Origami is an “ultra-small PC” with a amazing number of applications. Since we haven’t been able to get our hands on one yet, we’ll rely on Michael Gartenburg’s review for Jupiter Research.

Gartenburg asserts: “Origami isn’t an iPod killer per se, it’s rather a new class of device that will compete with other devices that cost about the same. That means portable media players, game machines, GPS units and the like will face some new challenges.”

Its versatility lies in its potential, which has not yet been fully realized: “The fact that Origami is a PC based platform means that there’s a lot of functionality that it’s going to be capable of and like the PC be able to offer a no-compromise solution for most of these applications. Is it the most powerful PC you own? No, but the PC you have at hand is better than the best machine you leave behind.”

What will Origami be used for?

For some, Origami may well be the sole device they use (students for example will likely want to use one in class for taking notes and at home with a keyboard for writing reports and as a repository for music, video and games).

Other users might shift away from buying a high end laptops and instead opt for a more powerful desktop and use an Origami when on they’re on the road (as a business user, I’d much rather have a small XP device that can use all my Office documents and let me manage mail on the road and a nice large and powerful desktop with a nice big screen in the office).

And what about Windows Vista when it finally emerges? “Expect the Origami story to evolve and remember, we haven’t seen the Origami story in the Vista timeframe. Look at Origami the way you might look at a new platform, not the value of a particular machine today.”