Gadgets, e-1001sc, flipstart, laptops, paul allen, pdas, umpcs, vulcan

Vulcan FlipStart Hands-On Gallery: See What Makes This Thing Tick

Now that the FlipStart has finally moved its way from the land of vaporware into the real world, you're probably curious as to how it looks. That's why we took a huge gallery when we got our hands on it.

In it, you can see just how super small it is (5.9 x 4.5 x 1.6 inches, weighing at a little less than two pounds), how the keyboard works, and how that 1024 x 600 display looks. You won't be able to see the 1.1 GHz Pentium M, the 512MB of RAM, the 30GB hard drive, or the 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, so you'll have to take our word on that.

– Jason Chen

6:00 AM on Wed Mar 7 2007
By Jason Chen
6,997 views
15 comments

Comments

StackyBotrus at 06:16 AM on 03/07/07
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I dont see how anyone would want one of these over the ARRAY of UMPCs out there. Not to mention any of the OQO's that have been released in th epast year.
ZSX at 06:35 AM on 03/07/07
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LOL! They have a dedicated Ctrl-Alt-Del key right in the upper middle of the keyboard!
RedSeven at 06:42 AM on 03/07/07
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I concur, unless it turns out to be significantly cheaper than the alternatives mentioned.

That keyboard looks horrible.
tanvach at 06:53 AM on 03/07/07
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Well, this has to be the most 90s design I've seen for a while. Just horrible black on black plastic and pocket dictionary style keyboard. Brrr...
HawkWolf at 07:12 AM on 03/07/07
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ZSX, Ctrl + Alt + Del is the "press a keystroke to bring up the login screen" convention. Many corporate entities turn that on to require the user do something in order to get a login screen.

Also, it brings up the task manager when you are logged in, which is useful. It hasn't been the 'three finger salute' for rebooting since Win 9x.

(I'm talking about XP. No idea about Vista.)
kibets at 07:32 AM on 03/07/07
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If it was $400-$500 I'd probably pick one up to leave in the car.
Matthew Miller at 07:39 AM on 03/07/07
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Wow, it's just like the Sony Vaio U101, except for with a slightly faster CPU in exchange for a much worse screen, and four years later.
vtbrnco at 08:56 AM on 03/07/07
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I had such wood for this thing for so long...now that its "out" and we can see it etc...i'm so over it....where's my pepperpad?
phi at 08:57 AM on 03/07/07
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looks like the designers forgot they weren't living in the 90s anymore. For 2 grand, I'd rather get an OQO or a VAIO UX.
ZSX at 08:59 AM on 03/07/07
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@HawkWolf

True. True.

You do wonder why they didn't just call it 'Task Manager' though. I run 3 Win 98 boxes at home, and even though I am used to XP, I still half expect a reboot when I press those three keys.
Eion at 09:56 AM on 03/07/07
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@ZSX: They didn't just call it Task Manager for two reasons: first, because of the "Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to log in" thing, second because Ctrl-Alt-Del doesn't necessarily bring up the task manager. On my XP, 2k3 and Vista systems, it brings up the menu thing with Lock Computer/Log Off/Shut Down/Change Password/Task Manager buttons, and Ctrl-Shift-Esc does Task Manager directly.
deusdiabolus at 01:22 PM on 03/07/07
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If I was going to take this anywhere, I'd want at least 80GB of hard drive space and a formidable audio chipset, so I could either have massiv tuneage or sit and work on a little music with Buzz or something.
pdn at 03:44 PM on 03/07/07
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1.1 Ghz Pentium M, 512 mb of RAM and Vista? No thanks.
Mandatory_Field at 06:10 PM on 03/07/07
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Yahh, the headline almost has it right, but given the meagre specs, I want to know what makes that thing THICK!
smeee at 08:06 PM on 03/08/07
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considering the only thing my desktop has in advantage over that umpc is the 1.5 ghz p4...im pretty impressed...i need a new comp.