Flybook: ultra-lightweight laptop with touchscreen

Sure, the technology news world may still be abuzz over Microsoft’s Origami project – you know, the whole UMPC thing – but that doesn’t mean that conventional notebook computers are a thing of the past. Strangely, this new Flybook fits somewhere in between your standard issue laptops and the new UMPCs, because it features an 8.9-inch touchscreen display that can be rotated a full 360 degrees.

It still has a regular QWERTY keyboard, but by swinging the LCD around, it can double as a tablet PC. Neat-o. What’s more is that it weighs so little: a barely noticeable 2.6 pounds. The processor sounds a little foreign to me – a 1GHz Transmeta Crusoe TM-5800 – but the ATi Radeon Mobility graphics module does not. Other features include a not-huge 40GB hard disk drive, 512MB DDR RAM, built-in 802.11b (where’s the g-love?) and Bluetooth connectivity, and a pair of USB 2.0 ports.

Ultra mobility and ultra lightweight-ness won’t come cheap though, because the Flybook is trying to fly off the shelves with a hefty $2,490 price tag. Available here