Reading through the discussions i have seen Raspberry Pi’s mentioned as a possible endpoint solution in the future. I stumbled across an article this morning on engadget on the Kangaroo PC that i thought might make a decent cheap alternative as an endpoint and wanted to see if any others shared my opinion.
From the source article BGR:
nFocus bills the Kangaroo as the world’s smallest portable desktop PC. The device weighs just 200g and measures 124mm tall, 80.5mm wide and 12.9mm thick, making the Kangaroo roughly the size of some of the larger phablets currently on the market. There are even one or two phablets that are far bigger than the Kangaroo. A removable base unit adds an HDMI port, two USB ports and a DC power port to the Kangaroo, and it’s just 46.9mm tall.
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In terms of specs as they might compare to a traditional tower desktop, the ultrabook vs. notebook comparison is absolutely apropos. InFocus currently offers one version of the Kangaroo and it is powered by an Intel Cherrytrail (Atom Z8500) processor clocked at 2.24GHz. This class of Intel processor requires no fan, enabling a design that is as compact as possible. The Kangaroo also includes 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage, and it can be expanded by as much as 128GB at a time thanks to microSDXC support.
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Dual-band wireless AC ensures a speedy Wi-Fi connection, which is important since the device does not have an ethernet port, just as most ultra-portable notebook computers no longer include ethernet ports. Bluetooth 4.0 cuts back on even more wires by letting the user connect a wireless keyboard and mouse rather than hogging the USB ports on the included base. Only two cables are necessary with the Kangaroo, an HDMI cable to connect to a display and the power cord. The device does pack a battery though, and it will last for about four hours of what InFocus calls “casual use.”
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A conversation with InFocus ahead of today’s announcements revealed a team that is excited to be breathing new life into the desktop PC space. InFocus also says that this first Kangaroo model is only the beginning, and it has big plans for the future. Higher-end models will be made available, but the company has plans to release additional base units that can be docked with the Kangaroo to add new functionality.
Link to Newegg