It seems as though every single week a new inexpensive UMPC that runs Linux comes out and this week is no exception. Although it has not been officially announced, CLUMPC is reporting that HP is set to announce a new UMPC with a choice of either Vista ($650) or Linux ($500) and a fairly high resolution 8.9″ screen. Right now this is technically a rumor so the specs may not be just right, but both UMPC Portal and Engadget seem to think it is real. As I said before, there seems to be a new UMPC every week, but I have a feeling this is going to be a more important UMPC than some of the others we have been seeing. Here are my reasons:

• This UMPC could finally bring Linux into real, physical stores. Companies like Dell don’t have much of an in store presence, but HP does. This bodes well for Linux getting noticed by consumers.
• HP is the number one seller of computers. That means that now the top two computer manufacturers, Dell and HP, are selling Linux.  Also,  HP has a much larger share of the consumer market than Dell, so an HP machine will get noticed by consumers to a much greater extent than Dell’s current offerings.
• There seem to be two classes of UMPCs, the super cheap $400 ones and the super expensive $2000 ones, but this UMPC is more in the middle. It is still cheap at $500 for the Linux version, but it looks like it will have some more premium features, such as a larger high resolution screen and an almost full keyboard.
• This UMPC will let us see if consumers choose the Linux version or pay the extra $150 for Vista, assuming both get equal promotion.

Overall I think this is going to be a very interesting UMPC to watch.