This week, we will be pondering over five different types of laptops with the view of producing five separate templates that we will be pushing on Asus/Intel's Wepc.com. The five laptop designs are Server Laptop, Gaming laptop, Desktop Replacement Laptops, Netbook and Ultra Mobile Laptops. We'll start today with the Server Laptop.
There are a few reasons why using laptops as stand alone, SME-oriented servers make sense in today's world: improved reliability, power consumption, performance, better pricing and a few other things that we will explore in a later article.
The plan though is to come up with what could be considered to be a "realistic", rather than perfect, laptop that can double as a server. Bearing in mind that, as a server, the device will spend most of its life in one spot and must exhibit a set of features that are not often found on other "normal" laptops.
The server laptop could realistically come with
- Twin Gigabit ports
- Two 8-cell batteries
- Mag-lite capable PSUs with Integrated Surge Protection
- The possibility to connect two power supplies to improve redundancy
- A detachable 15.4-inch TFT screen AND Keyboard to ensure secure access
- RAID-1/5 Hard Disk Drive capabilities by default (Optionally SAS)
- Extensive Hard disk shock detection and hard disk protection
- Using Intel's Robson Technology to boost Hard Disk performance
- Support for Up to 8GB RAM with IBM's Chipkill technology (or something similar)
- Quad and 8-Core Compatibility
- Ability to use **some** desktop components (like the 2.5-inch Velociraptor HDD or Core 2 Duo processors)
- Embedded Security Features (Fingerprinting, Voice, Face recognition, Encryption features)
- Improved Compatibility with Linux
- Dual MIMO connections
- Ultra Thin, Magnesium Chassis to endure any falls
- Ability to Stack them vertically or horizontally (like the Bladecenter E Chassis).
- Mini LCD panel to keep Sysadmin informed about server status.
- An Instant On "Barebone OS" like Asus's Express Gate
- 6x e-SATA and 6x USB 2.0 ports, RS-232 serial port and PCMCIA
- Keyboard should have programmable/dedicated sysadmin button (e.g. reboot, clean up log files, setup mail server, make backups).
Some may say that it is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms but could this be the next big thing?
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