PortableDesktop
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SSI's rugged Spark S9T brings triple-screen computing to power-hungry road warriors (hands-on)
A portable desktop tower with three LCDs mounted on its side, you say? Why yes, there is such a thing. At Computex, we spotted SSI's camouflaged booth demoing this eccentric Spark S9T rig: a rugged ATX case sporting a handle, a keyboard with a touchpad, plus three 17.3-inch 1920 x 1080 LCD panels. As you've probably already guessed, the keyboard and the screens can be folded up for storage convenience. Let's be clear, though: you'll still need to find a wall socket to power this beastly machine, but such all-in-one solution should still appeal to video editors, military personnel, or even gamers that are regularly on the road. Alas, we couldn't get a price for single purchases, but feel free to check out the full detail over at SSI's website -- maybe a nice postcard will get you a deal. %Gallery-125379%
Poor Mans Netbook sees more potent successor, created a monster
Do you know what the new hotness is? We'll tell you -- computers in suitcases. Big, brawny, rugged suitcases. After seeing the Poor Mans Netbook offered up to the least poor bidder on eBay, one Daniel Spalding has concocted a more powerful successor dubbed the Poor Mans Notebook. Within the near-bulletproof suitcase, he managed to shove an 8-inch touchscreen (1,024 x 768 resolution), 2.5GHz dual-core E5200 CPU, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, 64GB OCZ solid state drive, WiFi / Bluetooth 2.1+EDR modules and a GeForce 7100 graphics set. He won't deny that it purrs like a vacuum cleaner when really taxed, but c'mon, it's a computer in a suitcase -- cut the thing some slack.
Netbook in a suitcase: all the shortcomings of a subnote in a large, inconvenient package
This is true art, friend. The amazing "brotato" (rhymes with potato, in a perfect world) has hacked together netbook components, an ancient keyboard and a 14.2-inch LCD into this classy case, dubbing the project "The Poor Man's Netbook." The box is running Windows XP, but he tested it out with Windows 7 and Mac OS X and it performed beautifully, except for the Bluetooth 2.1 module. The box is based on a Mini-ITX Intel D945GCLF2 Dual Core 1.6Ghz Atom motherboard, with 2GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD and 802.11n WiFi -- though you'll have to hunt down an outlet, there's no battery power here. The best news is that he's selling the whole conglomeration on eBay, perfect for completing that piece of horrible cyberpunk fiction you've been slaving over on your boringtop.[Thanks, Ryan]
