In addition to its novel processor, the PictureBook has some unique features. It gets its name from the built-in camera that can be used to take digital still or motion pictures, and a dedicated button on the keyboard makes snapping a shot easy. The pointing stick has the usual two buttons, plus a third for scrolling in some applications. The notebook also has stereo speakers and a built-in microphone. The keyboard is well laid out, but the key spacing is noticeably tighter than on other notebooks and desktop keyboards.
Additional features run a little thin.
The system comes with Microsoft Word 2000 and a handful of helpful utilities, but that's it for software. You'll find no floppy disk drive or optical drive included, but a USB floppy disk drive and CD-ROM with a PC Card interface are available as options. In terms of performance, the PictureBook is a bit anemic, even when set to maximum performance. Part of this low score may be caused by the fact that the Winstone benchmark test does not repeat tasks, which minimizes opportunities for the Code Morphing technology to have an effect. The battery test was an acceptable 2 hours 17 minutes.