Open Notebook Reference Platform? 7
PsyQ asks: "While I was trying to locate a replacement CD-ROM drive for a friend's ancient notebook (and couldn't find one anywhere), I thought of a little something that seems "wrong" about notebooks. When your desktop's CD-ROM drive breaks, you can buy a new, standard-issue ATAPI one. Might there be a way to get this sort of standard to the notebook market? If manufacturers could agree on one standard platform with fixed measurements and ports, you could just buy a Brand X CD-ROM or even an optional Brand Y IR transmitter. It would also enable you to get a stripped-down notebook and customize it by adding standard parts instead of relying on the manufacturer to offer such an (expensive) service. Think of the price drop! Anything like that in the works?"
Make it easier to do. (Score:2)
Fine, so build yours with only one PC/104 motherboard, a disk drive, battery... and fill the unused space with more batteries.
So you could create several standards, one for each particular type, Power Saver, Desktop Replacement, Ultra Light,
No, no, no. One case with several mounting points for several things. Two bays for side-by-side PC/104 cards, with a removable PC/104 bus card to plug both cards into -- if you only want one PC/104 stack, remove that jumper card and one bay can be used for other things.
Which by then you've pretty much lost the point of trying to creat a standardized system in the first place, and those are only a few of the choices that people would want.
That's the point of having a standardized case, so one case can be used for several configurations and so several manufacturers can make components for it.
There's also a lot of other things to consider when dealing with a laptop. Because of space concerns almost everything is built onto the mainboard and permanently fixed to it. This kind of engineering doesn't give very much flexibility. Also because of the specialization required to cram all of that stuff into such a small space mainboards would not be compatible with each other.
There are a bunch of compatible PC/104 and Card PC boards. And both have most computer interfaces available on a single card -- the flexibility comes in the few additional special things.
Ports could be positioned in exactly the same place on each laptop, but this wouldn't work very well either as different laptops have different kinds/numbers of ports and need to have that for flexibility in purchase options.
Just have mounting points and cutouts for the assorted ports.
The media bays for things like floppy, CD-Rom, DVD, Zip, etc. could be standardized. Except that different space requirements cause them to have different form factors.
Look at the Toshiba SelectBay, a removable bay which can hold a battery, floppy, CD-ROM, DVD, or hard drive. The hard drive adapter is part PA2666U.
Even if it were possible for manufacturers to easily standardize the systems they have no reason to.
The first case maker to do it has a reason. They'll sell a pile of them. The PC/104 Tillamook card will probably sell nicely also...
Not so easy to do (Score:3)
Laptop designs involve lots of trade-offs a lot more trade-offs than desktop systems do. In a desktop you have a few varieties of case types, motherboards and drive bays. On laptops there's nowhere near as much flexibility.
For example, I might want a laptop that would last a long time on one battery charge, which would mean leaving out a lot of things and just stripping it down to the bare essentials. This kind of design would be in serious conflict with the design for those who want a desktop replacement.
So you could create several standards, one for each particular type, Power Saver, Desktop Replacement, Ultra Light, Flexible (lots of options to change). Those would just be the more expensive models, there would also have to be somewhat of an equivalent in the low-end areas, Inexpensive Lightweight, Inexpensive Desktop Companion (can't get a true replacement for those prices), Inexpensive Configurable, Inexpensive Power Saver.
Which by then you've pretty much lost the point of trying to creat a standardized system in the first place, and those are only a few of the choices that people would want.
There's also a lot of other things to consider when dealing with a laptop. Because of space concerns almost everything is built onto the mainboard and permanently fixed to it. This kind of engineering doesn't give very much flexibility. Also because of the specialization required to cram all of that stuff into such a small space mainboards would not be compatible with each other.
Basically by this point you're left with drive bays, ports and PCMCIA to make compatible. Well the PCMCIA/PC Card slots already have that compatibility, so they can be left out. The hard drives for most laptops are relatively compatible since they generally have the same form factor and interface type.
Ports could be positioned in exactly the same place on each laptop, but this wouldn't work very well either as different laptops have different kinds/numbers of ports and need to have that for flexibility in purchase options. Also, with the different sizes of laptops wouldn't actually help much anyway in creating a universal docking station.
The media bays for things like floppy, CD-Rom, DVD, Zip, etc. could be standardized. Except that different space requirements cause them to have different form factors. As it is, most media bay drives are built by the same few companies with just a couple variations between the drives made for each model/manufacturer.
In order to make a portable that offered enough flexibility to use standard parts they'd all look like a shrunken version of a desktop case, they would be a lot heavier than current systems. They really wouldn't have much more flexibility. They probably wouldn't save you that much money anyway. Basically creating standardized laptops would for the most part defeat the purpose of having a laptop. Miniaturization involves a lot of limitations currently.
Even if it were possible for manufacturers to easily standardize the systems they have no reason to. Profit margins on portables are generally higher than those on desktop systems, the profit margins on components even higher because of being not fully standard and only semi-compatible with other offerings.
peeved (Score:1)
I find the most frustrating thing about buying laptops (in volume) is the lack of compatibility of docking stations. I tried buying some for our firm on a 3 year renewal cycle, but it was intensely frustrating that people couldn't visit other offices, sit down at a touchdown point, and get going. My corporate masters didn't seem to even get that this was a problem as they changed preferred laptop suppliers every six months (sigh).
My point is this: for laptops and similar which don't have everything in all the time (like the Saint Song box reviewed on Ars Technica) its the external interface that matters and internal compromises are fairly inconsequential to getting compatibility across manufacturers.
And while we're at it I feel the same about the headpiece adapters on GSM mobiles. Foo!
-Baz
PC/104 (Score:1)
A case which can hold one or two PC/104 (removable side-by-side PC/104 jumper card) would be a good tool, particularly if there was a case tall enough for a stack of two PC/104.
Make mounting points for some common LCDs, a common power supply, a common battery, and a hard drive. Have a spot where a PC/104 with PCMCIA can reach the outside if such a card is installed. Design the case to use a common thin compact keyboard.
Nice idea, but.. (Score:1)
Standards not always good... (Score:2)
Re:Standards not always good... (Score:1)
I primarily need a portable toolbox with some battery power, a disk, and modem/ethernet connections. I could use a parallel-port CD-ROM as I rarely need one -- and the CD which I use most often I could copy onto my disk [laptop disks have a lot of room now].