4. An Inside Look

With the bottom cover removed from the PaceBook, you can get a first-hand look at its internal construction. As you can plainly see in the picture below, the PaceBook uses a single board design and the majority of the internal real estate inside the PaceBook is devoted to the PCMCIA slot, the internal hard drive, and the battery. These three components occupy roughly 50% of the total allotted space inside the PaceBook. We found the internal construction of the PaceBook to be well designed and exceptionally well thought-out for the given form factor.

A look inside the unit exposes the ALI chipset. Under the heat sink is the Crusoe processor.

The outside shell of the PaceBook tablet is constructed from magnesium composite, which adds to the feeling of solid construction. The unit measures 9.7 inches by 13 inches by 1.1 inches. This size measurement does not take into consideration the external/ detached keyboard that is included with the PaceBook. In evaluating the size of the PaceBook, it is comparable to a typical laptop computer, minus the display panel.

One unique feature on the PaceBook is its inclusion of a tripod mounting socket that allows the PaceBook to be mounted on a tripod for presentation purposes. The PaceBook weighs a bit more than is first anticipated. At 3.96 pounds, we would not describe the PaceBook as "light," but we would not describe it as very heavy, either. This weight does not take into consideration the keyboard, AC adaptor, or other accessories, which we did find enhanced value in carrying along, as well. Unfortunately, once you add the keyboard case and the accessories, you are closing in on the same weight of the average laptop. While this isn't necessarily a negative, we were hopeful that the unique characteristics of the PaceBook would have resulted in some weight savings.

We think that the trade-off here was PaceBlade's decision to use alloy-based construction, which provides significantly more durability than a typical plastic constructed notebook. As a comparison, our initial impression prior to evaluating the PaceBook was that it was more akin to a tablet version of a Panasonic ToughBook. Because of the material construction of the PaceBook, the durability factor is increased, which allows the PaceBook to be used for more demanding and rugged applications.