The Poqet PC
You’ll probably see the list of The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years just like I did… (and if you didn’t, it’s a nice read)
But… it’s the #50 that blew me away…
50. Poqet PC Model PQ-0164 (1990)
Years before the Pocket PC, there was the Poqet PC. About the size of a videotape, the Poqet was pricey ($2000), but it ran off-the-shelf applications and could go for weeks on two AA batteries. Highly praised during its brief life, the Poqet vanished from the market after its manufacturer was acquired by Fujitsu. As with seemingly every interesting computer of yore, it still has its devotees, including Bryan Mason, proprietor of the informative Poqet PC Web Site.
Geez… one of the first pocket-PC-alikes and in a form-factor that seems most ideal to me… a keyboard with a widescreen on top. Don’t get me wrong here… I know a 1989/1990-machine wasn’t capable of producing anything in widescreen like we know that today… it’s just the resemblance with what I think is ideal that struck me :-)
Why is it that the industry seems to forget how to make things? Next to this Poqet PC I only know a handful of examples of this form-factor… (I blogged about this before) (...and about forgetting the good things… don’t get me started on build-quality of, let’s say, a VAXstation compared to a nowadays budget-PC (and don’t even dare to call *that* a workstation…)) :-)
This fictitious Apple of which I hope it gets produced one day…
This Sony VAIO C1VN picturebook
And another one (which is nice compared to the Poqet PC here)... this Fujitsu Lifebook P1000
There will probably be a few more… but not that many I guess… and even though I have a 12” iBook, something smaller would be nice… :-)
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