Ever wondered why the feats of miniaturisation that allow us to carry around powerful computers in our pockets and handbags in the form of smartphones and tablets haven’t been replicated in the desktop PC market?
Durban – Why should home or office computers still come in bulky, noisy, power gobbling towers?
The clever guys behind South African startup, Cloudware, wondered the same thing.
They realised that with the exception of serious gaming, video editing and other processor hungry applications, a PC with almost all the functionality most of us ordinary mortals require could be shrunk into a surprisingly compact package.
The result is CloudGate, a computer that weighs almost nothing (225g to be exact) and that’s about the size of two CD covers stacked on top of one another. And it only has to be that big to make room for the ports needed to plug in the power supply, HD monitor (or HD TV), keyboard and mouse – although built in Bluetooth will let you use wireless versions of the last two peripherals, very useful if you’re vegging in bed or on the couch.
As the name suggests, there’s very little onboard storage (what you get comes courtesy of the 8GB solid state hard drive), with most of the computational heavy lifting and storage intended to take place in the cloud. So do make sure you have access to a reliable, reasonably fast internet connection – my 2 Mbps home ADSL proved more than adequate. That said, there is a mini SD slot which will let you beef up your local storage by an additional 32GB.
The CloudGate runs on Android, which is great news if you’re already embedded in Google’s mobile ecosystem through an Android smartphone or tablet.
Now, CloudGate isn’t the first desktop Android computer, but it’s the first I’ve encountered to get the following trick right, and it’s a biggie. The cloud access means you can also run any Windows application through the Cloudware gateway. So in effect, you’re getting two computers (Android and Windows) for the price of one.
And a pretty sweet price it is too, just R2 000, but available for as low as R1 800 if you shop around online. Remember to factor in the cost of the keyboard, mouse and monitor, although with luck you may already have them for your current PC. Be aware that it needs to be an HD monitor or TV. If it has an HDMI port, it’ll work with CloudGate – just plug it in using the supplied HDMI cable.
Setup was quick and easy and the device connected to the internet via my home Wi-Fi without a hitch. I was impressed to discover that it also connected to the Web automatically when I plugged my portable MTN 3G dongle into one of the three USB ports.
I confess I was expecting some lag and stuttering given the device’s diminutive dimensions and was pleased to be proved wrong, with the Quad Core 1.6Ghz primary processor paired with Quad Core Mali 400 graphics processor more than up to the task of browsing the web, watching videos and playing Android games.
The addition of a keyboard and mouse really turn apps like Office 360 and Google Docs into fully functional productivity tools rather than glorified text readers.
And the clincher? The CloudGate runs on less than 10W of power, a tiny fraction of those power hungry tower dinosaurs.
Sunday Tribune
Visit www.cloudgate.co.za for more information. If you have any questions, e-mail me at [email protected] or follow me on Twitter @alanqcooper.