IMOVIO iKit is the new World's Smallest Laptop

Posted by Al Warmington on Fri 24 Oct 2008

So is this a mini-sub-netbook or an ultra-ultra-portable?

IMOVIO is a company we've never even heard of, but we like its thinking. It has just announced the iKit, a miniature laptop that fits in the palm of your hand.

Yeah, we've seen pocket PCs and gadgets like the OQO which are probably smaller in mass or volume, but this is the smallest gizmo to have a proper laptop form factor.

The dimensions are 95 x 65 x 15.5mm and it weighs in at 113g - that's almost half the weight of a Nintendo DS Lite, and less 20g less than an iPhone. It packs a full QWERTY keyboard and a 2.8" QVGA screen.

The operating system is Linux, which is a good thing since the Marvell PXA270 312MHz CPU and 64MB of RAM probably would struggle with Windows XP.

It's other features include a Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11b/g WiFi and the option to use an HSDPA dongle. The battery is supposed to be good for about 3 hours of computing.

To be honest, it's so small that it must be a long way short of practical, but it would still be fun to see the looks of wonder as you whipped out one of these on the train to fire of an email or two. Admittedly, it could look like the digital equivalent of producing a pampered Chihuahua out of a handbag, but we'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

At least if the US prices are anything to go by, the iKit's not to going to break the bank; it's expected to retail for $170 (around £110).

iKit (via Computerworld)