The mobile community as a whole has done a bad job of managing the names of all the tiny notebook categories that having been arriving over the past few years. It's no one's fault as the names are poorly defined and companies just introduce new ones as they feel like, plus there is no central body to determine things.
Gizmodo's Matt Buchanan weighed in on this recently and so did Warner from
Gottabemobile, who (probably only half-jokingly) said Gizmodo was confused. Obviously we are all confused...
Here is my stab at it:
UMPC - This is the ultramobile PC, the offspring of the Origami project. This category is not nearly as important as it was a year or two ago, but look for a touchscreen and a full operating system.
Example: Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium
Ultraportable - This is an older category distinction. It's a small, but full-fledged notebook computer, generally with a 10-12 inch display, usually a low-voltage or ultra low-voltage CPU.
Example: ThinkPad X61s
Subnotebook - This is a loose catch-all, just like ultraportable. It is poorly defined, but you can generally expect a full notebook feature set, but in a smaller package.
Example: HP 2133 Mini-Note
Netbook - This is an Intel-manufactured term for a low-cost, internet-centric computer. It should have a low-power CPU but past that it's not very clear, except that they are small.
Example: Intel claims the Asus Eee PC is one
MID - Intel's coined term, "mobile internet device". These are smaller than UMPCs and are not full-featured computers. Expect an very low-power CPU (like Intel's Menlow or Moorsetown) and embedded Linux. These should be affordable and small, basically what the UMPC should have been. We'll see how cheap they actually are though...
Example: Aigo MID
Mini-Notebook / Mini-note - Basically the same thing as a subnotebook except some manufacturers like HP and VIA (with the OpenBook) have opted to used these terms. I would probably suggest avoiding them except when you just want to describe small notebooks in general.
ULCPC / ULPC - These stand for ultra low-cost PC. Some people use the latter, but the former (and technically incorrect) term has taken hold. These are the cheap, small notebook that have been so hot lately, like the Asus Eee PC and Nanobook/Cloudbook. These ideally should be in the $200-$500 range, but we see prices increasing as screen sizes get larger and they get features like integrated mobile broadband. Note: some people have used this to mean "ultra light PC", which is incorrect.
Example: Asus Eee PC, OLPC XO
End Note
I had hoped that some loose definitions would help clear things, up, but they don't really fix much. For example, HP calls its 2133 a Mini-Note, and it is in many ways an ULCPC, but given the full-sized keyboard and Vista I think it probably fits best under the subnotebook category. Also I feel very comfortable calling the Eee PC 701 an ULCPC, but what about when the 10-inch model comes out and it (in all likelyhood) tops the $600 mark. That's not really ultra low-cost is it? Plus two years ago, I would have definitely called a 10-inch notebook (like the Fujitsu P7230) an ultraportable.
I think in the end the best we can do is stop telling other people that they are incorrect and try to stick with using as little jargon as possible when covering these device. Companies are always going to be messing things up with marketing (Fujitsu calls the U810 a UMD [ultramobile device]) but sticking with more general terms and not trying to fit everything into a neat framework is probably the best way to avoid confusion.
