The mini-itx laptop.

[dragonbat13]

So I have seen a couple of "laptops" that are over two inches thick with a fold up display. Now of course these totally go against the grain of todays laptops, but so does full tower cases with fifteen hard drives, more plumbing than the sears tower, and enough light to land a small aircraft. I have been wanting to build one of these large, thick, laptop type, mini itx computers. I also have a friend that could actually benefit from one. She travels between two towns weekly and doesnt need constant portablilty, just ease of one move a week. Then the computer will stay in one place all week till she goes back, where it will also sit for one week. I have alot of mini itx stuff that I could make into a beater computer for her.

So is there any good info on the web about these things? What is the official name of this type of build? Is there any companies that make decent cases for them?

I dont see this form of build as a bad thing. I mean, if the computer was the size of a briefcase that could be carried from the car to the house and not have to sit on the couch with you, then in the bathroom, then in the doghouse then it wouldnt be that bad. And it would be easy to work on.

Thanks

 

[Zap]

There are no commercially available cases suitable for what you describe.

Why not just a notebook? You can buy notebooks for under $400 that are dual core Sandy Bridge with screen and Windows.

Alternately, keep two sets of monitor/keyboard/mouse/cables, one at each place. Then just build a tiny ITX system sans screen.

Unless she games or has any other special needs, I'd go with the cheap notebook.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Modding is your friend.

Get a briefcase and just build around it with a picopc

 

[Deltaechoe]

Custom cases are a lot of fun to build, albeit time consuming. Considering what you want, a custom case is what you will have to settle with

 

[dragantoe]

3 inch thick suitcase
psu I don't know how much power she needs but both of these will fit in the case
500w
400w

 

[dave_the_nerd]

So she needs a "luggable?" ITX VESA rig + 15" monitor = Done.

What's the budget? A desktop docking station with an external KB/M/Monitor at both locations and a business-class dockable laptop may be better suited to her.

I'd avoid the super-cheap laptops: they tend to have crap keyboards, trackpads with questionable ancestry, and screen hinges that are just looking for an excuse to give up. It's one thing if it's a machine for your kid to do their homework on. It's another if you have to work on it 8 hours a day.

 

[TheStu]

So she needs a "luggable?" ITX VESA rig + 15" monitor = Done.

What's the budget? A desktop docking station with an external KB/M/Monitor at both locations and a business-class dockable laptop may be better suited to her.

I'd avoid the super-cheap laptops: they tend to have crap keyboards, trackpads with questionable ancestry, and screen hinges that are just looking for an excuse to give up. It's one thing if it's a machine for your kid to do their homework on. It's another if you have to work on it 8 hours a day.

Heck, even if you skip the business laptop, but still double up the peripherals at both ends, that could be useful.

If you use bluetooth or logitech (unifying receiver will connect up to 7 devices to a single dongle) keyboard/mice on both sides, along with wireless internet, then you only need to plug in power and monitor when you arrive.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Heck, even if you skip the business laptop, but still double up the peripherals at both ends, that could be useful.

Yeah, I just miss docking stations.

Remember when Seinfeld had one of these?

 

[AkumaX]

Modding is your friend.

Get a briefcase and just build around it with a picopc

don't even need the PicoPSU if you go with thin-ITX

 

[Machupo]

don't even need the PicoPSU if you go with thin-ITX

at that rate, you might as well go NUC

 

[AkumaX]

at that rate, you might as well go NUC

Eh, I'll take a desktop processor over a mobile version if I could