The next big small thing has arrived
by Mark Spoonauer
The FlipStart is like a 2007 version of the submarine in Fantastic Voyage. This amazing little machine, the brainchild of Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, can do everything the most sophisticated full-size PCs can do — just, you know, microscopically. The wonders start with the hatch: This 1.75-pound Windows Vista micro-machine sports a nifty external screen and jog dial offering access to your e-mail, calendar and contacts instantly, even with the system in sleep mode.
With the lid open, use the same dial to scroll through FlipStart Navigator, a customizable shortcut menu for launching everything from favorite blogs to specific apps or files stored on the 30-GB hard drive.
To minimize eyestrain when you’re staring at the 5.6-inch main display, the device features nine levels of zooming. We also dig the spacious backlit keyboard and pinpoint cursor control. Add the dedicated buttons for Windows Desktop and the Navigator and zoom features, plus a row of multimedia playback buttons, and this is one mighty convenient handtop.
The 1.1-GHz Pentium M Processor isn’t cutting-edge, but the FlipStart blows away the field when it comes to high-speed surfing. The device boasts Sprint Mobile Wireless Broadband, offering the fastest uploads (350 to 500 Kbps) and downloads (up to 3.1 Mbps) you can get to go.
Other perks include a built-in Webcam for impromptu video conferences and a port replicator for hooking up the FlipStart to a full-size monitor — for when you return to the land of life-size gadgets.
Footnote: The FlipStart is just one of many interesting recent plays by Allen’s massive Vulcan Inc. Others include a stake in the launch of a high-def DVR set-top box by Digeo, and the licensing of its X Prize–winning spaceship to Virgin Galactic. Reservations are now being taken for the 2009–10 blastoff. Seats start
at $200,000.
The File
FlipStart
Cost: $1,999
Déjà view: If the FlipStart sounds familiar, that’s because it was previewed in 2004 as the Vulcan Mini-PC. But the manufacturer pulled it back at the last minute to work out some final bugs.
Contact flipstart.com
Now maybe you’re wishing you had a regular laptop with an external screen, too? Then check out the Asus W5Fe. Its top-mounted SideShow display works in tandem with the Windows Vista operating system to deliver Outlook (e-mail, calendar and contacts), stock updates and music playback, all with the lid closed. $2,199; usa.asus.com