Update: Thinnest notebook crown belongs to Sharp
On Tuesday, we wrote that the 1998 Mitsubishi Pedion was the thinnest notebook ever.
On Thursday, we learned that isn't the case, thanks to Jorge Pullin, at the Horace Hearne Jr. Institute for Theoretical Physics at Louisiana State University.
Back in the first years of the decade, Sharp released the Muramasas. Measuring 0.54 inch thick, the Actius MM10 Muramasa notebook, which hit shelves in 2003, came with a 1GHz Crusoe processor from Transmeta, 256MB of memory, a 15GB hard drive and a built-in Wi-Fi module. It ran 2.5 hours on a regular battery, and cost $1,499. Sharp also had a Mebius notebook in the Muramasa family that measured 0.65 inch thick. Jorge bought the Mebius.
There might be one or thinner notebooks out there, but not many. If you know of one, let us know. The Muramasas (named after a renowned sword smith) were quite attractive. They also had a definite gap over the Pedion (just over 0.72 inch) and the MacBook Air (at 0.76 inch) in thinness. The MM10 weighed 2.1 pounds, less than the 3-pound MacBook Air.
Too bad about the Transmeta processors, though.
We wrote about them back in 2002 and 2003, but completely forgot about it.
Sharp has had a good number of firsts and near-firsts. It came out with the first LCD calculator, for instance, as well as one of the first cell phones with a camera. That came out in 2000. (Philippe Kahn claimed he invented the cell phone camera, but the theory has been debunked.) Japanese colleagues also say that the company's TV phones are quite popular because of the screen quality. But people forget about them in the U.S. sometimes.
And, like a lot of Japanese companies, it didn't start out in computers. Sharp's first product was a mechanical pencil that came out in 1915.
As a kid I was so fascinated by it, I taught myself how to program by reading its owner's manual. We later bought a Commodore and the PC1211 was soon forgotten.
But looking back, what a remarkable device! It was truly ahead of its time.
Link:
http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/sharp_pc1211_tandy_trs80_pc1.html
Phone with partnership of J-Phone and Mr. Kahn in Japan was
maybe biggest innovation in japanese market in last decade with
Nintendo Wii. Sharp great company.
You know those posts are coming. Figured I'd get it out of the way.
But the question wasn't the thinnest in history. Name someone
who makes a thinner one now.
Just like the tallest man in history is probably taller than the
current tallest man in the world.
Being the tallest "small person" in the world is still not that BIG a
deal.
Like the auto companies, you always here the same claims. Who cares if it is the thinest, or if a computer that was made 6, 10 15 years ago was..I sure don't.
Jobs said the Air was the thinnest notebook in the world, and it
is because no one currently makes anything thinner.
Apple isn't perfect, but it apparently really chaps some people
because they are successful.
out in the year 2000. That may be true for the US but in many
parts of the world, there were cameras on phones long before the
year 2000. I am an American who has been living here in Japan
now for 20 years and we have had cameras long before the year
2000. I often find that technologies like this come out years after
Japan. I have pictures of my wife and I dating from my cell phone
over 12 years ago.
But you are right. They get stuff a lot earlier there than we do here.
Every time Apple comes up with a new product all we hear is "could be better", "was done before", etc. The truth is Apple almost always make a strike with each new hardware or software.
Guys, get over it. Apple is the hottest IT company out there, and there is no runner-up...
And here's a PC that's been out for about a year that is not much larger than the MBA.
http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=ST5100&ptype=TB
Just compromised again on a deal a friend of a friend set up for me, got an Olivetti for around 800 (in pesos Argentinos) & it's not quite hiking friendly at just over 2 kilos, or 4.5 pounds...
Steve Jobs has to introduce a dud of sorts. Steve has a habit of
going so long and then he has to intro something unique. It's
too bad , because another good product for the masses and
Apple would be a household name. Kinda like Dell in the 90's
and early 2000's.
But it goes to show that Apple is still a geek lover's niche and
has no intention of trying to sway the bottom feeders on the PC
side.
But I guess their is plenty of Mac fans who will buy a overpriced
and under featured product like the MacBook Air.
by the way that what many consumers are looking for.
camera in Japan, but that Mr. Kahn was their partner. This was
launched in early 2000 in Tokyo between J-Phone, Sharp and
Kahn. Hence if Sharp did indeed build the first camera phone,
Kahn, J-phone and Sharp share the credit. Kahn claims to have
wirelessly shared the first picture in 1997 publicly, which also
seems to be confirmed. Several companies before had cameras
in phones but none integrated with a commercial infrastructure.
Obviously the story of the birth of the baby is a bit of an urban
legend. But the facts do make sense. Is that what you emant in
your piece?
also, what Kahn did was hook a modem to a camera. (he didn't have a unified piece of hardware.) That had been done by olympus and others first. Thus, it's tough to give him credit there too.
I think people just like his story so they give him credit.
"0.54" (min.)/0.78" (max.)"
"3.7 mm (min.)/19.6 mm (max.)"
The max. is the interesting point.
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/media/i3d/01/A/man-migrate/MANUAL000043313.pdf
However, as I said in the other post, the "Toshiba Protege 2000" is thinner than the MBA, but not the Mitsubishi.
http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/product/pdf_files/detailed_specs/portege_2000.pdf
The strange part in all of this is how sharp, mitsu and toshiba all did something really thin but never got attention.
h**p://gizmodo.com/gadgets/notebook-supermodel/intel-unveils-worlds-thinnest-laptop-almost-skinny-as-a-razr-263359.php
replace ** with tt
takes same machine and runs windows nd OSX on both, OSX
performance better. That's because Apple optimize for only one
hardware system. However, to the user that is important.
assertion is real.
assertion is true.
specification is a very small part of whole story. If person doesn't
mind elegant and solid OSX and is happy with Vista, then value of
Apple offering maybe in question. Else it is very valuable small
elegant two-seater sports ultra-portable running OSX.
You are comparing the thickest part of the macbook air (0.76") with the thinnest part of the Sharp Laptop (0.54")
Any objective look at the real figures clearly shows that the sharp laptop is WAY THICKER.
Macbook Air 0.16" - 0.76"
Sharp 'Muramasas'0.54" - 0.78"
Keep your anti-apple BS to your self you pathetic Microsoft fan-boy.
I happen to own an Actius MM10 Muramasa notebook from Sharp,
It is thinner and lighter than the macbook air. A bit underpowered
with a PIII processor and 256 (not upgradeable) ram. It runs Xp
home just fine. Aslo has a gorgeous screen and retractable
keyboard. Nick
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by lane1986
June 14, 2008 2:56 PM PDT
- I have one I'm using right now, Fujitsu Q2010
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