3 ms·

ALMOST awesome. I'd like this but: 1) Keep it thin, however 2) cram all that extra space full of battery, damn the weight, and 3) make the case solid metal.

by ashark 9y ago

ALMOST awesome. I'd like this but: 1) Keep it thin, however 2) cram all that extra space full of battery, damn the weight, and 3) make the case solid metal. Steel if you must. I want it to feel like a contiguous block of metal with no give (doesn't necessarily mean you have to make it impossible to open, but if that's what it takes, go for it), plus 4) some fast wired interface. Gigabit ethernet or (better) USB3. Oh, and a screen that isn't awful (approaching MacBook territory, if not matching it) would be nice. And yeah, I'm aware that exact thing probably can't be delivered for $100. $200-300, though (I know, the nice screen bumps the price up)? I'd love an absolute brick of a thin, battery-filled laptop driven by something just a bit heftier (mostly on I/O) than the Rpi3. Tech old/open enough that there are no wrinkles to iron out, solid enough case to defend yourself with it then flip it open and deploy to production, small enough to pack well, old-school IBM tank-like longevity. Perfect for a lightweight tiling WM and some terminals, and the occasional light open-source or emulated game.

dagw 9y ago
I know, the nice screen bumps the price up Making the case out of solid metal rather than plastic is what will bump the price up. Making custom plastic cases is really cheap. Doing basically anything custom of of metal is much more expensive, doing a single pieces of metal with a complex shape doubly so.
- ashark 9y ago
  It's just got to feel like one solid piece of metal, not actually be solid. Like how iPhones give that glass-and-metal-slab vibe, or (to a lesser extent) MacBook Pros before they thinned the body out (back when they could fit an optical drive), not flexing like the newer ones do when you press lightly on them. I want it to feel like something that could sit in an auto garage seeing daily use and still work after 10 years, but not be giant (possible because the mainboard would be tiny and power-sipping). Sturdy in feel and in fact, though not giant and bulky, and with all-day-plus battery life is what I'm looking for, and I'd trade raw computing power for it. A shopworn socket set of a laptop.

by ashark 9y ago

dagw 9y ago

I know, the nice screen bumps the price up Making the case out of solid metal rather than plastic is what will bump the price up. Making custom plastic cases is really cheap. Doing basically anything custom of of metal is much more expensive, doing a single pieces of metal with a complex shape doubly so.

ashark 9y ago
It's just got to feel like one solid piece of metal, not actually be solid. Like how iPhones give that glass-and-metal-slab vibe, or (to a lesser extent) MacBook Pros before they thinned the body out (back when they could fit an optical drive), not flexing like the newer ones do when you press lightly on them. I want it to feel like something that could sit in an auto garage seeing daily use and still work after 10 years, but not be giant (possible because the mainboard would be tiny and power-sipping). Sturdy in feel and in fact, though not giant and bulky, and with all-day-plus battery life is what I'm looking for, and I'd trade raw computing power for it. A shopworn socket set of a laptop.