7:00 PM on 12.30.2008
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Niero
I'm on a mission.
Background: A few weeks ago I invited Dtoiders to join me on WePC, a research project hosted by Asus and Intel. They've invited a legion of prominent tech bloggers to begin a conversation about a crowdsourcing and building a new kind of computer in 2009. The site has since become a mecca of cool ideas -- with the most popular one submitted by a Dtoider! Check out his vision for a future-proof pc. I was lucky to be selected for my interest in gaming and big fat mouth on the subject. Nevertheless, I'm not happy just chattering about my wet dreams about gaming notebooks. I'm campaigning to make it happen. We have their ear so we may as well yell!
After a few weeks of trying to get people to rally towards any of the popular ideas (and failing) I gave up and instead asked people what they didn't want ... and found that people are much better at expressing that. Case and point: You're probably not sure what kind of woman you'll want to marry but you know you're definitely not going to return to the last crazy bitch you ran from, am I right? When applied to gaming notebooks the people primarily gave two loud and clear answers: cheap and upgradable.
So that's where we're at. How do we move forward?
The image shown above attempts to solve this problem. I'm fond of this particular concept because it combines a $600-range ultra-portable notebook (5 pounds, Atom chip presumably) sold alongside a portable desktop-like docking bay accessory that "kills" the netbook components and bypasses to multi-core graphic and processor components, priced in tiers. You could buy it as is, or drop another $1000 for updated graphics ... and sell/swap that for a newer dock in three years without having to toss your notebook. Take all 20 pounds to go or undock. It could work. The hinges also look like a toilet seat, so it could use some fresh insight if you're so inclined.
I'm really enjoying the WePC thing. While I applaud Asus for they're doing and am grateful for my role, I'll be the first to echo some of the skepticism raised in recent comments. I too sincerely hope that they come out of the gates with something revolutionary and are not merely doing this for the PR benefit. Time will tell.
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Contest:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081205-amds-xgh-external-gpus-may-soon-see-the-light-of-day.html
Interesting stuff, but I just built a new desktop from scratch, so I doubt i"ll be looking for a gaming laptop for a while.
Niero, if people listen to this, and this sort of modular system is implemented, you will be a hero of gamers everywhere.
That is all.
This reminds me of the promised external GPU which would have plug-and-play capability with low-end laptops and computers which would solve upgrading graphics components for laptops and solve heat issues in PC cases.
I think ASUS was one of the hardware makers that promised this about a year ago, glad to see their putting it to use with other components.
Here's some suggestions:
1.) Make the laptop part still be portable and maintain the functions of a regular laptop at its suggested price point separate from the dock unit.
2.) Design the dock to use off the shelf components like ram, Graphics cards, and other cards (to cut costs) but make the connector of the laptop to the base unit to be an proprietary tech (to keep it truly the manufacturers) which will please both casual users (who wont bother changing the crads) and hardcore users (who may want to change stuff).
3.) Make the dock system be a standard but exclusive to the big manufacturers to actually make it truly a standard.
Ill come back later for more suggestions.
and I, for one, welcome our new gaming laptops overlords.
Same goes with the screen, make it easily switchable and/or universal much like your diagram above. Monitor on your PC go out? No problem, grab a new one and you're back in business. On a laptop its not so simple. And that's what it needs to be above all else, SIMPLE.
If they can make something that is easily upgradeable for the average somewhat savy consumer, laptop especially, I'm down with that. Its one main reason why I shy away from laptops, the ability to not do much in the way of upgrading it, and also the cost.
http://www.wepc.com/vote/view/dream/126/Sharkbook_Pro
I'm definitely going to put some thought into it and make a post some time. :D
Thanks for letting us know and I'm behind this all the way. XD
I'm quite confortable with my upgradable desktop computer, but if you could make this happen I'd buy it.
Looks like the technology is in its infancy but has promise. I hope they standardize the interface so that equipment like that is free from vendor lock-in.
Anyone else feel like these two cancel each other out?
You can already get a more than decent desktop w/tv-out for that price range. I built mine for just over $500, and that includes a 19" monitor. I can already play all games on max (Crysis all high), so I should be good to play on decent settings even in a few years.
All this does is compress a desktop into a smaller dock device. Of course smaller = Limited power (Heat problems) / More expensive. The dock itself would have to be the size of a gaming laptop without a screen and thus expensive as all fuck by itself.
This also doesn't solve the issue of gaming on the go which is what gaming laptops are for to begin with.
No offence but this is overall a terrible concept... You'd be better off buying a Laptop + Desktop rather than a Laptop + A limited / more expensive dock.
No that's a terrible fucking idea. The best thing about the PC is that it's an open platform. I can overclock my videocard, I can swap components at any time, I can get parts cheap and install them myself, I can pick drivers that fit my needs, and a ton of other stuff console owners can't even dream of.
You're suggesting we throw all that out the window and pay Dell (or whoever) markup so the retards out there have an easier time? Fuck no.
Here's a little piece of info: You know why consoles are cheap? It's because PC gamers paid for the technology years in advance. The PS3 was running tech demos for the geforce 7X00 series when they were showing it off. That series is 3 generations old now.
If PC gamers were forced into this restrictive setup you suggested then the market driving graphics technology forward will die. What happens then? Where will the PS4 and Xbox 720 get their new GPUs? I can assure you they won't be dirt cheap like they are now.
So instead of dumbing down the entire platform for the entire purpose of making it simple how about the retards take 5 minutes to look at a fucking benchmark or two before they invest $1000 in a machine. I'm sick of people bitching about requirements being unclear. They're very clear.
*Super pissed off rant mood*
And this laptop dock is still a terrible idea. You've made what is essentially a desktop smaller, more inefficient, restrictive, and more expensive. It's still not portable. It won't do anything a normal desktop can't for less money. What advantage does it have?