The FlyBook V33i and V35i
posted June 4th 2005 10:52AM
Nope, Sony's new Vaio VGN-T350 wasn't the first laptop
to combine WiFi, Bluetooth, and a wireless cellular data connection into one package; an obscure Taiwanese manufacturer
by the name of Dialogue beat them to the punch by nearly year with the A33i, their first model in their line of
superconnected FlyBook tablet-style PCs. Now they're back with two new versions, the V33i and V35i, both of which rock
the tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (with an optional EV-DO module!) and have 802.11g, up to 2GB of RAM, and an 8.9-inch
widescreen LCD touch screen (that rotates around so you can write on it like a tablet PC). Oh, and the V35i is actually
a little bigger and heavier than the V33i to make room for a built-in 1.3 megapixel digital camera and an internal DVD
combo drive.
[Thanks, Jacob]
Asus going 1337, or what?
VEEI and VESI for teh win ^^lol!
Hopefully they make a V35A ;)
Too bad about that Transmeta CPU =(
#2, the Transmeta is only on the A33i. Both the V33i and V35i have the Pentium-M ULV 1.1 or 1.2 processors.
guys!
i've seen these ones here in amsterdam quite a while ago.
they sell like crazy!
2 times I enter the shop in one month, and 2 of them get sold.
they're at R.A.F. in Amsterdam on the Rijnstraat.
well...
being a mac user I'm sure not buying one, but they're quite nice toys.
u
Shame I can't find anywhere to buy one here in the US... it sounds like just what I'm looking for (you know, if they actually work).
any idea about the price
www.icube.us sells these notebooks...they've had them for a while now...when I ordered my Carbon Fiber Sony x505. I also got my U750 from them...great company.
So, you can turn the screen to write on it like a Tablet PC? Does that mean it uses Tablet PC technolgy, namely a Wacom-powered tablet on the LCD? Would make a sweet little sketching pad if it was a full Tablet PC.
Oh, and I love the bright red color. It would go very well with my AlphaSmart Neo...
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y127/vrf/topview.jpg
Let's hope Dialogue improve their after-sales for this one.
I bought an original Flybook directly from their stand at Computex in 2004, and had no problems with it until the internal fan got extremely rattly. This got louder and prompted me to email them - many times in total. I tried calling, but unfortunately don't speak Chinese. All I wanted to know was whether this was normal (I still don't know), and how to get inside and fix it - or whether a local distributor could repair it for me.
The internal drive eventually went into meltdown and died (conveniently whilst on holiday). I eventually gave up on them, located the part at an electronics store, and after much head scratching took the beast apart and replaced the fan (including some resoldering), and the hard drive. I'm a little ham fisted, and due to Dialogues lack of response, had resolved to buy a VAIO if my repair attempt went norks-up. I got lucky, and the machine runs fine again. I really like my Flybook (particularly the touchscreen), but won't be buying another one.
For me, the only weakness that I have identified for the v33i/v35i is short battery (3 hours) and not wide angle viewing (150 degree). Also there is no docking station per se. Still I am watching this to see the final details once released in a few months. For me, this form factor will be ideal.