Man builds his own carbon-fibre, Windows based tablet PC
carbontablet.blogspot.com
carbontablet.blogspot.com
The "IT HAS A CPU THEREFORE IT MUST DO ANYTHING ANY DESKTOP LINUX COMPUTER CAN DO" attitude is ridiculous.
This is a project I have been working on in my spare time for the last few months. I wanted a Windows 7 touchscreen tablet with a large screen that could handle HD video and wasn't too thick or power hungry. The build cost for this was around $600-700.
Personally I don't understand what's the big deal to have exactly 1280x720 pixels in handheld device.
Yes, in theory you will get wider field of view compared to e.g. iPad's 1024x768 resolution, assuming you adjust your watching distance accordingly (to keep visible pixel size same), but it's not that big difference, given that tablet watching (close-distance) is always big compromise compared to big screen watching, due to fact that eye is relaxed when focused to infinity.
He built this himself! It's his first go at it. Imagine what he could do on his 2nd or 3rd try. If you're going to compare specs with the iPad then you should compare the engineering efforts, time, and money spent as well.
e.g. Flash, pre-emptive multi-tasking :-)
it looks about twice the size of an iPad?
I used to own a HP TC4400 (2kg) and an older Progear tablet (1.5kg) and that range is just not usable in the same way as iPads or Kindles are. Kindle at 290g is about the optimum, weighing the same as a typical book and easy to hold for extended periods of time.
While I prefer the weight of a paperback to read, I don't think that the weight of the current iPad is a huge problem. I don't see the iPad getting much lighter because I don't see Apple switching from a glass screen.
what you need now is a howto and a components kit sold in radioshack for the consumer boffins and we will soon see another sinclar / apple / Microsoft in the making.
1) that's something to put on your cv & bring with when applying for a job. it tells you something about the guy as an engineer.
2) if he was a founder this shows he can deliver and compete. you want to invest in people who can deliver and compete. those tablets are kind of big deal now you know.