The Laptop I Want

[nko]

Ah, if I could have my perfect laptop...

What would the hardware be? Well, let's see...

Dual-core, ARM based CPU w/FPU, ~350-550MHz
No fans, wouldn't get hot, wouldn't get noisy
2 gigabit ethernet jacks
2 USB 2 slots
2 Firewire 800 ports
14" screen, a little wider than a normal screen
Full sized keyboard with a layout that doesn't put the \ in such a convenient place, but does put the / in a more convenient place
Trackball- I have the flip*ping touchpads!
1 gig of RAM, 2 different expansion slots
Flash-based, 2 GB HD (remember, we've got outlets that allow for external storage! This is just for system software / applications... everything but /home, pretty much, and maybe /var / /tmp)
A good firmware (not BIOS) that allows network booting, booting from USB / Firewire devices, and booting in to a useful environment without an OS
No built in optical drive, no PCMCIA slot
Graphics chip with good-enough 3D, excellent 2D, on a bus that allows it to be used as more than just a graphics processor (since AGP's bus is too slow going back to the CPU for it to be useful like that)
Good quality built in speakers mounted in a way that makes sense for sound quality purposes, not because that's where it fits because the rest of the hardware's in the way (possibly along side the monitor? Possibly posable?)
A bring screen that can be dimmed so that it doesn't look blindingly bright when you're in a dark room
Built in wireless (mind you, I wont get this laptop until a protocol is released that has MUCH better scurity and range / connection quality than current items)
And finally, the most important feature (aside from the fact that the machine runs perfectly with Linux + X)....

A battery that wont die after 3 hours of use!! Make the thing huge- let it take up more than 50% of the physical bulk of the laptop! It's ARM based and has no optical drive- it's a total possibility!!! If the thing can last 10 hours, I'm a happy camper!

Tell me if there's anything I've missed or if there's anything you'd change. I mainly want a low-wattage, high battery, quiet, smallish, cool-running machine. And it doesn't matter if it runs Windows or OS X.

[EnigmaOne]

Ah, if I could have my perfect laptop...

She'd be beautiful, intelligent, good sense of humor, a fascinating conversationalist, my best friend...

Wait a minute.

I married her.

Nevermind! I already have my perfect laptop. :D

[SP]

[nko]

Hahhahaaa, don't let my wife know that I didn't come up with that one!

[gehidore]

Originally posted by EnigmaOne
Ah, if I could have my perfect laptop...

She'd be beautiful, intelligent, good sense of humor, a fascinating conversationalist...

Wait a minute.

I married her.

Nevermind! I already have my perfect laptop. :D

lmao

[cybertron]

No offense nko, but I'll take EnigmaOne's over yours any day:D

[nko]

Not sure he'd appreciate you oogling HIS laptop. That's hitting a little close to home!

[gehidore]

Originally posted by cybertron
No offense nko, but I'll take EnigmaOne's over yours any day:D

i wouldnt mess with EnigmaOne's laptop, but i would prefer mine, very similar similar, just not married... :)

[nko]

Different model, same OS, same NIC?

I think with the laptops we're discussing, the NIC might be the most important component. Some (myself excluded) would argue that you can put a paper bag over the rest of the machine, and as long as it's got a good NIC with LED's that's on a fast bus, you're good to go. I guess that's what they're talking about when they say "black box."

But then the analogy doesn't hold when we start talking about "insert disk when ready" prompts.

I almost forgot; my kernel (going back to the laptop I *was* talking about) would have some tweaked power management support. Maybe ACPI, maybe another interface. In any event, it'd be VERY good about reducing power consumption.

[CoffeeMan]

I think the perfect ration on a laptop is 14.4: 9. The keyboard should be real flat and easy to type on.
And it should have an MMC/SD/CF card reader.
The CPU(s) should be 64 bit Opterons.
And the Graphics card shoud support my 4 dimensional GUI I wrote for Linux. Kernel 3.2 compatible, it is in beta testing now.
Expect Project HyperCube to be here in 2006!
I also agree with the track balls, I have the IBM point stick on my laptop, and I am getting sick of it. I want the ball back!

[gehidore]

whats with all you little people?

the perfect laptop has to have 21" widescreen plasma :p

[nko]

Are you saying it's gotta be hot 'n' massive?

[gehidore]

Originally posted by nko
Are you saying it's gotta be hot 'n' massive?

no im saying if i get a laptop it better have its own zipcode.

bigger is always better, isnt it?

[nko]

Hmm, I always thought it was the motion of the ocean.

I'm not sure I understand the whole concept behind lugging around a 10 lb notebook. But appearantly they're really popular, so I guess it shows what this consumer knows :-)

[hard candy]

If I ever get a $2500 tax refund and have no bills to pay, this is what I would get:
8790 Multimedia (http://www.computerhouse.com/cgi-bin/tame/store/sager_8790.tam)

Of course at almost 9 lbs, my legs would go numb and my arm would be an inch longer at the end of the day. :)

[gehidore]

no actually my point is:

there is no way on this earth im going to spend 1000+ on a laptop that will only be used once a week, if i get one its my desktop as well. so it better be BIG.

[cybertron]

Originally posted by nko
Not sure he'd appreciate you oogling HIS laptop. That's hitting a little close to home!

Hmm, yes that did come out a bit wrong. I'll have to be more careful when talking about other people's laptops in the future.:)

Oh yeah, and my dream laptop is the one I already own because it's bought and paid for (unlike my college education:rolleyes: ).

[nko]

My dad used to lug around a pretty big laptop. He thought he wanted the biggest, most powerful machine he could get. It was also his desktop. He wanted his desktop to be portable because he flies a lot.

Well, problem was that it was a pretty heavy beast. Add all the extra stuff (external mouse, A/C adaptor, maybe a few other things) and it was all but impractical. And once he got it on an airplane, he couldn't even open the lid far enough to comfortably see the screen. He ended up almost never using it, but feeling ditraught that this was his only option, since littler, less powerful laptops didn't have the hardware he needed to work with big AutoCAD drawings and all the other documents he's constantly juggling all at once.

Then he saw my 12" Athlon XP M 1600+ laptop. Sure the screen was small, but it's fine if you use an external monitor (which he always did with his big laptop- 19" LCD- he just wanted a big screen even when he was travelling). He ended up getting a smaller laptop, and now he actually gets things done on the plane.

Side note: I showed him some pictures on my laptop once, and he asked if it was a Mac, because it seemed really slick and I wasn't having a single problem giving him a tour of my pictures. Nope, nothing more than a regular old KDE desktop, dad :-) He still thinks it'd take more time than it's worth to learn anything but Windows...

[nko]

My only complaints about my current laptop are that it gets hot, it's got low battery life (3.5 hours max), and ACPI isn't perfectly supported by Linux (I can't sleep, but I can hibernate... though if I'm running KDE, hibernation can take up to 45 seconds). It's speedier than I need it to be, and runs hot. I just put 2 & 2 together; lower power, lower temp would be my preference.