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Updated OQO Model 01+ with USB 2.0 and More RAM
xanthines-R-yummy writes "OQO has announced the availability of the OQO Model 01+. The new model has more RAM and USB 2.0, which were probably the main deficiencies in Model 01." They now start just short of $2k but they still look very yummy.
According to TFA, it's 4.9x3.4x.9 inches, which as far as I can tell doesn't leave a whole lot of room for batteries. Considering that it's running a 1Ghz processor, and a fairly sizeable full color display for a portable, that has to be draining on the battery. I mean, it looks exceptionally cool, but I don't think I'd want one if I had to recharge it every hour.
If you're looking here for something insightful or thought provoking, you're probably looking in the wrong place.
Especially in the $2000 range, when for that price I can have a decent desktop PC (with better specs than this thing) AND a decent PDA.
Well, duh! If you buy a desktop and a conventional PDA for $2000, YOU obviously don't need one of these things!
This seems more like a laptop--portable and fairly full-featured, without making any concessions on the interface or operating system. Sure, it's expensive, but it's brand new and doesn't have any competitors, yet, that I know of. So of course it's going to be pricey. Remember when PDAs first came out? We were paying $300+ for something with 8MB RAM and a black-and-white LCD.
And for the record, there IS a reason to buy one of these things: carrying a goddamned laptop around gets old, really quick! Unless you shell out for an ultraportable, you're lugging around several extra pounds of gear whenever you need to take it somewhere. But if you only take your PDA, you're sacrificing a lot of functionality, ESPECIALLY the full keyboard. On airplanes, too, using a full-size laptop in coach can be a real bitch.
Now, granted, I wouldn't buy one of these things with WinXP installed on it, but as soon as someone has it booting Linux... look out, bank balance!
I seem to remember OQO showing prototypes of (back then) incredibily small PCs four or five years ago. It seems that their products have taken too long to materialize, and in the mean time the rest of the industry has really started to catch up with them. In the end, I believe their target market is too small; most folks will be happy purchasing a Dell that's 25% larger but less than 50% of the price -- and all the time, the trend of miniaturization across the entire segment marches onward. OQO will become a small footnote in the history of laptops -- a great idea, but too long on the drawing board and not to market soon enough.