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HardwareZone's 10th Anniversary Special

10 Years of Notebooks - Part 2: Rise of the DTR, UMPC and Netbooks

Notebooks - Part 2: Rise of the DTR, UMPC and Netbooks

Even while the processor wars raged on in the mobile world, manufacturers too are introducing new mobile computing products that are derived from the concepts of making your desktop computer mobile. Manufacturers have come up with ways to make notebooks smaller, while keeping to almost the same processing power. While these models are derivatives of notebooks, and they do share some similar aspects, these machines have created their own unique niche in the mobile computing world.

Introduced in 2006, Ultra Mobile Personal Computers (UMPCs) are small computers that resemble their larger tablet cousins in functionality, but are designed less for drawing and more for interaction. UMPCs in general have an 8.9-inch screen or smaller to keep to a petite form factor and utilize an Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) processor for efficient power savings. With the introduction of the Intel Atom processor in 2008, things are starting to look up for this niche market of mobile computers.

While UMPCs tend to fulfil a niche user group, netbooks have taken the consumer market by storm. Most noticeably led by the ASUS Eee PC brand, netbooks powered by Intel's Atom have entered mainstream market consciousness with its lightweight, small form factor (10.2-inches and below) and an affordable price. Where UMPCs tend to cost a lot more, netbooks are generally much cheaper though recent models have slowly started creeping up in price.

 Seen here is the ASUS Eee PC 900, which was the last model to use the older Intel Celeron M ULV processor before the advent of the models which used Intel's newer Atom processor.

The notebook world isn't just restricted to getting smaller and smaller. While ultra-light laptops have been around for awhile, it's the newer crop of desktop replacements (DTR) that have gotten lots of loving attention and have started making its way into consumer homes. Featuring all-in-one entertainment features, or having enough graphical processing power for the latest crop of games, these DTRs are powerful enough to supplant desktops while remaining 'mobile' and are competitively priced; a far cry indeed from the older days of notebooks.

Given a world with limitless imagination and infinite variations, it's going to be an interesting experience to watch what happens in the next ten years. So far, our last ten years has since steady improvements and growth of the notebook market, and we're not too far from the days where notebooks will become powerful but light weight companions that are a required accessory in our lives.

 

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