Design your perfect laptop (theoretically)

Using current or soon to be released technologies what would be the perfect laptop for you, realistically.

For me:

14" 1600x900 IPS matte screen
Backlit keyboard
AMD Trinity 35W CPU
Radeon 7690M XT (wish there was a better low watt part than rehashed 6750m/6770m)
Asymmetrical CrossfireX that WORKS...
16GB DDR3 1866 or 2100 (supposedly supported)
mSATA SSD + 2.5" SSD/HDD combo
High Capacity 8-cell battery
Dual band Wi-Fi
Slot-load Blu-Ray drive (even if sacrifice 2.5" SSD/HDD or option for either/or)
Reasonable thickness and weight (just don't want a 2 inch thick 8 lbs 14" laptop)

And of course a *well thought out cooling solution*.

For < $1000. Yes it's possible.

 

15.6" 1920x1080
Backlit keyboard
Intel Haswell 45W CPU.
nVIDIA GTX 760M ( Real Kepler ).
8GB DDR3 1600MHz
1TB + 60GB SSD for Windows.
9-cell batterry.
I don't know about Wi-Fi.
Blu-ray drive.
Sexy design.

Imagine this for 1000$, it will be the ultimate laptop.

 

I think that config could realistically be about $1300-$1400 but not $1000.

 

You said theoretically not realistically

 

What I have in my signature is pretty much my perfect notebook. Only "wishful thinking" item I would change is swapping the glossy screen for matte but keeping its 1440x900 resolution.

 

t420s body, dimensions to fit the screen
1680x1050 IPS screen, matte
same keyboard, no island key experiments
quad core ivy bridge
16gb 1866 or faster ram
128gb samsung pm830 msata + empty hdd bay
3x usb3 ports, integrated in chipset, not power hungry third party controllers!
1x thunderbolt
2x displayport
separated headphones and microphone ports
additional battery in optical bay
9 cell battery sticking out IBM/Lenovo style
expresscard slot with 4x pcie 3.0 bandwidth
no more than 2kg weight with all that on board

 

sorry, deleted - mistake

 

Of course it's possible, but the manufacturers aren't nuts to lower the price tag to it's 'actual' value (which would be roughly 40% less [at least] in numerous cases).

Me?

A graphene/diamond material composition for the CPU/gpu in order to have temperatures at insanely low levels while also having orders of magnitude higher performance than what will come out in the next 8 years (at least).

Holographic storage capability.
Means for software to utilize both the cpu and gpu for processing data.

Betavoltaic batteries with a lifespan of say 5 to 10 years (no need to max it out at 25 or 30 - just make sure to put a battery inside a laptop capable of running it 24/7 at maximum load for years until one is ready to upgrade).

Essentially - all research that was conducted over a decade ago (and then some) could have been put into practice about 2 years later and we could have moved beyond 'current level' (such as it is).

Ah... but the industry doesn't work like that. They care about long term profits (so revisions upon revisions upon revisions of existing products will continue to come out - quietly obeying Moore's law - which works PERFECT in capitalism since it allows maximum profits).
Oh granted, there are a few tidbits released here an there that make an occasional 'jump', but it's a small drop in the bucket.

 

Well, my config is pretty much like the DV6z except 14" with AMD Trinity (lol, I called it AMD Ivy Bridge ) that can be found for < $750 with proper coupons.

And the intent was for current or soon to be released technologies. Theoretically I guess I meant in a config not currently offered, but within realistic expectations.

 

Perfect Theoretical Laptop?

Display – Equal to or exceeds plasma quality & performance
Video – Ready for Super HD or UHD 4320p (7680x4320)
CPU – Runs like a mainframe. TBD
IVR – Interactive Voice Recognition/Telecom command center
Storage – SSD RAID
DVD – The works
Interfaces – USB’s, HDMI’s, RJ-45 10/100/1 gig/10 gig, mem card support
Memory – (8 – 32) gig
OS – Multi MS Windows/Linux Desktop/VMware cloud

 

15-15.6" 1600x900 - 1920x1080 IPS matte screen
Backlit keyboard
Sandy Bridge CPU
Radeon 7690M XT or equivalent Nvidia
Asymmetrical CrossfireX that WORKS...
8GB DDR3 1866
2.5" SSD or HDD
High Capacity 8-cell battery
Dual band Wi-Fi
Slot-load Blu-Ray drive
1" thick, no more than 5.2 lbs.

 

13'' 1680*1050
Backlit keyboard
Ivy Bridge cpu
8GB DDR3
10h of battery life
SSD 512gb

I actually hope that this is the next mba

that would be around 1800

 

14" to 15", 1920*1080 or better, matte, IPS

Backlit keyboard that doesn't compromise typing quality

IVB CPU

8+GB DDR4

At least 12 hours of battery life, with IPS

Decent GPU (Geforce, Radeon, Quadro, or FirPro)

512+GB SSD SATAIII

TrackPoint

Will withstand constant abuse with no damage, even cosmetic

Professional styling, not bulky **OR** must be completely decked out in Hellsing-related stuff (love the series deeply, so I don't think I'm in a "fad phase" with this manga).

Numpad

Frozen, not hot

Affordable (<$2000)


Basically, a cross of the W520, Precision M4600, Toughbook, and eeePC.

Yes, it's a fool's dream.

 

Display: 15.8" IPS RGBLED or Super AMOLED Matte display with a resolution of 2048x1266 / 152.39 PPI or 2136x1320 / 188.79 PPI, ϕ:1 Aspect Ratio, Color gamut upwards of 100% NTSC, Contrast upwards of 800:1, 85%+ brightness uniformity
CPU: Quad-Core w/ 35W TDP, full-voltage
Graphics: Switchable, GTX560M or higher equivalent performance, or dGPU with decent power-saving equivalent-or-better to that of integrated graphics.
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1866MHz, Dual-Channel
Primary Storage: 768GB SSD that doesn't wear out easily
Battery: 9-Cell that does not protrude out back, with optional 12-Cell that does - provides one hour of battery life per cell.
Build: Solid structure, with grayish metallic appearance - a combination of the Precisons and the HP EliteBooks

 

My currently Alienware R2, + Sandy Bridge + 580M SLI, IPS option. Oh and god a better keyboard pl0x and more USB ports.

 

First, I want all of this in an 11.6" ultrabook form factor...

• 11.6" IPS 1600x900 with at least 300nits
• 2.0GHz 3rd-4th generation Core i5-i7 ULV
• 8-16GB of DDR3 1600
• NVIDIA 740m or 840m graphics, whichever brings a die-shrink
• At least 6+ hours of battery life
• Micro HDMI/MiniDP
• Integrated Qualcomm Gobi MDM9600 baseband (LTE-A, DC-HSPA+, 1xEV, CDMA)
• 256GB SSD as a standard, with options of higher capacities...

All in a package that's not over $1500. I think they can do that.

 

Wouldn't that be nice? I'm still waiting for the 4 Ah battery cells to hit the market - they've been ready for two years now, yet Panasonic is still going to start production in 2014... Even now, they're the only company to make the 3100 mAh 18650 cells...

My perfect laptop:

I freaking love my Elitebook 8530 - it's perfect ergonomics-wise. Wish it had a Sandy Bridge CPU (the 2960xm is insanely fast compared to my C2Q, and I'm not even loading it 100% like, ever) and a Quadro 4000 or even 5000 GPU. But I'll have to settle for the M6600 (in a couple of years, lol) - the only gripe I have with it is the wrist cutting edge and plastic palm rest - the keyboard is surprisingly good, better than the one on the 8740w and the M6500/M6400...

Also, IPS display with 1920x1080 pixels @ 17 inches or 1680x1050 @ 15.4 inches...

 

amazing build quality
matte 1080P screen
weighs under 6-6.5 pounds
has at least 4 hours battery life
can play Battlefield 3 and Skyrim on high-ultra
costs under $1400

 

- 16" 1080p Matte IPS (I find 16" to be perfect. Not too big, not too small)
- 3615QM 35W Ivy Bridge
- 16GB 2133MHz DDR3L RAM
- GTX 770M (Kepler)
- Aluminum/magnesium alloy chassis or mixture of aluminum and titanium. Like Elitebook (God I love the design/material of those)
- Two enormous fans that only need to spin around slowly to cool down the hardware. Kinda like the fan in MSI GT780R. Therefor no noise. Two buttons that let you control the speed of the fans anyhow you want. Automatic override if the notebook become too warm with your own settings
- 12 cell battery
- Optimus 2.0
- LED keyboard with customizable colours
- Colour and the design of the chassis is all up to you. You pick the design you want, the OEMs make them for you.
- Intel King Crest SSD 240GB
- Lightpeak instead of USB2.0 and a few USB3.0 ports
- Dynaudio speakers (same as in the MSI)
- 3 year accidental full coverage warranty

A bit over $1000 yeah lol

 

Only if you're a manufacture that likes to make products for philanthropic reasons. Although I admire your audacity, a laptop manufacturers needs a very compelling reason (profit, perhaps?) to make a laptop like that.




I made a related thread a while ago so anyone that read it will recall that I am a proponent of the modular design. Just as desktops became more upgradeable, so to is it time to improve in that area with the laptop.

That said, the first thing I would like to see is a cartridge approach: Expanding on the multi use of the optical drive would be an excellent start. Next, lets take that approach a bit further and throw in the express card reader with a maximized interface for good measure.

To offset the cost of the added connectivity and upgradability, this is obviously something that would only be marketed and available on the upper tier elite notebooks and/or workstations.

The biggest single item to me at the moment would be in the display screen. With the industry going to thinner lighter and more energy efficient materials, upgrading them should be as easy as sliding the old screen out, and the new one in.

 

Mine would be pretty similar to yours, HT.

- 14 to 14.5''
- Under 5.2lbs and 1.25'' thick
- 900p screen (matte or glossy doesn't matter)
- Absolutely no glossy parts on the notebook itself. Fingerprints and scratches/scuffs annoy the crap out of me
- Good build quality
- Solid keyboard, similar to current-gen HP's, preferably backlit
- 4 USB ports, at least 2 USB 3.0
- Quality cooling system, don't care if ODD has to be sacrificed
- GFX performance similar to AMD 6750m (whether through dual graphics or single card)
- CPU performance similar to quad Sabine APU's @ 2.5GHz
- Reasonably quiet
- 5+ hours of real battery life

I'd be willing to pay around $800 for it. Something without some of the extras, like the high-res screen and backlit keyboard, and with slightly worse performance, both from the GPU and CPU, would work for me as well but I wouldn't pay over $550 or so.

 

15.4" 2880x1800 (or higher) matte screen.
MXM 3.0B 100W GPU support, AMD or Nvidia.
Extreme Intel CPU support, with XTU and BIOS overclocking options.
HDMI-out, DVI-out.
Completely matte black everything.
Blank black matte keyboard.
At least two easily re-mappable hotkeys next to the power button.

 

13" all-metal frame
35w Trinity APU
8 GB DDR3 1600/1866 to maximize APU graphics performance.
13.3" 1600x900 display with excellent brightness and color reproduction (i.e. Envy 14 Radiance screen in a smaller package)
64 GB mSATA SSD + 2.5" storage bay.
Uniform sub-1" thickness
8 hours battery life, say, looping a 720p video
20 hours battery life with optional 1 lb. slice battery
Under or around 4 lb.
Pocket sized AC adapter with reasonably narrow but durable cords
Base warranty: 2 years international with no mumbo jumbo about whether or not a certain country sells this model

Base config w/7200RPM 500GB HDD- $1200 (of course, less would be nice)
+ $120 for the slice battery

 

15.6 inch
Intel Pentium D
Integrated Graphics
Solid Build Quality
> 1 hour battery life
< 4 inches thick



But in all seriousness.

1. Start with a MacBook Pro.
2. Make it widescreen, with a 1920x1080 resolution.
3. Give it a little better graphics card (what's better than a 6770M that isn't GTX?, sorry, I've been out for a while and as a result my formerly large knowledge on video cards has been greatly diminished).
4. GDDR5
5. 16 GB DDR3
6. Better camera quality.
7. Bigfoot wi-fi.
8. i7 2920XM.

I would be willing to pay up to $3000 for that, which is $500 more than my current MBP cost. No more than that.

P.S. On a completely different topic, I just got this idea! Don't you think Apple would simply make tons of money if they offered their computers in different colors?! Because, throughout my life, I have noticed that human beings go simply insane when everyday products are offered in different colors. Also, they could offer the Apple logo to glow in different colors, and the keyboard backlighting! It would cost them nothing to do that, simply put a transparent colored piece of paper in there, and yet they could charge $150 or even more for it and I guarantee people would simply go crazy over it.

 

Blasphemer! Apple doesn't follow the crowd, they set the standards.

 

Apple (like every other corporation in the world) does what they think will earn them the most money. Why would Apple not follow the crowd if it could give them more profit? I guess, maybe, it might give them a childish look because in the long run they probably want to try and switch more businessmen from PCs to Macs, which would greatly increase their profit, but, I don't know...

 

Mine is fairly similar to HT's.

13.3-14 Inch IPS 900p
Quad Core 35W Trinity APU + IGP
Radeon 7770M (Or whatever a desktop 7750/7770 ends up being in mobile.)
Working Dual Graphics
8+ GB RAM
64GB mPCIe SSD + 1TB HDD
A battery that doesn't protrude from the laptop, but yet gets ~6 hours battery
No glossy plastic, for the love of God.
1.2 inches thick or less
Under 5.5lbs.

That would be so awesome.... I think I'd cry. And honestly, they could do it.

The closest thing to that that exists now is an LG P330, performance wise. If LG of all companies figured out how to cram a 35w i7 and 555M in a thin 13.3 inch shell, Dell or HP with their vast resources definitely could.

I'd even be okay with a DV6z like design if it had those internals.

 

14"
900p display
Backlit keyboard
No DVD drive
35W IVB Quad
AMD 7850m/Nvidia 670m (or whatever the 28nm GPUs are)
Dual fan cooling
Easily accessible CPU/GPU

<$1.2k

 

13" screen (don't care too much about resolution, 1366x768 is just fine at this size)
Thin and light enough
Quad-core
GPU that's good enough to play BF3 at low/med at 720p (if Trinity's iGPU can manage this, which I hope it can, all the better)
5+ hours of battery life when not gaming
2 (hopefully) hours of battery life when gaming

Hopefully I've just described a Trinity "ultrabook." Hopefully it will be available for $600-$700.

An "extended" battery that sticks out the bottom like I had for my old Aspire One wouldn't be a deal-breaker here. That thing realistically got 10 hours, and I didn't mind the extra weight for such a purpose.

 

AKA a joke. ^^

I guess I should just stick to the facts from now on?

 

I'm sorry, I'm only 13 so I might not get some of this stuff.

 

I got the joke

Anyway my perfect laptop would be:
17" screen with a decent res.
Desktop CPU socket, which is easily accessible.
Very good cooling system (made from copper and a bit of silver to look cool, no aluminium).
Support for 2 MXM GPUs + 1 integrated GPU with manual switching (no optimus).
4 ram slots.
3 HDD slots, no ODD.
Every single port they can fit (including serial, EsataP, IEEE 1394). One day they could come in useful.
Beefy PSU.
Sold as a barebone.
Under $1k.

 

Honestly, I'd start with something similar to my ProBook 4430s. I'd like better screen tech (AMOLED), a higher capacity battery, and two modular drive bays.

 

Start off with the MSI 16F2.

IPS 1200p screen or 1080p 120hz screen
Wireless 1080p HDMI
Remove optical bay and 2nd HDD bay
Replace with 2nd graphics card slot and fan
512GB SSD
2xGTX680M/HD7970M
Backlit keyboard (there is already room on the PCB)
3920XM with unlocked multi control in bios

I would maybe prefer HD7970M crossfire because it will support entirely powering down the second GPU without the faff of optimus.

 

I love my 8740w, so I would keep this with the following amendments.

cpu - ideally one step below Extreme Ivy Bridge model
better cooling for my gpu and the option to upgrade to new gen and go dual (give up my ODD for that)
backlit keyboard that is as solid as the non-backlit version
250-ish GB SSD- this I can actually do, just waiting for better prices
bigger touch pad
volume wheel with physical mute button
better speakers

EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot. While gaming, I'd like my business-sensible gun metal gray to turn sparkly green, with orange strobe lighting effects around the base, and roman candle launchers to appear along both sides of the screen bezel which I could aim with eye tracking and fire with voice commands

 

Knight, that sounds awesome, I'd just add in that it should also have switchable graphics.

 

If it is flawless switchable graphics, then sure!

 

So that's a no, then?

 

Hardware switchable graphics have my vote. Flip a physical switch, or even software one, reboot, and bam, you have the other GPU. Auto switching is just messy still. Great in theory just not the best way to go about it.

 

infinite power infinite battery

i win?

 

Ahem... original intent:

Unless there's some recently announced tech soon to be available to the public you'd like to discuss!?

 

Also, he only specified a PSU and battery, hardly a compelling design in my opinion.

 

the alienware area 51 m17-r1 upgraded with the lastes GPU and CPU tech and a manual switchable graphic
(idealy a alienFX more in line with the newer but i can live without it)

 

Future laptop design impact assessment

Take a step back to the 1980’s portable form factors. Gas plasma lunch boxes and GRID laptop. Price ranges $3k - $8k. Upgrade path minimal.

Two groups have emerged, minimal thin & light or total control bigger & heavy. Thin/Zero client laptops are stripped down. These connect to the VM cloud. All the upgrade & performance action is in the Data Center.

Total control laptop owners need a chassis design for an upgrade path.
Modular slots, snap in bays, etc. This reduces vendor end of life gotcha’s.
Who’s doing this today? Test & Measurement, HP, Fluke, JDSU, EXFO.
Some do a module swap for credit with an SLA.

 

My Ideal Machine'

14" Retina Style Display (or 1080p if i cant have that) matte screen
Core i7-2960XM 2.7ghz
Radeon 7970M
32GB DDR3 1866
600GB SSD
High Capacity 6-cell battery
Dual band Wi-Fi w/ 3x3
Slot-load Blu-Ray Burner
1" Thick or Less.

 

^Now that would actually be my dream, but thermally, its next to impossible... Liquid cooling anyone?

 

There are already 580M's in Clevo's 15" platform. Down-sizing to a thin 14" platform isnt such a huge stretch, especially if the 7970 keeps under the 90watts i think it will.

The GPU would be the real challenge, no doubt. I think that you could probably use a series of heat-pipes, arrayed off of a large surface, yet thin, copper plate under the Keyboard. (Yeah.. that's about as vague as you can get.) You would have to really focus on cooling, perhaps with an ultra-thin, yet large diameter fan that is low RPM?

Another option would be to make the display a touch thicker and put the GPU on there with a large, thin, thermal plate that takes up the entire LCD screen back.

I dunno.. but, where there is a will.. there is a way.. Even if you have to get a little creative.

 

Not taht it couldn't happen, but the amount of copper in that thing would probobly cost as mush as the laptop itself. If companies took out the ODD, maybe then we'd see more machines like this. (I'm looking at you AW. Take to ODD of the m14x out and put in beefier cooling and a 560/570M)

 

Copper or Silver plated Aluminum could also be used. Anything with a good surface area and with the contact patch in a high conductor.

Look at the cooling pipe layout with the Clevo, There isnt that much in there and those GPU's have a similar TDP;

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/4223/clevo-p150hm-internals.jpg

 

Nobody has any sort of folding design laptop, or Eye-finity where there are two additional screens in the lid, and you slide them out (and there is no bezel, of course...)

That said, my perfect laptop is 13.5" in a 4:3 body, but with two extra screens that fold or slide out to a 2.39:1 ratio 2581x1080p bezel-less screen. IPS or MVA technology, and matte of course.

The audio would have to be on par with the XPS 15, or better.

Internally, it can have whatever, but ideally AMD Trinity APU with 8GB of some hardcore RAM, and a 640GB io-fusion flash drive. With AMD Trinity or IB, I don't care that I'd be missing a graphics card.

Backlit keyboard as good as the E6520, or on par with thinkpads, with good placement of PGUP/PGDOWN and HOME/END.

To top it off, absolutely no optical drive of any kind, two hot-swappable batteries, an express-card slot, and the whole thing should be water-resistant.