I have been mulling the OQO PCs for years now. I have hesitant because of the folwing reasons:
1) A post to this blog or another by a very upset buyer who had a very negative experience with OQO. He claimed he had a bad unit and the company was not very responsive. He had a website up that detailed the experience. Was he in the right? Who really knows
2) A review by a Australian reviewer (who has a webite and blog) who loved the unit but had to get a second (and maybe a third ?) because the unit kept crashing. I believe the cause was the fan burning out and the whole thing shutting down to thermal issues.
3) My conversation with the company a year or so ago with a rep who claimed there was a restocking charge for even a unit that wa malfunctioning.
All this said, I am still infatuated by the unit and would love to have one. The Thumb Typable keyboard really appeals to me.
Any opinions or experiences out there to help me decide to purchase one or not?
The Good: -Runs programs like Photoshop CS & Office without a hitch...though with much more delay than most economy laptops -1+ minute boot up and instant response from sleep -Small form factor and light weight -Fits in the pocket of my pants (and even jeans) without a case without difficulty. -Beautiful screen with good native resolution and very good interpolated resolution. -Batteries have a LED button that tells you with how much charge is left without turning on the computer (e.g., 3.5 out of 4 would mean about 85%) -Back lit keyboard is great in dim lighting -New Rev A. Sprint modem (i.e., EVDO) and Verizon Modem. This is the fastest wireless available -Touch-sensitive scrolling on the screen (both left and right and up and down)
The Bad: -It gets hot -Watching movies on the device is possible but dark scenes are hard to make out detail and you occasionally get a stutter with playback. -No integrated GPS (though a bluetooth GPS and software turns the device into a nice travel companion) -No integrated holder or place for a Wacom stylus -HDMI output does not carry an audio signal
The Ugly: -The price. But, I guess best-in-class performance and form-factor demands a premium -Fan noise. The fan is no worse than a laptop but do not have the expectation that this is a quiet device. There are fan settings to make it quieter but then it will get hot. -Battery life could be a lot better (you will need the extended battery or 2 regular batteries for any sort of travel) -Customer service is incompetent. I had to RMA 3 devices (without charge) because they never fixed the problem. -You need the bumper-to-bumper 3 year warranty which add a couple hundred dollars.
The verdict: I believe that this is the BEST device in this form factor on the market today. If you have the money. I have replaced my laptop (and to some extent, my desktop) with this device. I used to travel with a laptop and smart phone. Now I travel with a slim, regular phone and this device. By doing this, I have shed about 7-10lbs. in carry-on weight. Incidentally, I have never needed to take this device out of my carry-on bag for airport screeners so I get past security more quickly.
Recommended sites: OQOtalk dot com is forum for all things OQO
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I have been mulling the OQO PCs for years now. I have hesitant because of the folwing reasons:
1) A post to this blog or another by a very upset buyer who had a very negative experience with OQO. He claimed he had a bad unit and the company was not very responsive. He had a website up that detailed the experience. Was he in the right? Who really knows
2) A review by a Australian reviewer (who has a webite and blog) who loved the unit but had to get a second (and maybe a third ?) because the unit kept crashing. I believe the cause was the fan burning out and the whole thing shutting down to thermal issues.
3) My conversation with the company a year or so ago with a rep who claimed there was a restocking charge for even a unit that wa malfunctioning.
All this said, I am still infatuated by the unit and would love to have one. The Thumb Typable keyboard really appeals to me.
Any opinions or experiences out there to help me decide to purchase one or not?
Have one. OQO 2 1.6/120GB/Sprint.
The Good:
-Runs programs like Photoshop CS & Office without a hitch...though with much more delay than most economy laptops
-1+ minute boot up and instant response from sleep
-Small form factor and light weight
-Fits in the pocket of my pants (and even jeans) without a case without difficulty.
-Beautiful screen with good native resolution and very good interpolated resolution.
-Batteries have a LED button that tells you with how much charge is left without turning on the computer (e.g., 3.5 out of 4 would mean about 85%)
-Back lit keyboard is great in dim lighting
-New Rev A. Sprint modem (i.e., EVDO) and Verizon Modem. This is the fastest wireless available
-Touch-sensitive scrolling on the screen (both left and right and up and down)
The Bad:
-It gets hot
-Watching movies on the device is possible but dark scenes are hard to make out detail and you occasionally get a stutter with playback.
-No integrated GPS (though a bluetooth GPS and software turns the device into a nice travel companion)
-No integrated holder or place for a Wacom stylus
-HDMI output does not carry an audio signal
The Ugly:
-The price. But, I guess best-in-class performance and form-factor demands a premium
-Fan noise. The fan is no worse than a laptop but do not have the expectation that this is a quiet device. There are fan settings to make it quieter but then it will get hot.
-Battery life could be a lot better (you will need the extended battery or 2 regular batteries for any sort of travel)
-Customer service is incompetent. I had to RMA 3 devices (without charge) because they never fixed the problem.
-You need the bumper-to-bumper 3 year warranty which add a couple hundred dollars.
The verdict:
I believe that this is the BEST device in this form factor on the market today. If you have the money. I have replaced my laptop (and to some extent, my desktop) with this device. I used to travel with a laptop and smart phone. Now I travel with a slim, regular phone and this device. By doing this, I have shed about 7-10lbs. in carry-on weight. Incidentally, I have never needed to take this device out of my carry-on bag for airport screeners so I get past security more quickly.
Recommended sites:
OQOtalk dot com is forum for all things OQO