Just got my OQO yesterday, bought off ebay for $1200. I must say, overall I'm very impressed.
Off the website, you can spend like $3000 on one of these, and if it cost that much, I'd probably be disappointed. For barely over $1000 though, its a sweet gadget.
The screen is surprisingly nice and easy to see, the mouse is surprisingly easy to use, but your thumbs are going to have to get used to a few things. If you want to know how big these are, go get a 3.5x5 card, standard for address files or recipe boxes or whatever. It's smaller than that!!! Looking at pictures won't get you ready for how small this thing really is.
Comes with a driver CD, which is stupid because there's no CD drive. I'll probably order an external off newegg or something. I would have included all the drivers on a USB drive. The USB port is only 1.1 (USB 2.0 on the $100 docking cable), the wireless is only 11mbps, but if you're looking for speed you won't be looking for one of these.
The processor/RAM setup is a tad slower than what I'm used to, I might look into seeing if I can get more memory into the thing.
Battery level indicator on the back is easy to see and is a good idea. Everything works just like a PC! I was expecting difficulty getting wireless to work like you might get with a PDA, but no worries, it's just like a PC.
I won't post pics since I'm a lousy photographer and there's plenty of pics on the net.
Pros: Smallest PC in the world, tablet PC edition is very cool, cheap enough on ebay
Cons: Battery life seems a little weak, I'll have to buy a second battery I think. Gets really warm on your hands... but that's going to be really nice when I'm doing inventory in the winter
. The docking 'cable' is probably a very revolutionary idea... but it's just plain stupid. They could have just combined the little stand and the docking cable into a 'cradle' kind of setup, like digital cameras have, and it would have been awesome. To hook up to an external monitor you can just get this little plug-in box. Only benefit to the cable (if you get the $100 one, not the $50 one, don't know which one I have) is USB 2.0 support.
Even if you don't get tablet PC edition, it's a cool gadget. I'm still waiting to get my 'pen' (using a different one, but its really inaccurate) so I'll add info about how that works out later.
____________Below this line added Jul 27th_______________________
Some performance notes:
As you might imagine, a device this small can't be that powerful plainly from size restraints. The HD is 4200rpm, and Windows XP devours 256mb RAM really fast. In my head, the 01+ is probably going to run at least 8-13% faster, just from RAM upgrade.
I downloaded (very quick, no problems there) and installed Microsoft 2007 Office Beta 2 and Onenote Beta 2. Total, it took about 35 minutes. The install time was very long. I'm positive RAM is a factor here, because switching from the install window to the web page with the product key in it took its time as well. Under load, the machine gets VERY hot on the lower left corner. Keep your thumbs on the buttons and you'll be fine, touch anywhere outside the buttons in that area, and it's actually too hot to touch.
The thumbstick is still very easy to use, I like the navigation very well. I don't have my stylus yet, so more will come on navigation. Battery life is on par, not excellent for an undervolted item, but with the exteneded battery ($250) you could more than likely run for 4.5-5 hours, which is pretty dang good. They also had the foresight to produce protective cases that will still fit if you have the double capacity battery.
I wish I had a manual, as I have no idea how to open the back, which I assume is where the battery is... I'll figure it out sometime.
One complaint is the thumbwheel. It might have worked better when it was new, but now its just like a worn out mouse wheel. Roll it 4 clicks, it moves 1 click. Roll it faster, nothing at all. Whoever had it before me may have abused it, I dont know. It doesn't seem to be abused.
Took the screen outside and it's almost easier to see in the outdoors than it is inside.
WHEN I HAVE COLLECTED ALL THE INFO I CAN, I'LL REDO ALL OF THIS SO ITS MORE ORGANIZED. I'm kind of just using this as a notepad, and you guys can look on as I do it in case you're impatient like me. I ordered an external DVD drive today, so will get some more apps installed soon as well.
A lot of Microsoft programs have updates and whatnot running in the background, and the first run of new software where it's popping up new windows and stuff for registering really bogs it down. Once everything is loaded, it runs fine. Again, probably lack of RAM. Switching tabs in Office takes about 3 seconds. Typing is very slow, if you want to word process much, or do more than takes notes, I'd get a bluetooth or USB keyboard.
Off the website, you can spend like $3000 on one of these, and if it cost that much, I'd probably be disappointed. For barely over $1000 though, its a sweet gadget.
The screen is surprisingly nice and easy to see, the mouse is surprisingly easy to use, but your thumbs are going to have to get used to a few things. If you want to know how big these are, go get a 3.5x5 card, standard for address files or recipe boxes or whatever. It's smaller than that!!! Looking at pictures won't get you ready for how small this thing really is.
Comes with a driver CD, which is stupid because there's no CD drive. I'll probably order an external off newegg or something. I would have included all the drivers on a USB drive. The USB port is only 1.1 (USB 2.0 on the $100 docking cable), the wireless is only 11mbps, but if you're looking for speed you won't be looking for one of these.
The processor/RAM setup is a tad slower than what I'm used to, I might look into seeing if I can get more memory into the thing.
Battery level indicator on the back is easy to see and is a good idea. Everything works just like a PC! I was expecting difficulty getting wireless to work like you might get with a PDA, but no worries, it's just like a PC.
I won't post pics since I'm a lousy photographer and there's plenty of pics on the net.
Pros: Smallest PC in the world, tablet PC edition is very cool, cheap enough on ebay
Cons: Battery life seems a little weak, I'll have to buy a second battery I think. Gets really warm on your hands... but that's going to be really nice when I'm doing inventory in the winter
. The docking 'cable' is probably a very revolutionary idea... but it's just plain stupid. They could have just combined the little stand and the docking cable into a 'cradle' kind of setup, like digital cameras have, and it would have been awesome. To hook up to an external monitor you can just get this little plug-in box. Only benefit to the cable (if you get the $100 one, not the $50 one, don't know which one I have) is USB 2.0 support.Even if you don't get tablet PC edition, it's a cool gadget. I'm still waiting to get my 'pen' (using a different one, but its really inaccurate) so I'll add info about how that works out later.
____________Below this line added Jul 27th_______________________
Some performance notes:
As you might imagine, a device this small can't be that powerful plainly from size restraints. The HD is 4200rpm, and Windows XP devours 256mb RAM really fast. In my head, the 01+ is probably going to run at least 8-13% faster, just from RAM upgrade.
I downloaded (very quick, no problems there) and installed Microsoft 2007 Office Beta 2 and Onenote Beta 2. Total, it took about 35 minutes. The install time was very long. I'm positive RAM is a factor here, because switching from the install window to the web page with the product key in it took its time as well. Under load, the machine gets VERY hot on the lower left corner. Keep your thumbs on the buttons and you'll be fine, touch anywhere outside the buttons in that area, and it's actually too hot to touch.
The thumbstick is still very easy to use, I like the navigation very well. I don't have my stylus yet, so more will come on navigation. Battery life is on par, not excellent for an undervolted item, but with the exteneded battery ($250) you could more than likely run for 4.5-5 hours, which is pretty dang good. They also had the foresight to produce protective cases that will still fit if you have the double capacity battery.
I wish I had a manual, as I have no idea how to open the back, which I assume is where the battery is... I'll figure it out sometime.
One complaint is the thumbwheel. It might have worked better when it was new, but now its just like a worn out mouse wheel. Roll it 4 clicks, it moves 1 click. Roll it faster, nothing at all. Whoever had it before me may have abused it, I dont know. It doesn't seem to be abused.
Took the screen outside and it's almost easier to see in the outdoors than it is inside.
WHEN I HAVE COLLECTED ALL THE INFO I CAN, I'LL REDO ALL OF THIS SO ITS MORE ORGANIZED. I'm kind of just using this as a notepad, and you guys can look on as I do it in case you're impatient like me.
I ordered an external DVD drive today, so will get some more apps installed soon as well.A lot of Microsoft programs have updates and whatnot running in the background, and the first run of new software where it's popping up new windows and stuff for registering really bogs it down. Once everything is loaded, it runs fine. Again, probably lack of RAM. Switching tabs in Office takes about 3 seconds. Typing is very slow, if you want to word process much, or do more than takes notes, I'd get a bluetooth or USB keyboard.
