I have recently been thinking about my dream portable computer again. Many of you will know that I am going for finesse rather than raw power. My dream portable must be light, small, comfortable to use and, of course, have as long a battery life as possible, but certainly not under four hours.
I’m afraid the exact device I want doesn’t exist, but let me try to design a product anyway. Maybe, maybe, some manufacturer comes across this site and realizes what a smart gadget this would be. Just… please… send me one. 
It’s my honor to introduce to you… The __Nilscorp Dreambook™ 2006__!
> The Nilscorp Dreambook™ is an ultra-light subnotebook designed to be a permanent companion to the mobile geek. All components are chosen for lowest power consumption, lowest noise level, lowest weight, and maximum work comfort. The Dreambook™ is not a gaming machine; it’s an information retrieval and processing device. Connect to the network anywhere and anytime, write reports, read news on the Interweb™, stay in touch with your coworkers and friends.
I think that I’d prefer a small, light machine I can take anywhere at any time. The smaller, the better – the maximum screen size should be about 10″, while the weight should not exceed 1kg by much. The device shouldn’t be thicker than 1.5cm. This should be a subnotebook that you really do not notice even when you carry it around in a shoulder- or handbag for the whole day.
The Dreambook™ is designed to las throughout the day. All components must be as low-power as possible. Performance is sacrificed to ensure longer battery life. This is not a gaming machine – it will feature a CPU sufficient for 2D graphics, office, small multimedia applications, but will not be powerful enough for FPS action games. All components have to remain cool even under maximum load – the device is passively cooled and must not become too hot to use.
The second big strength of the Dreambook™ is connectivity. The computer is equipped with WLAN and Bluetooth, and features enough connectors to last anybody and everybody. Ethernet is a must, as is a duel USB2 highspeed port. Audio in and out let users attach headsets or plain old headphones for listening to music. Finally, standard PCMCIA slot(s) round off the picture; at least one is included to provide the user with the ability to plug in any kind of extension he may need (ISDN card, modem, card reader, etc).
The Dreambook™ subnotebooks is a working man’s device. As such, the graphics chips chosen for the Dreambook™ will focus mostly on 2D graphics acceleration. It does include hardware accelerated decoding of MP3/MPEG or similar. The resolution of no less than 800 pixels width will provide enough space for word processing, terminal sessions / shells, web browsing, and so on.
The computer interfaces with the user via a keyboard, which is designed to have nice, comfortable feel and keys that aren’t too small or too soft; and a touchpad. Alternatively, if a touchpad just doesn’t fit, consider using a touch sensitive LCD screen. In that case, the device will include a handy storage compartment for a stylus.
Last but not least, the Dreambook™ makes a bold step in how it approaches data storage. All on board storage is solid-state flash memory. Hard drives are not used. A Dreambook™ comes with a 512MB – 1 GB flash “partition” for the operating system, and 2 or more Gigabytes for actual data storage. Users who need more should attach external harddrives, memory cards, or Microdrives via the PCMCIA slot – or simply store their data online, on a file server on the network.
The __Nilscorp Dreambook™ 2006 Specifications__:
* _Formfactor_
* 10″ screen maximum, see Display
* As light as possible, ideally less than 1kg
* As flat as possible – no more than 1.5cm thick
* _Specs_
* Low-power CPU
* 512MB Ram (or more)
* _Display_
* 8,9″ – 10″ display
* Resolution no less than 800 pixels wide
* _Input_
* Full keyboard
* Touchpad – if it can’t be made to fit, consider touch screen
* _Connectivity_
* WLAN
* Bluetooth
* 2x USB2 (high-speed)
* 1x Ethernet
* 1x PCMCIA
* 1x Headphone
* 1x Audio-in
* _Storage_
* 0.5 – 1 GB flash for operating system
* 2+ GB of solid-state flash memory instead of a HD for data
* _Other_
* Built-in microphone
* As much battery as you can fit into the thing
(but please, no less than 4h minimum)
* Should be water/dirt resistant
Okay… as I said, such a device doesn’t exist. If anybody has suggestions for what portable or subnotebook might come closest, please let me know by posting a comment to this story.
Thanks for your help
