Tangent VITA 7500S All-in-one LCD PC
RSSBy Jeffrey Hastings -- School Library Journal, 05/01/2006
Tangent Computer, 197 Airport Blvd., Burlingame, CA 94010 (888) 826-4368 www.tangent.com $1,495.
Please don’t mention this to my principal, but I’ve been spending an awful lot of time at work lately just… daydreaming. In my mind’s eye, frumpy forms morph into sleek and sexy shapes and all things doddering and wimpy are reborn in the holy techno trinity: a perfect fusion of power, grace, and speed.
In my own defense, none of these reveries are grounds for dismissal; I’m careful to keep all my phantasms purely professional. For instance, lately I’ve been imagining what sort of hardware I’d most like to see replacing the yellowed CRT monitors and boxy old CPUs currently sullying my library.
And the dream machine I’d like to replace them all with? The Tangent VITA 7500S. Tangent has managed to neatly stash the formidable guts of a state-of-the-art PC behind a 17-inch SXGA LCD display creating a space-saving machine that just plain looks cool. Best of all, they’ve done so while staying within the price range one would expect to pay for a conventional PC.
Powered by a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4, the all-in-one PC ships with Windows XP Professional and features a 120 GB hard drive, a DVD/CD-RW drive, a 6-in-1 media card reader, USB and FireWire ports, and built-in 10/100 Ethernet. Because the VITA 7500S has dozens of available mounting options—including wall mount kits— librarians planning a construction or renovation project could really dream up some creative ideas for configuring catalog stations and information kiosks that feature the unit. You can customize the unit’s functionality, too. Add a WiFi card or, for $200, you can even add touch-screen capabilities. For $69 you can add a TV tuner, which could be useful for schools with in-house video/video messaging systems. Just don’t expect room-filling sound from the unit’s small, built-in speakers.
The Tangent VITA 7500S is an elegant PC with a custom look at a price that’s competitive with conventional machines. If you think one might play a role in your next library daydream, contact Tangent and they’ll help make it a reality.
| Author Information |
| Jeffrey Hastings is a school library media specialist at Highlander Way Middle School in Howell, MI. You can e-mail him at hastingj@howellschools.com. |
