Shuttle doing Laptops - with all interchangeable parts

i like the idea or being able to do more with laptops, i just purchased a i7 dell laptop, very pleased with it, but nothing i can do with it apart from upgrade the dvd to a blueray :D
 
Yeah me too. I had a gaming laptop a few years ago and have a fairly decent mid range one now, and it really frustrates me how the platform limits the technology.
 
I think this is an idea with very limited appeal.

This is going to offer very little further then offering parts you can already swap.
Laptops have to be carefully designed; otherwise you end up with a noisy machine with very poor battery life.

In addition it’s going to be larger & heavier than a readymade laptop.
 
a lot of dells and acers are already able to upgrade the graphics cards, most allow you to upgrade the processor, memory and harddrive anyway.

Other than appealing to hardcore gamers that might want to upgrade every 12 months, but then surely hardcore gamers would have the latest desktop gear as its far superior to laptop based gaming.
 
Sounds like a brilliant idea, essentially bringing the standard form factors that have been present in PC's for the last 10+ years to laptops.

It really needs the whole industry behind it, especially OEM's. If you can only get parts from one company (shuttle) then you aren't in a much better position than now.

Keeping in mind that Shuttle aren't exactly renowned for their use of non-propietary parts, (MotherBoard, PSU) I'm not brimming with confidence that Shuttle are the company to 'champion' this idea.

Still, I hope it does happen, standards are good and encourage competition, ultimately leading to cheaper prices.

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OCZ was maybe 20% of the way there with their barebones laptops (add your own CPU, HDD, and memory), but they seem hugely overpriced and limited in graphics chipset choice.
Also, of course they don't necessarily allow for upgrade of Motherboard and GFX card in the future.
 
yeah but what we want is a standard of motherboard and components that can be yanked out and replaced by the right people, system building and customisation exists without limits in the desktop world so why not in the laptop... im all for it and hope it brings a change and a boast to the market, be great to come on ocuk and by a laptop shell and then get all your bits and bobs
 
The idea has zero chance of success.

It will make the laptop significantly larger then a normal one, Its not two thumbscrews and a twist to get into a laptop case.

The designs will be nasty due to allowing easy access.

In addtion it won't be cheaper then a ready made laptop.
 
POB said:
The idea has zero chance of success.
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Sadly, I think you are right, but I'm hoping we're utterly wrong.

POB said:
It will make the laptop significantly larger then a normal one, Its not two thumbscrews and a twist to get into a laptop case.
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Not necessarily, provided this has OEM backing and components are within standard sizes (and standard positioning of screwholes, sized connections etc), there is no reason they should be much, if any, larger than laptops now.

POB said:
The designs will be nasty due to allowing easy access.
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Access doesn't have to be easy, but standard screw positions etc, can't help but make the task of dismantling laptops easier than now.

Nasty designs? Some PC cases now are gorgeous, if you get Lian Li etc making cases for laptops I reckon you'll see some amazing designs, and ingenious ideas on the access issue.

POB said:
In addtion it won't be cheaper then a ready made laptop.
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It doesn't have to be cheaper (but hopefully not significanly more expensive).
If you add the convenience of standard everything, if a component breaks (PDU, screen, graphics card) you can buy a new one from any OEM, rather than scratching around the bay for 2nd hand parts that probably suffer from the same manufacturing flaws.

If you want to upgrade a component you can update that component, and not have to buy all the other parts in the long run potentially saving you a lot of money (How long do most people keep their screens, keyboards, HDD's etc?)

Sorry POB, it feels like this post is some kind of personal attack (it's not), I'm as skeptical as you are.

This idea has massive potential, but is going to take far more industry support of the SPA form factor than shuttle just saying that they're going to do it.
From another site: " Shuttle wants this tech to be open, and is willing to work with any company, regardless of size, when it comes to engineering new daughtercards, chipset support, and OEM manufacturing."

It sounds like they really want to make it happen, but the rest of the industry might (probably) just shrug and carry on regardless.

Little_Crow
 
I think the general industry is only interested in shifting units, hardly any currently offer upgrade paths, now on most laptops you can just open a panel to swap the ram and hard drive and on some you can just pop a panel to swap the cpu or graphics card.

Its only going to appeal to top end users who crave gaming needs, as the rest can already be upgraded fairly easily.
 
laptops are like this already, its just laptop components are expensive and more difficult to find.

some laptops are tidy inside and some are not.
 
Yea it doesn't really seem like anything new. Laptops today can be upgraded. CPU, RAM, HDD, DVD drive are all upgradeable and even some laptops allow the GPU to be upgraded.
 
but would it not be great if they had 'classes' and you could just buy a new gcard and slot it in on any type of laptop... just a dream :D
 
I've looked for more info on this and there isn't a lot around, one further thing I've found is that the SPA acronym stands for 'Shuttle PCB Assembly'

Naming a standard after your own company? I get that sinking feeling that this is not going to be embraced by any company other than shuttle.

I still have a vision of self build 24" laptops, puts me in mind of Verne Troyer in the Apple adverts.

Clearly this sort of thing will be carried out by the lunatic fringe who are currently happy to drop £5k on a laptop, and don't mind a battery that will cut out halfway through booting Windows 7, from an SSD.

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Just found that sff, according to wiki, was coined as shuttle form factor, but has fallen out of favour for small form factor. Maybe there is hope yet,
 
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Little_Crow said:
I've looked for more info on this and there isn't a lot around, one further thing I've found is that the SPA acronym stands for 'Shuttle PCB Assembly'

Naming a standard after your own company? I get that sinking feeling that this is not going to be embraced by any company other than shuttle.

I still have a vision of self build 24" laptops, puts me in mind of Verne Troyer in the Apple adverts.

Clearly this sort of thing will be carried out by the lunatic fringe who are currently happy to drop £5k on a laptop, and don't mind a battery that will cut out halfway through booting Windows 7, from an SSD.

======
Just found that sff, according to wiki, was coined as shuttle form factor, but has fallen out of favour for small form factor. Maybe there is hope yet,
Click to expand...

yeah, 'the walkman' 'The Hover' 'Phillips Head Screw driver' :D
 
I didn't realise that walkman had been genericised, and only heard about phillips head screws a month ago, never really considered it a trademark and never even questioned it before.
 
Shane5578 said:
laptops are like this already, its just laptop components are expensive and more difficult to find.

some laptops are tidy inside and some are not.
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no there not
if you want to upgrade to a better cpu and the motherboard in your laptop cant take it you cant change the motherboard to a higher spec so you can.
yes you can upgrade some parts in a lot of modern laptops but not everything
 
ShakenNstirred said:
no there not
if you want to upgrade to a better cpu and the motherboard in your laptop cant take it you cant change the motherboard to a higher spec so you can.
yes you can upgrade some parts in a lot of modern laptops but not everything
Click to expand...

totality agree, your upgrade options are extremely limited.

a standard in motherboard size or a series or sizes would be a start
 
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