Chris Gohlke
03-07-2007, 01:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/306254_flipstart06.html' target='_blank'>http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/306254_flipstart06.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"More than two decades after leaving Microsoft Corp., Paul Allen still has designs on the computer business. But this time, he's aiming for something smaller. To be precise, it's less than 6 inches wide and weighs just about a pound and a half. It's a miniature computer, dubbed FlipStart, and it's slated for release later this month, after years of development. The device rests on the palm but looks like a tiny laptop, contains a 30-gigabyte hard drive and runs full-fledged software on a microprocessor good enough for a traditional desktop computer."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/450FlipStart_070305_open.jpg" /><br /><br />I'm really excited to see other companies entering this space. As many of you know, I was a PPC user for many years, but gave up because I felt too constrained by not being able to use my desktop applications and low screen resolutions. Since then I've been using a 3.6 pound laptop and for the most part have been very satisfied, but do miss the ultra portability that the PPC offered. Devices like this and the OQO seem like the solution, but right now they are just too expensive, so hopefully, competition will bring the price down.<br /><br />UPDATE: <a href="http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2007/03/jkontherun_firs.html">jkOnTheRun</a> has video review up of his first look at the FlipStart