During the Pepcom Holiday Spectacular event in New York City on Thursday, InFocus Corporation introduced the Kangaroo Notebook, a bundle consisting of a laptop dock and two interchangeable Kangaroo Mini PCs running Windows 10. So instead of having one notebook with multiple user accounts, two individuals would insert their module into the laptop for work and play, and then remove it when done. Even more, each module comes packed with its own storage, allowing users to take their files with them when the module is removed.
Consider the laptop dock as an empty shell sporting a built-in 11.6-inch screen, a full keyboard, and a Synaptics Clickpad. It is the Kangaroo Mini module PC that’s the meat of the package, packing a quad-core Atom x5-Z8350 Cherry Trail processor launched by Intel earlier this year. This chip has a base clock speed of 1.44GHz, a burst clock speed of 1.92GHz, and provides integrated HD 400 graphics with a base clock speed of 200MHz with a 500MHz burst.
Related: InFocus Kangaroo review
The Kangaroo Mini also includes Bluetooth 4.2 LE and Wireless AC connectivity, 2GB of system memory, and 32GB of internal storage. That latter number is not a lot and users will likely get little breathing room for their files thanks to Windows 10 and its associated pre-installed programs hogging up most of that space. Luckily, there is an SD-card reader built into the laptop dock to expand the storage up to 256GB along with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports.
The Kangaroo Notebook product page really does not offer much in regards to detail. However, the company confirmed that the dock aspect includes a webcam, a microphone, speakers, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a battery, making it a certified modular notebook. The screen has a native resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels.
“With Kangaroo Notebook, we put the power to create private, individualized computing experiences directly into the hands of our customers,” said Ben Chu, head of Kangaroo sales. “The modular design of this new mobile computing bundle gives our customers a different level of flexibility and control over how they want to manage personal computing, particularly in the home.”
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the Kangaroo Mini’s special connectors, customers can not use the module on its own, such as hooking up a keyboard, mouse, and display. Those wanting a stand-alone solution may best check out the company’s other products such as the Kangaroo pocket-sized PC. That device sports a fingerprint reader, one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port, an HDMI port, and so on. It is powered by the Intel Atom x5-Z8500 processor and includes 2GB of system memory along with 32GB of internal storage. There is a “Plus” model too with more memory and storage.
This Kangaroo modular notebook from InFocus will be sold on Newegg starting mid-October for $300 and will come with Windows 10 pre-installed on both modules. It sounds like a reasonable deal given that customers receive two pocket-sized Windows 10 PCs and a laptop dock sporting a built-in screen for one price.
