[HH] Tango Super PC Launched on Kickstarter!

[Tom Metro]

Social-Tango wrote:
> We are excited to announce we are live on KickStarter now!
> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tiny/tango-super-pc-cellphone-size-gameable-officeable
> 
> Tango is the world's most powerful Cell phone size mainstream PC that
> is Officeable, Gameable and Entertainmentable. It runs Windows (7/8),
> Linux/Ubuntu/Chromium etc.

The gist of this project is that they created a box - a bit bigger than
a smart phone - that contains a CPU, RAM, and SSD storage, which then
plugs into a larger dock that has the power supply, fan, and connectors.

The idea being that you can use one CPU box at work, as your desktop PC
at home, and as your entertainment PC, by having a $90 dock at each of
these locations and carrying the CPU box from location to location.


Cell phone sized in terms of the length and width. It looks like it is 2
or 3 times thicker than a typical smartphone. (This also assumes you
ignore the other half of the machine that forms the dock. If the piece
you move around can't be used independent of a dock, its a cheat to call
it a "Cell phone size" PC. Want to take it with you on a trip? You
better have room to pack the dock, monitor, and keyboard.)

Did they really need to force the terminology to come up with
"Officeable" and "Entertainmentable"? Sounds tortured.


Is this compelling? I don't want to share the same CPU and storage
between my employer and my desktop PC, and certainly not with my
entertainment PC. I don't want to be limited to being able to do only
one of those things at once. I don't want to be constantly moving the
CPU box back and forth.

Functionality-wise they could have made the "CPU box" serve the same
purpose of transporting your environment by reducing it down to just the
SSD. That way it would be much smaller, and cheaper, when you inevitably
loose it/drop it in a pool. Presumably they pushed the CPU and RAM into
that box because those are some of the most expensive components, so it
reduces overall system cost. There is no other good reason. The "CPU
box" isn't usable for anything independent of the docking station. It's
not like a laptop or smartphone + dock, where the device is usable when
away from the dock.

Didn't we try this experiment with several smartphones that permitted
docking to screens and keyboards? (Canonical's experiment is really the
closest to this, and it hasn't really been put to the test yet. The ones
that attempted to make you use a cell phone OS as a desktop were mass
market failures.)

Hasn't business issued laptops and remotely accessible web applications
made the need to move your work environment home far less necessary?

Most of the target demographic for this product would be better off
paying a bit more for some combination of laptops and Intel NUC small
form factor PCs to go in each location. NUCs are smaller, probably
individually cheaper (compared to a Tango + dock), and you never have to
remember to transport them from location to location.

Not a project I'd back.

 -Tom