FlipStart- so long and thanks for all the fish
I can’t remember any gadget in history that was vaporware for as long as the handheld FlipStart PC that actually ended up making it to market. We were one of the first folks on the planet to get our hands on one and give you the very first look which seems like just yesterday. Now it seems the company behind FlipStart has stopped selling them, after dropping the price of the little PC to only $600. According to this notice found on engadget the FlipStart looks like it is no longer being actively sold by the company that makes it, something of concern when you are a company with only one product. I’ll never forgot when Marc Orchant dropped the FlipStart 3 feet to a marble floor in Seattle and the thing wasn’t even dented.
Yeah, I think part of what killed it is the design – it was like carrying around a mac mini around with you. Good concept, but people would be ashamed to carry that thing around.
The Flipstart is a great device. Most of us with one absolutely love it. As far as dropping, on another forum the old Product Manager for the Flipstart mentioned that QA did 18 feet(!) drop tests with it, and it didn’t break until the third one.
Even with just 512MB ram, the Pentium M makes up for it. Really a great device, just a bit too late to the game and an out of sight price to begin with.
I’ve heard they’re still available at the computer shop at the end of the universe.