OQO have launched their ultrapersonal computer, the OQO Model 01. At 4.9” x 3.4” x 0.9”, it’s the size of a largish PDA, and has a 5” touch-sensitive 800 x 480 screen. Inside, though, it’s definitely not a PDA – it’s built around a 1ghz Transmeta Crusoe chip with 256mb of RAM and a cushioned 20gb hard drive. The sort of specification seen in laptops three or so years ago, though Bluetooth and WiFi (b only) are built in. OQO claim around three hours of usage on a single charge.
The screen slides back over the unit in a sort of rack and pinion arrangement, revealing a 52 button keyboard. Graphics are handled by a 8mb 3D accelerator. A docking unit is available so that your OQO can be connected to a DVD drive, external monitor and a keyboard you don’t have to be an Ewok to use.
All this miniaturisation comes at a cost – the Model 01 will set you back US$1900 (€1533!), so you’d better have a really good reason to justify buying this over, say, one of the smaller notebooks.
The Model 01 will run Window XP, though reports on performance are not good – the 1ghz processor struggles with Microsoft’s behemoth of an operating system. Since the 01 will run some Linux distributions, users following the path of the penguin might get better results. It could be handy for those who regularly give presentations – it can be attached to PC projectors, and Mandrake with OpenOffice might be a good solution for this sort of work.