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4 GB would be fine for some markets
You guys keep talking about the average, but all the technology needs to get a foothold is a viable niche. I am part of that viable niche. I traded in my desktop replacement 15.4" laptop for a 12.1" laptop because I wanted portability. I'd trade in my 60 GB hard drive for 4 or 6 GB NAND drive for battery life and weight.

How? Easy? The Linux distro I have on my laptop comes on a CD that weighs in at 410 MB and is less than 2 GB installed -- well under 2GB. And half of that is stuff I haven't used yet. If I have a GB of RAM I can get away with a small swap partition (my present machine has never touched the swap partition), making the whole operating system installation 2 GB or less. That leaves me 2 GB -- plus my 1 GB USB thumb drive, or my 40 GB USB hard drive, or either of my old 128 MB USB thumb drives, or one of the drives my laptop's flash card reader supports... There are plenty of options for storage, and I already carry a couple around all the time. What burden would it be to have a big honking CF card or 2.5" hard drive in your laptop bag, as long as carrying the laptop itself around the house (hotel, etc.) is easier?

Not much for me. All I do on my laptop is write, surf, do e-mail and the minor associated tasks (watch web video, listen to streaming MP3s, etc.) Four GB would do it. Six would be spacious.

Small market? Sure. But I'd pay extra for such a machine, and I think there are probably enough other people who would too.

Restricted to Linux? I don't think so. MS has versions of Windows for every size box imaginable. If a vendor could talk them into it, they could whip out a version somewhere between Pocket PC and XP without breaking a sweat. They might have just the thing sitting around right now, for all I know. Same with Apple.

I know people who have those little 10.6 JVC laptops. They're useless to me, but they fit that niche fine. So with all the other things being tested out there, from cell phones through 17" (19"?) laptops, why not this? Remember, it might sell like gangbusters in Japan...
Posted by: joef_z   Posted on: 01/04/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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Need to make sure Microsoft is onobard...  Mike Cox | 01/04/06
Need to Make sure Microsoft is onobard  rdrobert@... | 01/04/06
Hey dumbo  DarthRidiculous | 01/04/06
I agree entirely.  HypnoToad | 01/04/06
Tapping out a drive  tic swayback | 01/04/06
You are talking about PC's, not notebooks  Ludovit | 01/04/06
Hybrid Drives Seem Like Best Bet  P. Douglas | 01/04/06
Hybrid Drives  D-cat | 01/04/06
Crummy design  gsteele531@... | 01/05/06
My laptop is my desktop  tic swayback | 01/04/06
No he's talking about laptops.  Fujikid | 01/04/06
....he's talking about laptops  windy0062 | 01/05/06
No he's talking about laptops.  Fujikid | 01/04/06
No he is talking about laptops  Fujikid | 01/04/06
Sorry it reported an error first two times  Fujikid | 01/04/06
Laptops  voska | 01/05/06
Even 100 GB is too small  voska | 01/05/06
Problems with Solid State Memory  Yensi717 | 01/04/06
Yes, people have the wrong impression  Eggs Ackley_z | 01/05/06
Good points.. proposed workarounds:  D-cat | 01/06/06
I've had flash drives corrupt data from limited re-writes...  HypnoToad | 01/04/06
Maybe the AVERAGE is 30GB  James Dean_z | 01/04/06
heh  CobraA1 | 01/04/06
RE: heh  duane.wills@... | 01/05/06
But what about...  neil ubich | 01/04/06
Write Cycles and other SSD points.  D-cat | 01/04/06
swap space?  __howard__ | 01/05/06
windows powered doesn't need swap space  hipparchus2001 | 01/05/06
MS and Swap Files  D-cat | 01/05/06
4 GB would be fine for some markets  joef_z | 01/04/06
puppy linux  hipparchus2001 | 01/05/06
Already have a DSL running on CF - fast and silent  daver_z | 01/05/06
All off base...may not be for you  314 | 01/05/06
We hear this same story every year at CES time.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 01/05/06
It will happen and it won't  daver_z | 01/05/06
Who needs 30 GB?  duane.wills@... | 01/05/06
Indeed  JDThompson | 01/05/06
RE: Indeed  duane.wills@... | 01/05/06
Not this one  JDThompson | 01/05/06
Set up Myth TV  voska | 01/05/06
Not all laptop users are in sales or management  Fujikid | 01/05/06
Message has been deleted.  Fujikid | 01/05/06
lower end laptops YES PLEASE FLASH  hipparchus2001 | 01/05/06
Not all laptop users are in Sales or management  Fujikid | 01/05/06
Not all laptop users are in Sales or management  Fujikid | 01/05/06
flash drives have problems  garbledd | 01/05/06
USB, yes. ATA, don't think so.  D-cat | 01/05/06
hard drives on a laptop  pcblue | 02/14/06
Flash memory for Laptops  nicholasfinlay | 01/04/07
To clarify  nicholasfinlay | 01/04/07

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