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"Tight" PDA/Handheld Console
david-currie writes: "Looks like a company called Technopop is developing a Gameboy-styled handheld console based on the Pentium I called Tight. This will allow you to download and play games like Quake and Tomb Raider and provide PDA features They also announce a titanium case and $100 price-point, which could be very nice ... " Total vapor of course, but it's a nifty goal.
FYI, the Palm V case is blasted aluminum, *not* titanium.
Titanium is stronger than steel and (I think) lighter than aluminum. It doesn't corrode. It obviously can stand a lot more heat than plastic, provides *much* more protection, and probably doesn't weigh much more. Now if it was common and cheap why would we even bother with the other materials?
Because it *isn't* common or cheap, and it is very hard to work with. It's a metal reserved for high-stress and temperature environments -- the SR-71 is skinned in titanium. Before composites every aircraft designer would have loved to build a whole plane out of titanium, but only a few could afford it.
Titanium is just one of those raw materials (unlike steel, silicon, or aluminum) that is relatively rare and expensive. Like I said, if it was common we'd make everything from it and we wouldn't think of using steel and aluminum in cars, airplanes, and cases any more than we'd think of using tin.
Personally, I have doubts about making a titanium case by itself for $100, much less a whole computer. Maybe Magnesium, but the thing is named "Tight", not "Might".