About six hours after I posted my speculations about an HP UMPC, my inbox gets flooded with almost a dozen emails pointing the way to the Engadget story that came out today.
Yep, it’s a doozy, it would appear that the HP UMPC is not only alive, but much closer than we think. Based on documents Engadget obtained (and they look legit), it looks like it will be called the HP Compaq 2133.
It was speculated that it would compete with the Asus Eee PC on price, but I’m not sure how they can, based on the leaked specs.
Specifications:
– 8.9″ WXGA 1366×766 with a scratch-resistant coating
– Wireless LAN (a given)
– Near full-size QWERTY keyboard
– ExpressCard/54 slot (this is is interesting)
– Optional Solid State Drive (SSD) (makes a lot of sense)
– Around 2.5 pounds
– Microsoft Windows Vista or some form of Linux
If they can get this down to well under $1000, there’s no reason why it won’t sell extremely well. Putting aside HP’s branding helping, it’s a very good compromise between portability, size, and weight.
To be honest, I don’t lump it in with the Asus Eee PC, but rather the Fujitsu P1620. While the P1620 is a Tablet PC convertible, this is still about the same form factor, albeit a lot lighter.