BY EVAN KOBLENTZ
Technology Editor, TMC Labs™

Monitors, Keyboards Hide Whole PCs Inside

Two interesting products crossed my desk this week. Both are early results of the post-PC era, but both are still PCs. Allow me to explain.

Gleaning The Qbe
The first product on deck is the "Qbe" (pronounced "cube"). It's a tablet computer from Aqcess Technologies. By "tablet" computer, I mean a full IBM-clone PC that's entirely packaged inside a laptop-style monitor. Although a standard keyboard and mouse are included, the device has three primary input methods onboard: desktop icons and an on-screen keyboard which respond to a stylus or your fingertip, handwriting recognition, and speech recognition from L&H.

The Qbe computers also feature built-in everything: a video camera, IR (infrared) port, full multimedia, CD-ROM drive, Lithium-ion battery, USB, Firewire, Ethernet adapter, modem, and even an electronic card reader. For still more connectivity, the vendor offers a combination stand and docking station, with two serial ports, a parallel port, a VGA out, and an extra USB port.

Despite the coolness factor of the Qbe, my favorite feature is the ability to customize the style used for handwriting recognition -- PDA makers, please take note. By choosing this feature, users can personalize how they write letters and other characters on the screen, which speeds up data entry after you go through a training period similar to those used in speech dictation software. In my humble opinion, if it can be done without being a resource hog, then it makes a lot more sense for the machine to learn how you write than for you to learn how it reads. The machine should be a slave to you, not the other way around.

The major flaws: the tablets are heavy (more than six pounds) and expensive (starting at about $4,000).

Stuffing Guts For A Small Footprint
The second product is the opposite of the Qbe in design. It's called the "Zero Footprint PC Elite 1," from Cybernet Manuacturing. I define this as a "keyboard PC" as opposed to the Qbe, because all of the computer's guts are stuffed inside the keyboard (without any display capability). The concept is that you carry the keyboard PC with you and attach it to any available monitor.

Another thing that makes the Elite 1 the opposite of the Qbe is its price: Elite 1 systems start at $650, which is certainly more affordable than several thousand bucks. The good news is that these computes (I hesitate to call them just "keyboards") offer most of the same technical specifications of the Qbe or any other modern PC. The bad news is that they weigh in at more than seven pounds.

It All Comes Down To Space
While both products have unique feature sets, the main selling point of each is space savings. By having the whole computer built into the display or the keyboard, the physical desktop requirements of your computer instantly shrink, and the computer suddenly becomes a portable. They're also great for conference tables, lunch rooms, lobbies, kiosks, kitchens, or anyplace else where the situation calls for a full-optioned computer in a small space.

As I sit at home writing this column, I see before me an ugly off-white box about the size of a small suitcase. I also see a monitor as big as a 15-inch television, all sitting on an overcrowded desk in a rather messy apartment. With a keyboard PC and a basic flat-screen monitor, I could save lots of space and still have a good system for a very reasonable $1,500. I'd still need a printer and the small box that is my cable modem, but it's a lot cheaper than a comparably equipped laptop computer.

I confess that I'm not very fond of the Qbe device for SOHO use -- its best chance of success will be niche and vertical markets -- but I am convinced that a keyboard PC model may render the mini-tower obsolete for all buyers except tinkerers and server administrators. (I'm told by a Qbe representative that a version due this winter will be small, lighter, and less expensive, all of which would make it more appealing. We shall see.)

I expect that by the year 2005, most new computers will only remotely resemble the rectangular shapes we see today. It's hard to say if this trend started with the iMac, the New Beetle, or the return of bellbottoms, but I think that PC makers have finally realized that ugly boxes are for back offices, where function is the main concern. The two products I've discussed here combine both style and function, although Aqcess Technologies needs to overcome their letter "Q" fetish. Besides the actual computer name, their advertisements discuss Qbeism, and the optional case is rumored to be called the Jaquet. Qan I be qandid? This seems a rather qurious naming qonvention to me. (See how fast it gets annoying?)

My hunch is that other products using similar designs must already exist, or are at least in the planning stages. Other tablet computers are already for sale, from vendors like Hitachi and Fujitsu. If you know of any, if you're making one, or if you have comments, please contact me at ekoblentz@tmcnet.com.