Do you think handheld PCs will ever be a thing again?

[Tairetsu]

I mean, I gotta question why they even stopped being a thing to begin with...the Smach Z looked promising, but the kickstarter for that kinda bombed and even tho they gave all the money back and said they were gonna try again we haven't really heard from them ever since, so that dream kind of died. 

 

But seriously tho, is the market for those things really so niche? I get that smartphones and tablets kind of let you do almost anything normal people would do on a regular PC on the go, but it really isn't the same, I can't play LISA on my phone, or other PC exclusives, I can't use full versions of some software's on my phone, or even do things like browse full versions of websites comfortably, archive browsing, etc, etc, etc.

 

I hope the rumors of the Surface Pro Phone turn out to be truth, a smartphone running a full version of Windows and using x86 architecture (not sure how the fuck they would power that unless it's a low specs PC which is probably reasonable all things considered). Idk, maybe it's just me, but I really can't see how this things weren't selling like hot cakes unless they were priced ridiculously or something. 

[Josephdalepi]

to be honest, i really want one of these

i would love it

the razer switchblade looks promising, but they dont seem to have made any progress

[WarWeeny]

you already have portable PCs, it is called a laptop.

[Tairetsu]

4 minutes ago, Josephdalepi said:

to be honest, i really want one of these

i would love it

the razer switchblade looks promising, but they dont seem to have made any progress

Razer did something like this a few years back, with the Razer Blade tablet or something like that, I don't remember the exact name, it was basically a gaming tablet with a full version of Windows, so kinda like a beefier surface pro. Tho i'm fairly sure that bombed. 

 

But then again, I would also think that the main reason it bombed is because it costed like 1200$, and wasn't really that much different from their ultrabook, tho i'm not sure if they already had the Razer Blade ultrabook back then, maybe the tablet was the inspiration for that. 

 

Edit: nevermind, the name was Razer Edge 

[Josephdalepi]

Just now, Tairetsu said:

Razer did something like this a few years back, with the Razer Blade tablet or something like that, I don't remember the exact name, it was basically a gaming tablet with a full version of Windows, so kinda like a beefier surface pro. Tho i'm fairly sure that bombed. 

 

But then again, I would also think that the main reason it bombed is because it costed like 1200$, and wasn't really that much different from their ultrabook, tho i'm not sure if they already had the Razer Blade ultrabook back then, maybe the tablet was the inspiration for that. 

razer edge

ive got one

 

for 1200 bucks, its not bad

its crazy powerful still

damn thing has a full fledged i5

 

they didnt have an ultrabook back then

that came out this year

 

ive got the blade pro and edge pro, and to be honest i really really want the blade stealth

[Tairetsu]

6 minutes ago, Josephdalepi said:

razer edge

ive got one

 

for 1200 bucks, its not bad

its crazy powerful still

damn thing has a full fledged i5

 

they didnt have an ultrabook back then

that came out this year

 

ive got the blade pro and edge pro, and to be honest i really really want the blade stealth

I know! it also has a 960m inside of it right? which is danm impressive for something that size. Kinda envy you, I always wanted one, but they ran out everywhere before they even had time to drop on price, and the few places you can still find them they still go for about the same price.

 

Which I mean, is reasonable, because for a tablet that thing is ultra powerful to this day, I don't think there's any other tablet in the market so powerful. but I do gotta imagine that if they never continued with the series is because it didn't sold as well as it should of have, and personally I do think it had something to do with the price tag, maybe having lower end versions with less powerful hardware would of helped.  

 

Also the stealth is kind of interesting, the idea of notebooks that plug into desktops seems like it would have a bigger audience, somehow, and that's cool, tho I personally do want to have juice on the go, since my main reason for wanting portable computers is that I often find myself in the situation where I need to have all the power with me outside of my house, and carrying a tower, even a mini-ITX one with me just kinda, I mean, guess it could work, but if I could avoid it I would definitely do it haha. 

[ShadowCaptain]

23 minutes ago, Tairetsu said:

SNIP

 

You can get 7" full blown windows tablets

 

I use a Linx 8" tablet and an ipega controller that clamps around my tablet
The new linx 8 even has a razer style controller case for gaming

ok its only an Atom but its very slim and light, and can play older titles just fine (been playing doom 3 BFG on mine)

[Tairetsu]

10 minutes ago, ShadowCaptain said:

 

You can get 7" full blown windows tablets

 

I use a Linx 8" tablet and an ipega controller that clamps around my tablet
The new linx 8 even has a razer style controller case for gaming

ok its only an Atom but its very slim and light, and can play older titles just fine (been playing doom 3 BFG on mine)

 

Oh yeah, now that you mention it, I have seen some of those tablets starting to pop up a bit, they are kind of recent for the most part, aren't they? I imagine mimicking the relative success of the Surface Pro line. They're definitely the closest thing to what I want right now in the market. And to be honest I had, actually, forgotten about them, and with the specs the cheapest ones have, you can definitely run low requirement games on them, which is great.

 

Tho I gotta ask, is the Linx 8, this one you mention, really running the full desktop version of Windows 10? or is it just Windows 10 RT? It is kind of hard to tell sometimes, since they are made to look so alike. 

 

I hope in the future, with Windows 10 being a multiplatform OS we start seeing more of this devices, maybe even some made specifically for gaming, having built-in controls, specially something like the Steam controller, would be wonderful, imagine going to a LAN party with one of those. 

[ShadowCaptain]

1 minute ago, Tairetsu said:

SNIP

 

They have been out since windows 8 came out

 

The linx 8 vision is kinda new and is a take on the razer edge with the controller
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linx-Controller-x5-Z8300-Storage-Windows/dp/B0187U2M1O

 

back in the day we had UMPCs like the Vaio UX and OQO and Samsung Q1 etc -

 

The problem is as soon as you put a GPU inside, it gets heavy, thick and the battery drops to like 30 minutes

 

Honestly, the target market is niche but only because we do not have the hardware,

 

Id love like an i5 with iris pro, an APU or something like that in a small handheld vita style console with full windows on, they have existed before and there are a few things knocking around but nothing of a serious attempt yet

 

(there was even the Magic W3 smartphone which runs x86 windows 7)

[Sauron]

In the next couple of months we should start getting the first phones with ubuntu preinstalled (with unity 8), they will be able to switch to a desktop interface at any time. This also means that on x86 based phones you might be able to run steam and linux native games.

 

Aside from that I doubt we'll see much development in that specific direction, it just doesn't make a lot of sense. Handheld pcs are bound to be underperforming in most pc games and the battery is also a big concern that nobody seems to take into account.

[Tairetsu]

19 minutes ago, ShadowCaptain said:

All that

I find it funny that the controller is expensier than the tablet itself, probably makes it huge too, tho then again, I'm glad that someone had the balls to at least make it! since having real controls is definitely key for using these as gaming devices.

 

And yeah, I get it, we are limited by out own technology, and it never gets easier, since technology keeps becoming more powerful, and not much focus is put into making it smaller, although with the popularity of mini-ITX and console-sized PCs increasing, we might see a change with that, AMD already has it's flagship GPU that is only like what? half the size of the 980ti? So who knows. 

 

And yeah! I know, it's sad that they aren't around much anymore, I think that nowadays it would be easier to make them than it used to be, like you said, the existance of APUs and really powerful integrated graphics on intel CPUs would help with the weight, AMD has an entire line of low-power APUs, which is actually what was going to be on the Smach Zero. 

 

I didn't knew about that phone/tablet thing, the W3, it looks fucking great to be quite honest, it is kind of how I imagine the Surface Pro Phone being if it ever comes into existance, except the surface phone would probably be thinner, and, probably run on vertical mode  I even found a video of a guy running original DotA on the W3, imagine what you could do with a modern version of that! 

 

9 minutes ago, Sauron said:

thing 

I do remember the Ubuntu phone, I also remember the first versions being very rought, tho I did saw some more modern phones with Ubuntu OS that looked a lot better, but it's not really what i'm looking for, what they do is kind of like continium with Windows 10 devices, it's not really the full desktop exprience, it's just something that kinda looks like it, which, I get it, it probably has a bigger market, but if we could actually get the full thing on the go, that'd be great, I think it's, niche, definitely, but I don't think it doesn't make sense at all, I mean, people often accept that laptops are less powerful than desktops, because they like the mobility. 

 

Something similar happens with me, I have a desktop, and if I really do need power I would still use my desktop, but I'm willing to pay a little bit more for lesser hardware when I can carry it around in my pocket and still have all the functionality of, low-end as it might be, PC. 

[Bhav]

Erm, you mean my Nvidia Shield tablet? 

[Tairetsu]

Just now, Bhav said:

Erm, you mean my Nvidia Shield tablet? 

Not really, that's an Android device, and it will only run software designed for or ported to Android. 

[crystal6tak]

Pretty sure they'll make a comeback soon. With intel focusing on lowering power consumption, and AMD/Nvidia having a die shrink on the GPU, and full Windows increasingly mobile friendly, in two generations we'll be seeing 5~ inch full blown windows device with decent dGPU. It'll be expensive, but it'll wreck any ARM device out there 

[Bhav]

On 03/03/2016 at 10:30 AM, Tairetsu said:

Not really, that's an Android device, and it will only run software designed for or ported to Android. 

And the difference is?

 

You know you can get windows 10 tablets?

[Tairetsu]

20 minutes ago, crystal6tak said:

Pretty sure they'll make a comeback soon. With intel focusing on lowering power consumption, and AMD/Nvidia having a die shrink on the GPU, and full Windows increasingly mobile friendly, in two generations we'll be seeing 5~ inch full blown windows device with decent dGPU. It'll be expensive, but it'll wreck any ARM device out there 

I wanna stay optimistic as well, Microsoft does seem to be aiming in that direction and I for one agree completely.

 

15 minutes ago, Bhav said:

And the difference is?

 

You know you can get windows 10 tablets?

software abiavility? capacity to run desktop programs? full PC gamrs? virtual machines, install older OS's, etc.

 

Android is nowhere near as useful as a Windows PC, even rooted. And yes, it was mentioned earlier.

[RevyOcelot]

I don't think there are enough people wanting to play PC only titles on mobile devices for it to become a thing again. Mobile versions of programs are usually made because of screen size or hardware limitations and personally I wouldn't play most PC titles on a mobile device. On mobile devices not being as useful, if it's something that requires a PC's functionality it probably requires the hardware or screen size of a desktop/laptop as well.

[Blucyrik]

I remember when the Archos 9 came out... I wanted one so bad!!!

[CyanideInsanity]

3 hours ago, WarWeeny said:

you already have portable PCs, it is called a laptop.

Point me in the direction of the laptop that fits in a pocket please! Also the one built into a controller.

 

A laptop really isn't anywhere near a pc handheld, which is why I'm hoping the Z returns and is successful. Handheld x86 gaming. Android just can't do what I desire, so the shield isn't the device for me either.

[Sauron]

6 hours ago, Tairetsu said:

I do remember the Ubuntu phone, I also remember the first versions being very rought, tho I did saw some more modern phones with Ubuntu OS that looked a lot better, but it's not really what i'm looking for, what they do is kind of like continium with Windows 10 devices, it's not really the full desktop exprience, it's just something that kinda looks like it, which, I get it, it probably has a bigger market, but if we could actually get the full thing on the go, that'd be great, I think it's, niche, definitely, but I don't think it doesn't make sense at all, I mean, people often accept that laptops are less powerful than desktops, because they like the mobility. 

 

Something similar happens with me, I have a desktop, and if I really do need power I would still use my desktop, but I'm willing to pay a little bit more for lesser hardware when I can carry it around in my pocket and still have all the functionality of, low-end as it might be, PC. 

You can switch to the desktop interface at any time in both windows and ubuntu. Windows tablets already do everything you said.

[Tairetsu]

5 hours ago, Sauron said:

You can switch to the desktop interface at any time in both windows and ubuntu. Windows tablets already do everything you said.

 

As far as I know, the Ubuntu phone is limited to apps designed for it, it doesn't have the capabilities of a full blown desktop PC at this point in time. 

[Sauron]

41 minutes ago, Tairetsu said:

As far as I know, the Ubuntu phone is limited to apps designed for it, it doesn't have the capabilities of a full blown desktop PC at this point in time. 

Not anymore, with Unity 8 it is quite simply the desktop version (arm or x86 depending on the phone) that can switch to an interface that is more suited for touch screens. Just like windows 10.

[Tairetsu]

45 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Not anymore, with Unity 8 it is quite simply the desktop version (arm or x86 depending on the phone) that can switch to an interface that is more suited for touch screens. Just like windows 10.

If that's the case then great, I hope it can run desktop programs on the smaller screen too, I haven't really seen one of those models in action then, but the Windows 10 phones, right now, are not that, tho, they only run Windows 10 apps on a bigger windowed mode when you connect them to a screen, they don't have backwards compatibility with any other Windows and can't run non-Win10 apps, there are tablets that do have the Desktop version of Win10, but I don't think there's any phone that does. 

 

44 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Do you mean those MS handhelds that were literally just PDAs?  

 

Those were the first ones, but there were actually, I guess you could call them PDAs, that ran full versions of Windows XP and the likes, of course they weren't very powerful, but software wise, they were capable of anything a desktop of their power was, or at least i'm fairly sure that's how they worked. 

[Sauron]

Just now, Tairetsu said:

If that's the case then great, I hope it can run desktop programs on the smaller screen too, I haven't really seen one of those models in action then, but the Windows 10 phones, right now, are not that, tho, they only run Windows 10 apps on a bigger windowed mode when you connect them to a screen, they don't have backwards compatibility with any other Windows and can't run non-Win10 apps, there are tablets that do have the Desktop version of Win10, but I don't think there's any phone that does. 

Those are the phones, the tablets are different, and I would classify a 7" tablet as a handheld tbh

[Tairetsu]

2 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Those are the phones, the tablets are different, and I would classify a 7" tablet as a handheld tbh

Oh, well, I tough you were referring to the Windows 10 phones, sorry about that. And yeah, I guess we could say a 7" device is on the bigger side of the handheld category, tho I personally think that a 5-6 inches device is more fitting for that name. 

 

A 4" screen with buttons on the side would be ideal to match a handheld console size more or less accurately.