OQO Model 01 review

Hello there, sir, you look like a man who’s made of money. What’s that? Mere flesh and bones? I see, well let’s see if we can’t tempt you anyway.

First off, forget palmtops, this is full-blown, rolling green hills, Minesweeper and Hearts-loaded Windows XP. If you can do it on a PC, you can do it here. OK, we’re not talking full frame rate Quake III Arena but, for gentle office type stuff, this’ll do nicely.

It’s loaded with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, so communicating back to base is a case of hooking up a mobile or finding a hot spot. There’s no phone on board but download Skype, plug in a pair of headphones, turn on the built-in mic and you’re laughing (perhaps hysterically by this point).

Meanwhile, back at your desk, IT might be wondering who’s nicked off with your PC and left a keyboard, monitor and strange cable behind. The mystery is solved as you nonchalantly plug in your OQO, turning it into a fully fledged desktop PC – secretaries will swoon.

So, is it the ultimate dream palmtop? Well, no actually. As staggering as the engineering is, it just isn’t that practical. Take the high-res screen: better than any other here but hopelessly outgunned when asked to cope with apps designed for full-size monitors.

All that and it uses a processor that makes a £400 Dell lappy seem like a Ferrari. And, since it comes with a stylus, why doesn’t it use Windows XP Tablet PC edition? We demand answers!