CheckMag | The Ultra Mobile PC sadly seems to have been relegated to history, but here are 3 alternatives you can still buy today
Probably one of the most famous UMPCs was the Sony Vaio UX, with its groundbreaking slide up screen and palm sized form factor. However the Kohjinsha SC3, Fujitsu U810 and the venerable OQO model 1 were among the most desirable of these pocket sized PCs back in the UMPC heyday. They were largely replaced with the truly awful, but extremely cheap “Netbook” like the Asus EEE PC, and these days your only options are thin and light notebooks or gaming handhelds. However, there are still some devices around that resemble, or outright replicate the UMPC formula and there isn’t a joypad in sight.
GPD Pocket 3
The GPD Pocket 3 is getting a bit long in the tooth these days, but GPD still advertise them among their product listings. This 8 inch laptop is unique not only because it can be specced with a Core i7, but because it has a port selection to rival even the best full size laptops. Not only that, but modules that fit in the back of the unit allowed users to switch between a gigabit ethernet port, extra USB 3.0 port or even an RS232 serial port for connecting to the console port on a switch. This makes the GPD Pocket 3 an excellent device for network admins that don’t want to carry a full size laptop and a bunch of dongles. The keyboard is serviceable for such a small device, the screen rotates and it supports touch input with 4096 levels of pressure.
One Netbook A1 Pro
Similar in specification and released around the same time, the One Netbook A1 Pro is a direct competitor to the GPD Pocket 3. One Netbook doesn’t actually manufacture them any more, having moved on to larger 10 inch laptops, however they can still be purchased from Geekbuying and Aliexpress.
The A1 Pro is slightly smaller than the Pocket 3 with a 7 inch screen, but offers the same specs including the i7 processor (although it can be purchased with a dual core i3), touch screen and twisting display. It even comes with the RS232 serial port and gigabit ethernet simultaneously, no switching required.
8 inch mini laptop
This one seems to be suffering from an identity crisis. Amazon.com lists it as the “8 inch Mini Laptop HD Touchscreen Portable 2-in-1 Small Computer for Business and Students” from a company called Kooforway. It seems to be a direct clone of both the GPD pocket and A1 Pro. It still offers a good port selection, rotating touch screen and gigabit ethernet, though the serial port is conspicuously absent. It is also equipped with an Alder Lake N100 chip and a bizarre 12 GB RAM. That being said, the reviews on Amazon are generally positive and at least if it turns out to be a lemon you have Amazon’s return policy to fall back on. At only $419 it might be worth a punt and there are a number of similar clones from equally bizarrely named companies. If this form factor is of genuine interest, you might be better off stumping up the extra cash and going for something from a named brand.
Of course, these days the UMPC form factor isn’t quite as clear cut as it used to be. With products like the GPD Win Mini and GPD Win Max, the line between gaming handheld and UMPC blurs. Equally, you could simply drop the controllers from a Legion Go, attach a Bluetooth keyboard and call it a UMPC, or even build your own out of a Raspberry Pi. However, the UMPC will always hold a special place in many people's hearts and it's a shame the form factor is so under represented in 2024.
Source(s)
