5MX user – still haven't found anything better)

The big appeal of Windows XP or 7 is that you can run the same applications on your netbook as on your big laptop or desktop PC at home.

With CE you can't – it is also called “Windows” and looks similar, but is really a totally different beast – you need different applications which are specifically built for CE, the selection is very limited, etc. It makes much more sense to go for Linux on ARM instead of spending money on CE.

If the ARM devices do sell at $200 or less, have the claimed battery life and light but full linux (with full browsers and openoffice, IM skype etc) then MS will have a big problem. Not in terms of revenue (how much of the $200 can be for the OS?) but there will be a big market segment dominated by linux and people will get used to it, costing MS in other segments as well.

On the other hand, having used the netbooks that are tiny, underpowered but full open and functional computers, I don't think we can ever go back to limited OSs. MS will have to support ARM with a real, and really low-cost OS if it wants to have a chance. Offering WinCE is probably a doomed strategy.

Anyway Windows CE just doesn't cut the mustard. Maybe if you got mobile Firefox (Fennec) up and running on it you'd have something but if you can manage that you'd probably just run Linux. Windows 7 lacks instant-on and between extra resource requirements and a limit of 3 applications I think it'll have a hard time penetrating this market. Time will tell.

I'll leave you with a blog post I wrote recently on the subject of netbooks and cloud computing:

“A netbook (a portmanteau of “Internet Notebook”) is a single-purpose device whose hardware and software is tuned for web browsing. Adequate RAM and CPU are required (as opposed to “abundant”) but minimal local storage and graphics are called for. Indeed in terms of data loss and breaches read/write local storage is a liability!

Pixels are important though (if not physical screen size) and it's good to see that devices like MSI's new 13.4 inch X320 are finally shedding the shackles imposed by vendors like Intel and Microsoft, whereby discount chips and licenses were only offered for physically small devices so as to pigeon hole them and avoid cannibalising premium sales.

There's nothing wrong with having an expensive Apple-style netbook (which by shedding features for supporting general-purpose use, like optical drives, magnetic media, graphics hardware, etc. are smaller, cheaper and run longer) and as you will see this year, nothing wrong with having a cheap, truly embedded single-purpose device running Linux on Arm. The third category (basically today's netbooks) fall somewhere in between.

I expect the industry to settle on ~13.3 inch ARM devices that run customised linux distributions for a (business) day at a time, for us power users to opt for more capable generic devices and for the distinction between a “netbook” and a “notebook” to blur over the coming years (as it did with the “migration” from laptop to notebook).”

I have used J720, Sigmarion 3 and still have a Smartbook G138.

The smartbook displays most web pages perfectly (can run opera 8.65) and does most tasks I require. Wifi or bluetooth is server up via a CF card. And if I ever need real power use then I just rdp into my server which takes 1 second to connect to.

Apart from games and high end video playback it serves my mobile computing needs nicely.

You say CE isn't supporting cortex netbooks but the fact the new WM smartphones are using Cortex's now I am sure CE will be updated to support cortex commands and as WM sits on CE I dont see the problem. Surely it is up to the OEM or Chip manufacturer to provide the CE BSP, as they did in the past, so really cant see where the change is.

there is enough software to give CE all the office, email and web support a mini laptop should require.

Anyway CE, WM, linux or otherwise I am looking forward to the cortex netbooks. I am sure due to lower power usage and no heat problems this will bring HPC sized devices back and at a real nice price.

John