@DisposableInterloper: yeah I remember seeing this intriguing beast in a magazine some years back too.

I can't help but wonder with a number of other readers here: how backwards are we into the future here?

wesrubix

Wow that's hot.

chrstphr

So *that's* what the Allspark has been used for since the movie...

Upsilon

I had this computer in '98 and it served me really well.
Until the divorce (she got half.)

smithereensblog

I distinctly remember some magazine raving about this weird laptop some years ago. I think it was Computer Shopper.

As much as I hate the design looking at it now, I can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of nostalgia for the late 90's and early 2000's.

DisposableInterloper

@Collins1:
I have a crappy old Acernote 120MHz system from about then. It makes this thing look like a tank.

Portables before "laptops" were behemoths. This looks about as chunky as my old 386.

fuchikoma

I want to play battleship with this

Delmarc

I think you're all forgetting 2 things:

- It's 2008
- Laptops in the 90's where behemoths

If any of you think this looks like it's from 1998, go look at a picture of a 10 year old laptop and feel stupid.

Collins1

Ouch... I wouldn't pay over $100 for that thing, and I have an OLPC XO-1 with an even slower processor. Actually, I wouldn't take one if it were given to me. That split screen is just bad.

@SonOfMagicFact:
The article calls it a prototype. Popsci is so bad for waiting for things like that though... I think I must have read about DLP TVs in... about 1990-91? They promised wall-sized images with the sharpness of a magazine print. Well, I guess it's doable in theory.

fuchikoma

I love the keyboard

Waka in Japan

@HeartBurnKid: They're not ALL stupid and whiny. Just the ones whining stupidly.

GadgetPlay

@HeartBurnKid:
"..Because I'd really hate to think that you're all stupid and whiny...

I found this funny.

Dook_In_The_Urinal

Oh my goodness. I remember seeing this in Popular Science around 1999, and realizing how much I wanted it. I never knew that they actually went through with producing it. Very cool!

SonOfMagicFact

Man this thing is fugly. It reminds me of a very large double picture frame.

hardenstuhl

You don't see too much hardware in olive these days. No wait, I just did.

KingHater

yeah, a 19.5 inch screen isn't all that useful with a big effin' line running down the middle, but it could be used to run windows XP on one screen and virtualize Ubuntu on the other, then you could be ultra geeky. "Pffft dual booting is so last clock cycle, now it's about booting both os's at the same time!"

jackfrost132

Please tell me there's a copy of AOL 2.0 in the deal.

girraffesack

1996 called, and it wants its laptop back. Oh, and it best NOT be chopped down the middle either.

mthrndr

epic FAIL

rdldr1

Why fold it down the center that way? Look at all that wasted space below the keyboard.

They should have made it a trifold that folds horizontally.

1) Small wide screen
2) Small wide screen
3) Keyboard

lose the touchpad

lordargent

the nice part about it is that it is so thin and convenient to carry.

x23

@justinpe: Wow, sanity.

According to the pics from the eBay auctino, the bios was compiled in 2001, so I'd guess that this is from '01-'02.

HeartBurnKid

You do realize that you guys are complaining about an old computer having old technology, right? Right? Because I'd really hate to think that you're all stupid and whiny...

HeartBurnKid

Are backpack straps included?

KingHater

@Hvedhrungr:
Step 1: Buy computer
Step 2: ???
Step 3: PROFIT!

DaOtter

Buy it, store it, sell it to a museum in 30 years for 300% profit.

Hvedhrungr

If you were to drop that on a child it'd probably kill 'em dead.

Man.

That's big... ugly... and not very useful.

I'll take one. I hates tha children.

DustyButt

Floppy drive, no optical, and an Athlon core procy? Not even a Barton? Not even a THOROUGHBRED?! By this to play your old 386 I.F. games and old Lucas adventure classics.
(I bet Day of the Tentacle SCREAMS on this thing...)

DaOtter

How ugly. I think we should put it out of it's mysery and see if it will blend.

MerlynNY

It looks like someone Trapper Keeper just ate the Encyclopedia Britanica. And the Bezel going through the middle vertically like that makes me want to go all Office Space on it.

MagnoliaBoy

Man, the more I look at this thing, the uglier it gets.

This is the Wagon Queen Family Truckster of laptops.

drewls

"G,5"

"You sunk my battle ship!"

xeijix

The marketing will be great for this.

The Xentex Epic Fail 2000

Why just fail when you can Epic Fail?

drewls

Not a horrible idea, but executed very poorly. When was this thing made? I would guess 1998?

Here's the ebay listing:
[cgi.ebay.com]

I wouldn't pay $100 for this thing, even if it did boot up.

justinpe

I had something like this once. Oh, wait. It was a piece of paper. I would write notes on it and then fold it up and put it in my pocket.

You want to turn heads at starbucks? Try writing with A PEN AND PIECE OF PAPER! Its like a steampunked version of the airbook. Chicks will fall all over you...

"Wow. I haven't seen anyone do that in... well I dont remember."
"Yeah, its a little something I learned while traveling in Europe."
"Wow. Europe. I've seen that on Google Earth. Cool. Whats it called?"
"Oh, this? Its called "writing". But in Europe they call it "scrivere"."
"Do you want to go to the bathroom with me"

The rest is history...

nystreetfilms

How the hell did they get the development funds for this ?

Let me know when they can fold it more than 7 X.

ANoel

...thousands of years ago into the future.

ChrisH027

I'm really tempted.

I love how the displays are just two normal displays, rotated 90 degrees.

TommySez

I think thats bigger than me!

itscarmennnn

Jeebus h.... That thing is massive

highfloydelity

WANT! (no, not really)

qbrad

Can I hand carried that sucker on the plane? It looks massive.

billcanada

Thank God for the floppy drive. Does it have a color screen? Can I connect it to my dot-matrix?

Barry_Ovaltine