Vulcan FlipStart

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Vulcan FlipStart is a super compact PC that weighs 1.75 pounds (with standard high capacity battery) and is only the size of a paperback novel (4.5 by 5.9 by 1.6 inches with high capacity battery). FlipStart is the release name for the concept PC Paul Allen showed at CES 2003 and 2004, specifically FlipStart V1.0.

The FlipStart has a folding 5.6-inch screen with 1024×600 resolution, a 30GB hard drive, built-in Wi-Fi, bluetooth and batteries capable of running three to six hours on a single charge (the device ships with a standard high capacity battery and offers a lower capacity slimline option, unusually). The CPU is a Pentium M ULV processor running at 1.1GHz, and it has a non-expandable memory of 512MiB. The chipset is the Intel GMA915. A VGA resolution (640 x 480) camera is built in below the screen.

The devices run the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems and as such can run standard PC applications such as Microsoft Office. It also has a small secondary color display in the lid similar to, but not, Windows SideShow. This is only compatible with Office/Outlook 2003 currently. Its small QWERTY keyboard has backlit buttons, and additional input devices are provided in the form of a trackpad and thumbstick located above the keyboard, a scrollwheel and media navigation buttons on the right side of the unit.

Expansion is possible via a dock connector which connects to a port replicator, offering two USB ports (blocking the single port on the unit), VGA, audio, AC power and Ethernet. An additional sliding cover on the lid provides access to a "snap on" expansion system. There is one expansion option provided for this, a 3.2Mp (5Mp marketed) add-on camera. The expansion cover also provides access to the built in SIM socket, but at the time of writing (28 November 2007) no official HSDPA/CDMA device exists to make use of it, although user "Toughle" had success using a minipcie HSDPA card.

In the US the FlipStart primarily ships with Sierra Sprint Broadband EVDO communications.

The FlipStart was launched in the US on March 27, 2007 at the FlipStart web page. The FlipStart (CE marked version) was launched in the UK via distributor Blazepoint on September 10, 2007.

Prices as of January 17, 2008 are $699 in the USA and £339.00 ex. VAT in the UK. UK launch price was £1449 ex. VAT, US launch price was $1999. Price was reduced to $1499 in September 2007. On January 16, 2008 this price was significantly reduced to $699.