I was sent a link to a promotional video by VIA about their ultra mobile PCs

It's interesting not so much about the notebook (as it's hardly seen) but about the way that Richard Brown sees life in the future. Always connected, never away from a computer or (presumably) the internet, constantly sharing our experiences as quickly as possible because any delay will see them gone forever.

The trouble for me is that I don't know if a device running a full copy of Windows will ever be able to deliver this kind of experience. The Ultra Mobile PCs that we have seen here in the office (including those powered with VIA chips) have seemed underpowered, especially when trying to cope with Vista.

I recently took an old Psion Series 7 to a press briefing. It might be old but I was taking notes long before the full notebooks (Windows and Mac) had finished starting. Press the power button, enter my password, hit the shortcut for a new word document and ready to go.

On the other hand, I've used Windows Mobile for a couple of years now and it's been pretty good. I still have a soft spot for Palm but the Outlook integration is very useful. An ultramobile PC running Windows Mobile would be very attractive. Overpowered and so hopefully really fast with instant on and constant saving of input.