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Handtop PC Announced Using Transmeta Processor
Cyberllama writes "Like many people on Slashdot, I've been wondering when all those transmeta-based products we were promised were finally coming out -- then I saw this. It claims to a be a fully functional laptop-like device with a 5.6 inch screen that can fit into the palm of your hand -- smaller than many laptop batteries. The specs are a bit last year (256 megs of ram, 1 gigahertz processor, 30 gig hard drive) -- but the size of the device is still pretty impressive. Unfortunately it looks like they won't be shipping until the end of the year."
what do i possibly need 256MB/1GHz with a 5.6" screen for? not a troll, im honestly curious. thats what i have at home in my desktop and it does all i need, sure. however, most of what i do coudl not be done on a 5.6" screen. maybe its just a little to early for this kind of tiny power or are there really pda-style apps that need this?
use your turn signal! you people act like it's divulging information to the enemy
I want to get such a system for $450-$600 brand new tops. Doesn't have to be the fastest, but with the price of such small laptop like computers, it is never going to happen. Even used Toshiba liberttos are expensive.
------ Curiosity killed the cat. {satisfaction brought it back | it didn't die ignorant | lack of it is killing mankind
I recently purchased a Fujitsu P Series Lifebook that uses a TM processor (see their site for details). It's pretty slick. Don't have a CD/DVD drive, but I'm using my unit for remote admin work so I love being able to go wireless, grab a wired connection, or even use GPRS via a PC Card. The touch screen is great as well.
"2-3 hours running Windows(R) XP operating system and Microsoft(R) Office applications"
Really, we'd need more than that. A spare battery or two, perhaps, especially if you plan to do anything hardware-intensive on it (Office, Windows, anything involving Half-Life... sweet, Counter-Strike on a palmtop PC).
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
No, but Sharp Zaurus runs linux, as well as being much smaller/cheaper/better supported. Even has a full keyboad.
/waiting for his 5600 in the mail :)
I own a Toshiba Libretto C110. I still use the heck outta it - I never bothered with buying a PDA, I use my Libretto instead. It's small enough to drop into the pocket of my trench coat when I head out on a startup, or go to gaming on the weekends.
PDA's have a very confining feature set - very little storage, low processing power, etc. For instance, I hate carrying my books to gaming - so, I have scanned versions of my books (and some that I bought from TSR in .pdf format) When I need to look up something, just pull up the document, hit find, and I've found what I need - more convenient than a dead trees version (for searching - there's still something I prefer about dead trees for normal reading). Plus, it beats the heck outta carrying 5 books. Sure, I could convert to plain text for a PDA, but then I loose most of the table formatting. Plus I also keep my characters on there in Excel (I'd run OpenOffice, but, the Libretto is too underpowered for OO - it works fine with the fairly old version of Office that was included.)
It's also great on a startup for similar reasons - just throw all my manuals on it, and when I need to look up something, pull that sucker out. Also great for times when I need to upload a program to a PanelView, connect to a PLC, etc. It's small, and I can hold it in one hand while connecting to the PLC - no need to have to set up a table or rest it on a rack.
For any serious long term use, it requires an external keyboard and monitor hooked up - I've used it that way a few times, but more often than not I just suffer through 15 minutes of typing on the itty-bitty keyboard it has.
This thing sounds like a perfect successor to my Libretto. The Libretto has 32Mb RAM, 166MHz processor (I overclocked mine to 233Mhz - there's some nice sites out there about hackin' the Libretto), and a 6Gb HD in it at the moment. 1 Ghz, 256MB, 30GB HD, and 802.11g? Sounds like a great upgrade to me :-)
Now if I could only get: Same thing with a G4 in it (what ever happened to the idea that Transmeta was going to be able to emulate any processor?!) running MacOS X, a touch screen that can be rotated around like some of the (way too large!) TabletPC's, and a decent 3D card in it (for when I'm bored at the airport, car trips, meetings :-) I'd REALLY happy :-) (And my wife would too - while I don't have a PDA, she does. She also has a Mac, and if she had her choice everything would run OS X / work like a Mac :-)
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
I covered this last week for Forbes.com, and got to play around with a Flipstart for about 60 seconds.7 flipstart.html
http://forbes.com/technology/2004/02/17/cx_ah_021
Imagine, if you will, one of those DVD players with the brain of a Zire-class device; color screen (5" LCD - TV resolution, but that didn't stop us in the olden days), internal data storage (5GB?), a usb port or two, CF or CardBus, and maybe a bottom-of-the-barrel Realtek or ADMTek 802.11X chip.
Email, address book, DVD, MP3, and computer functionality in your (large) pocket, or backpack. Plug in whatever USB mouse/keyboard you want, or use the integrated joystick-thingy on the bus/subway/plane/go.
Hell, you could even play Commodore 64, Atari, and GameBoy games on the thing..
Hellllo Amiga..Which does go some way to explain the heavy use of the word Microsoft and their associated (tm)(r)(c) lettering in almost every page.
Information here.
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Specs are here:
Celery 600, $2,000.00 price tag.
Didin't say it was cheap, but then I don't expect this thing to be less than $1000.00
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
It can be done because it was done in 1994..
I still have my IBM PC110. Its smaller than a paperback book, weights about 800grams. Yes the display isnt ideal and the keyboard is very much two-thumb but its *incredibly* useful because it lets you take a "real" computer with you all the time.
Its also better than PDA because the apps are the same as your normal ones, so its easy to maintain and flexible. I guess Linux on zaurus is changing the equation a little.
Personally I wish someone would just hurry up and ship the damn things at a sensible price cos the PC110 is wearing out...