At CES Intel touted a new platform that they call Ultrabook. I asked what was made them ultra since we already have notebooks and netbooks. I was told that Ultrabooks have the following features:

• Extremely thin – 21 mm or less
• Instant on capability.
• Increased battery life due to solid state drives.

The Ultrabook display was huge. I was a little disappointed that they had such a small area to talk about security. I did learn there though that several features built into the Ultrabook are theft protection (remote tracking and deletion) as well as token based identity protection.

Super slim laptops with excellent battery life are certainly welcome.  They look a lot like MacBooks to me though.  What do you think?

(Note: I included the photo of the Samsung Series 9 even though it was not included in the Ultrabook display.)

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In the meantime I was using a Windows-based PC to fill the role of home theatre PC – until it died a few weeks ago. I hadn’t been able to sync my iPod and it really sucked because I wanted to download new music. I needed to replace the PC, but was I willing to shell out the kind of cash needed for a Mac mini?

The PC I was using has a smaller footprint and was pretty lightweight which is why I decided to bring it into the living room. Despite the small size it had nothing on a Mac mini’s form factor. I really wanted that extra small form factor so I started doing some research on small form factor PCs. I found several but decided on the Foxconn because I know that most major hardware companies outsource their manufacturing to Foxconn.  I also figured that these devices are cheap enough that if it did suck it wouldn’t be that much of a loss.

I ordered a Foxconn Netbox barebones kit, a 160 GB 2.5″ Western Digital hard drive and 2 GB Corsair memory chip for a grand total of $260. The machine is extremely tiny; it’s basically a netbook without the screen, keyboard and battery. Assembly took no effort at all. What took a lot of effort was imaging my old 3.5″ drive onto the new one, but I know it took less time that it would to do a fresh install of Windows. I also had to install the drivers that were included on CD (an external CD drive is required to do this).

Features

From the packaging:

This barebones kit integrates an Intel Atom D510 dual-core processor with comprehensive performance and low power consumption. It can support up to 2GB DDR2 667/800 memory and one 2.5’’ SATA hard drive. This barebones kit also boasts Intel GMA 3150 graphics, 7.1-channel audio with SPDIF output and Gigabyte LAN, as well as HDMI port, card reader and 6 USB 2.0 ports.

Four USB ports are on the back and two on the front. For video output it has HDMI and VGA ports. For audio there is a combination analog 3.5 mm output that doubles as an optical output on the back and of course you can use the HDMI output. On the front there are headphone and microphone jacks. There is also a memory stick/SD card reader on the front. For network connectivity, the Netbox can do wired or wireless.  It comes with a stand to allow the Netbox to sit vertically on a surface, feet to allow horizontal placement and a bracket for mounting on the back of a flatscreen display.  The only downside is the lack of an internal optical drive.  These are still a lot of features packed into a system that measures only 7.48″ x 5.31″ x 0.98″.

My Setup

I have the Netbox connected to my TV via VGA cable and to my shelf stereo system via optical cable.  (I had the unit connected via HDMI alone but I had to give that port back to the cable box.) It’s connected to my network and the internet via wi-fi. I’m using a low profile Bluetooth dongle to connect a Bluetooth keyboard w/ touch pad.  The machine is set up to dual boot Windows XP and Ubuntu.

I’ve been watching TV shows via the Hulu Desktop application.  iTunes has the same bloat issues as before but I was able to get the new music on my iPod without problem.  I was able to get Netflix up and running again after resolving a DRM issue caused when I copied my old drive.  Netflix, Hulu and iTunes are the main reasons for the home theater PC so I am satisfied.

The Verdict

I am happy with the small size of this device as well as all the ways I can connect it.  I am also happy with the way Hulu and Netflix run.  I’m not sure how happy I could be with iTunes on a Windows machine but it does what it needs to do (eventually).  I will, however, watch for any hardware issues.  I will report back if I encounter any.

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They came with Ubuntu 8.04 preinstalled with included a Dell interface and a lot of Yahoo branding.  I attempted to connect my Bluetooth keyboard (a ThinkOutside keyboard designed to work with Palm devices) but it wouldn’t make the connection.  I have used this keyboard with Ubuntu 8.10 which I installed on my regular laptop so I decided to install it on the Mini too.  I’m never one to tinker with something that’s brand new (I still won’t jailbreak my iPhone) so this was new for me. After I thought that the install was successful, I realized that I had no sound.  Oh noes!

After havng no luck on the Dell website, I decided to just use the internetz to find the answer.  It’s a good thing that I’m not the first to do a clean install of Ubuntu on the Mini.  I found out that the no sound problem is actually to be expected.  It simply requires an update update to a config file to recognize the sound card.  I still have a problem with Samba though but I have this same problem with my regular laptop.

Because of the “issues” I caused, the BF has decided to keep the preinstalled Linux version on his Mini which is great because I get to compare side by side.

In spite of the issues that I created, I really like the Mini.  The screen seems quite large compared to some netbooks I’ve seen.  The letter and number keys are about normal size but the punctuation and other keys are small.  The location of the right Shift key and the apostrophe keys are somewhat annoying.  Because I hit the Enter key when I mean to type an apostrophe.  I’m getting better with using that Shift key though.  I am astonished by how light the Mini is; after using the Mini the first night, my 12 inch laptop seemed very heavy.

This is my opinion after the second day of use so I will have to post an opinion after using it for a while.

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Woot!

I built this PC three – no, four – years ago and the internal video card does not support wide format resolutions. *Gasp* The funny thing is that I added this new video card, not for gaming or any other video intensive application but, to be able to watch online video in wide format on my TV.

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Really?

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From what I recall going over the history of computers as a computer science major (seemed every class included history), there are several types of computer – super computers, mainframes, mini computers, workstations, and microcomputers also known as personal computers. These are not platforms but instead based on scale and usage. A personal computer (PC) is any computer that is meant to have one user at a time. Whether the computer is running Microsoft Windows, Mac OS or Linux it is still a personal computer.

What is commonly referred to as PCs now was once called IBM or IBM-compatible computers. I’ve always heard that IBM and Microsoft made decisions that propelled them to have the majority of the personal computing market share and Apple made decisions that caused them not to, even though they had a graphical user interface long before Microsoft even dreamed of having one. It has been generally accepted that Mac had a better product than IBM. I’m not arguing for or against that. What I am disputing is that Mac could be “versus” PC when it is in fact a PC as well.

Did Microsoft claim “PC” as their own? Or did Apple seek to differentiate itself from the Windows-based computers by calling them PCs? It’s time for some conjecture and unsubstantiated speculation. What I imagine happened was that Microsoft claimed the term PC (IBM once claimed PC to differentiate itself from other microcomputers). Microsoft does, after all, have an overwhelming majority of the personal computer operating system market. Then Apple decided to sell the belief that their product is better than the PC. I’ll agree that the Mac operating system is better than Windows but that doesn’t mean the hardware is as well. Apple has to tell us that though because their machines cost twice as much as a comparable Windows-based machine. And along with this “belief” comes some free advertising from Apple as I notice some people who own Macs are very specific about their computers. They don’t say “I’m using my laptop” but instead “I’m using my Mac Book Pro.” Instead of just saying “computer” they say “Mac mini” or “iMac”.

The thing that bothers me about Apple’s commercials as well as Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” commercials is that neither are about the technology itself. Most consumers (Mac users included) don’t even know anything about the specs of their computers nor what the full capabilities even are. What these companies are selling is lifestyle. It’s not about the technology at all – it’s about marketing. If it were about technology, it would be “Mac OS vs. Windows” or “iMac vs. Dell” and so on. If they made it about technology someone might ask why Apple would allow Windows to run on the machines via Boot Camp. That also begs the question of whether Apple will allow folks to run Mac OS on cheaper non-Apple machines which probably won’t happen soon.

Anjuan Simmons, a fellow Twitterer, says this kind of marketing works because humans are tribal by nature. He’s probably right because the Windows vs. Mac argument tends to go the same way as the Republican vs. Democrat, Redskins vs. Cowboys, Coke vs. Pepsi and any number of other heated arguments. I personally don’t understand how so much emotion gets involved in what boils down to personal preference.

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