With versatile and powerful mobile computing now being essentially a must-have instead of a luxury, desktop PC sales are plummeting with the weight of being now almost awkwardly impractical for much more than intensive gaming. Even Windows 10 has somewhat disappointed users, fans and pundits alike who envisioned a game-changing OS from Microsoft. The market has swiftly favored a little more Raspberry Pi and shunned stationary desktops the combined size of a rack of lamb.
Incredibly, the 200g InFocus Kangaroo PC looks to tie the convenience of desktop-comparable computing performance to a shockingly affordable price point befitting the minimal parts and assembly costs of a 124mm tall, 80.5mm wide and 12.9mm thick unit. It goes eye-to-eye with bigger phablets, sizes up their own processing, and just sort of says, “Aw, that’s cute.” You see, that’s because this comparably sized pocket-PC packs the convenience and power of two USB ports, a DC power port and HDMI port with one 46.9mm-tall removable base unit. Look at any screen around you. Chances are, with a few exceptions, the Kangaroo turns it into a PC powered by a fanless 2.2GHz Intel Cherrytrail (Atom Z8500) processor, 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, and 32GB of eMMC storage with expansion slots to swell the capacity to a microSDXC-supported 128GB.
No ethernet port? No problem, thanks to dual-band wireless AC’s brisk Wi-Fi connection on par with most notebooks and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity for a wireless mouse and keyboard. If you have an HDMI connectin for a display and a power cord, your Kangaroo is good to go, though its battery pack includes ints own four-hour “casual use” lifespan.
As long as you keep its workload reasonable, Windows 10 Home Edition suffices for web-browsing, office utilities, and even streaming media. Though clearly very Windows-friendly, the free OS Link software keeps it iOS-compatible for iPad connectivity in both the tablet and desktop modes. The fingerprint scanner is also a nice security touch in lieu of a password
The Kangaroo is priced to own at $99 and available now through Microsoft’s online store and Newegg.com with test units available this November in Microsoft’s physical retail locations.
