One thing you will not usually find in an Internet terminal is versatility. What you see is usually what you get, and modifications are left up to the manufacturer, not you. Well, COM One has given the Internet terminal a slightly different spin. They have developed the @max Terminal to give consumers alternative packages to choose from. Released to the European market in September 2000 and the US market in March 2001, COM One is offering OEMs and retail distributors of Internet terminals a new selling strategy.

The @max Terminal is sleek; COM One designed it so the PC-style keyboard folds up, leaving an unobtrusive, plain, greyish-blue device that won't clutter a countertop. When the keyboard is down, the device opens up to an 8.2 inch, 16 million color, 640/480 VGA screen, keyboard, and touchpad.

If there is but one thing standard on the @max, the physical packaging is it. The rest of the device is comprised of a myriad of variables, beginning with the processor. As a standard, the @max uses a NS Geode Gx1 processor, but it can operate from 200 to 300 MHz, depending upon the user's selection. A base memory of 32 MB of RAM is expandable to 128 MB, and the 8 MB of flash memory is also expandable to 128 MB. As for the operating system, QNX is the primary OS, but Linux JNT and BeIA are optional choices. A user-friendly graphics interface allows you to customize or update your @max software by downloading online.

Because the @max has optional operating systems, it also comes with optional browsers. For QNX-based systems, Spyglass Voyager is the browser of choice; for Linux, it's Netscape 4.5; and for BeIA, it's Opera. The device also supports plug-ins, like Real Player, flash, MP3, and Wave readers. The @max supports HTML, multi-frames, Java Script, and Java.

The device connects to other devices through a DB25 parallel port, a DB9 serial port, two USB ports, or an Ethernet 10/100 MB LAN connection. As for Internet connectivity, its internal 56K v90 FDSP modem should do the trick. And for those who relish ordering stuff online, the @max has a smart card reader, so you'll be ready when that technology goes universal.

As for stature, the @max stands 10.24 inches high, 11.82 inches wide (if the keyboard is down), and 8.67 inches across.

Pricing and Availability

The @max Terminal is available to OEMs and retail distributors for between $420 and $480, depending upon quantity.

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