There’s been a good deal of chatter and even video posted lately about Hyperspace, Phoenix Technologies instant-on OS for netbooks. Sony seems to have felt the pressure as well launching the Sony Vaio P with their XMB start-up option.
In both cases, you get a limited OS but access to things you are most likely to want to check quickly – email, web, voip music etc … It sounds good though as I’ve thought about my own usage, I don’t actually turn the machine off. My laptops and netbook are basically always on. I put things in standby when they go in my bag for my commute and even when I’m heading to the airport. I’ve never felt that the limited loss of battery life was substantial enough to be concerned with or something that warranted turning the computer off to conserve.
According to liliputing, the boot time savings is about 30 seconds on a Lenovo S10 they tested recently. AllThingsD recently gave this a test as well:
“It’s misleading to say that the Phoenix HyperSpace products offer a faster way to start up your computer, because they don’t actually open Windows, which is your computer’s heart and soul. Instead, they offer a primitive, bare-bones user interface that relies on Web-based applications. For example, you can send and receive email, but only by using a Web-based email program like Gmail or Hotmail. Documents must be created using a program like Google Docs, and when you watch videos, you must use a player like YouTube rather than something like Windows Media Player or QuickTime. Photos can be viewed either via a photo Web site like Flickr or in the HyperSpace browser. Nothing like Word or PowerPoint is available in this slimmed-down environment.”[AllThingsD]
If something like an email needs immediate (of course a very relative term) attention I’ve got my phone. Otherwise I think waiting the few extra moments will give me to tools to deal with a situation more effectively.
Instant on is killer for me.
Just coming up of hibernation takes about half a minute at best.
I reboot about once a week because otherwise my laptop becomes to sluggish for me, and then the ordeal takes a few minutes until you can start reading emails (too much applications need to start on boot time).
Give me instant on, but don't sacrifice the OS's features for that.
I can boot from off into Windows 7, XP and OSX in under a minute … not bad at all for a netbook! I usually drop to standby and resume is less than 30 seconds – reconnected and working. I tend to only reboot when asked to or if I want to use another OS on the drive.
I think a lot of people just can't appreciate instant-on until they've had it and used it awhile. It makes an incredible difference. It becomes as convenient as opening and closing a book.
I have one of the old Psion Netbooks, and let me tell you–it's wonderful. You can be working on something right up until you have to get up and leave–no need to wait for things to save and close and shut down. It's more convenient to move around because you can just shut it, carry it over, and open it back up–no inconvenient wait to reload and navigate back to where you were. With instant-on the way the Psion did it, you are able to pick up EXACTLY right where you left something, too–no need to close and re-open. Once you have it, you'll never want to do without it.
I just bought a Toshiba NB205, which I love–but if it had instant-on, I'd be ecstatic.
I think a lot of people just can't appreciate instant-on until they've had it and used it awhile. It makes an incredible difference. It becomes as convenient as opening and closing a book.
I have one of the old Psion Netbooks, and let me tell you–it's wonderful. You can be working on something right up until you have to get up and leave–no need to wait for things to save and close and shut down. It's more convenient to move around because you can just shut it, carry it over, and open it back up–no inconvenient wait to reload and navigate back to where you were. With instant-on the way the Psion did it, you are able to pick up EXACTLY right where you left something, too–no need to close and re-open. Once you have it, you'll never want to do without it.
I just bought a Toshiba NB205, which I love–but if it had instant-on, I'd be ecstatic.