Kangaroo, a $99 portable Windows 10 desktop, is the PC-on-a-stick's worst nightmare

[Shawn Knight]

Stick PCs like Intel’s Compute Stick have really picked up steam this year as a portable alternative to notebooks, a complement to your smartphone and so on. Regardless of purpose, the hurdle that virtually all PC-on-a-stick systems face is real estate.

The form factor only affords so much room meaning compromises – like fewer expansion slots and the fact that it requires a constant power source – are aplenty.

Projector manufacturer InFocus believes it has a more viable solution which it’s calling Kangaroo.

InFocus’ new product does away with the stick form factor in favor or something with a bit more room. Kangaroo is perhaps best described as looking like a modern smartphone at two inches x three inches with a thickness of just 14mm. It tips the scale at 200 grams.

Kangaroo is powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8500 (Cherry Trail) chip alongside 2GB of DDR3 RAM, 32GB of local eMMC storage and dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi with Bluetooth 4.0. Best yet, its internal battery provides up to four hours of use between charges and ships with a 64-bit copy of Windows 10 pre-installed.

The device features a microSD card slot for additional expansion, a fingerprint scanner for security and a microUSB port for charging. There’s also a removable base that adds an HDMI port, USB 2.0 port, a USB 3.0 port and a DC-in charging port. Kangaroo can even be paired with an iOS app that'll let you use an iPad as a display.

Kangaroo is available as of writing for $99 over at Newegg. The Kangaroo Dock will set you back an extra $39 although it is currently out of stock. InFocus said it plans to showcase more accessories that build out the Kangaroo ecosystem at CES.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/62558-kangaroo-99-portable-windows-10-desktop-pc-stick.html

 

[oldikes]

Why havent people been throwing these inside keyboards instead of rectangular boxes? that seems WAY more ideal. Or should I delete this post and patent it?

 

[Camikazi]

Why havent people been throwing these inside keyboards instead of rectangular boxes? that seems WAY more ideal. Or should I delete this post and patent it?

Commodore VIC-20 and many old computers beat you to it by almost 40 years. As for these portable computers, they are not new I have been eyeing a few of these for over a year now. Microsoft making Windows 8.1 with Bing free made it cheaper to make these mini computers, Minix has had one out for a while now as has many other vendors and the prices are around the same place as well (around $100).

 

[oldikes]

And thats another thing. many windows TABLETS are around for less than $100. the winbook and HP stream comes to mind...why are these more expensive without a screen and the like?

 

[Teko03]

It's sad that manufacturers feel that it's okay to ship devices with 2GB in 2015. The only reason these device specs exist is so they can advertise a lower "Starting at..." price.

 

[Ranger1st]

If it could be reformatted to win 7 I'd be all over it.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Can it play Crysis? If not I'll ignore it from here on out.

 

[Nobina]

All of these devices are pointless next to a laptop. They are smaller but you need peripherals.

 

[bexwhitt]

It's sad that manufacturers feel that it's okay to ship devices with 2GB in 2015. The only reason these device specs exist is so they can advertise a lower "Starting at..." price.

windows 10 is not a memory hog (unlike OSX ) a quick presentation or a bit of browsing should be fine don't open 20 tabs (like I do) and it should be gravy.

 

[cliffordcooley]

What's sad is people ridiculing this device, as if it should be a full blown gaming desktop.

 

[Ultraman1966]

If it could be reformatted to win 7 I'd be all over it.

Why?