I can see why it's dead. the H5x/38xx chassis use to be the sleak "Star Trek" gizmo that your friends were blown away with. Now it's nearly the biggest one on the block.
Try the H22xx series. It's stronger, smaller and lighter and accepts CF & SD at the same time without a sleeve. Only drawback is batter life is a little less.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/cgi-bin/h...8ZP&catLevel=3
Mike