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Unreleased OQO 2+ OLED Version Sells For $6,500
psych787 writes "OQO's product line — much loved by their community at oqotalk — has recently suffered a slow, agonizing death. After dropping warranty repairs, not returning several units sent in, disconnecting phonelines, and leaving trash at their headquarters, a couple of units have survived and found eBay. The last one went for $4.5k. Now the only PC for sale to include an OLED has gone for $6.5k. At that price, perhaps a competitor bought the device to come up with something that meets the same market?"
I doubt that the final price is about a device with a 5" OLED screen, I think the final price is about having a collector's item, a rare prototype. As rare as it is, I would think it would fetch a much higher price.
I wouldn't know, I don't have a device with OLED. I don't typically use devices out of the corner of my eye. I'm pretty sure fading issues have been addressed, a screen made today is going to be a lot better than that made even two years ago. I doubt that an OLED and an LED TV would be comparable, because the LED TV you're thinking about is only LED backlit, it would still be LCD based and as such, still be pretty limited in real contrast ratio.
I'm sure they're just dying to get into that huge market that OQO failed to make any money in.
Ewige Blumenkraft.
I guess it just turns out they priced them wrong... shoot, they've got the market for $6500 laptops cornered.
Don't like to nitpick, but did anyone else notice that the winning bid was $6101? Woops
I just think it's hilarious that this unarguably beautiful and extremely high-tech product is originating from good ol' DeLand, FL. I used to live there during high school, and let me tell you, that place is as redneck as it gets. I guess there really are some high-tech rednecks...
An OQO is pretty rare. They were expensive computers in their day, and still have the distinction as the smallest complete x86-compatible PC ever made. (You can get pico-ITC boards smaller than an OQO, but you'll need to add storage, RAM, screen and power...). Heck, you could make it the smallest Hackintosh in the world.
The OQO 02+ is considered very desirable as it upgrades several annoying components on the OQO 02 - the CPU is better (Intel Atom vs. Via C7). The OLED version had more RAM (2GB vs 1GB), and the SSD as an option. The "normal" OQO 02+ (the one that went for $4.5k) qualified for the Microsoft XP Home license too (the netbook discounted cost).
Either way, they were also the cheapest OQOs if they were released, with the OLED one starting around $1.5k. Upgrade to an SSD and you'd have a pocketable PC that you could do iTunes, VLC, full desktop Ubuntu, VMWare, Visual Studio, what have you. Or hell, why argue about Flash support, when you can run full Firefox with flash?
I have an 02, and wanted to buy an 02+. But given OQO is out of business these days, oh well. I won't part with that much cash for an unsupported piece of equipment I intend to use. All I can hope for is the upcoming Archos 9 (running Windows 7) will be small enough to be hand-carried. But pocketing a
Ummm, actually, it appears that the two prices mentioned were payed by bidders on e-bay, and had nothing to do with the actual MSRP of the units. A quick google search shows base models selling for about $1,500 max. Also keep in mind that these were one of the first experiments in a true ultra-portable solution, and that price becomes maybe not reasonable, but a whole lot more understandable. Either way though, they didn't go out of business for charging $6,500 for a small laptop... and, more to the point, just because YOU wouldn't pay money like that for the item obviously doesn't mean no one else will, since the reported price was a winning bid. (Actually, it was 6,101, not 6,500, but whatever.)
Its no DIY project. the board for the 02+ is 11+ layers, try and do that on your own.