And I want one for YOU. With matching glasses, of course.

Yesterday I received, through an italian ICT webzine, an announcement of what I consider, or more exactly I want to be, the laptop of the future. I really want everyone who needs a laptop to get one of these, as soon as possible.

Here is what may be the BEST laptop ever:

I am not talking of that specific model, of course. I am talking of what a computer like that makes possible.

That thing measures 61 x 61 x 43 millimeters. It weights 127 grams. It may be the core of an entirely new kind of “laptop”, that is portable computer. One that is able to run any software, not just “apps” for “smart” phones, and connect to any peripheral you need:

What I see and want here is a box that could be:

• powered by any battery pack, or power converter
• attached to serious monitors, or to tablet-like dumb screens
• not need any real monitor, if paired with REALLY smart glasses
• use any real, decent keyboard

The only thing that is missing from making any such combination the best laptop ever is the wrapping. But we already have something almost like this. It is called “camera bags”:

Think the same thing, rigid or flexible, and able to hold the keyboard and “screen” like those of a laptop, when open.

With “computers” like that, the laptop industry does not need more electronic engineers. It just needs partnerships with companies like Mont Blanc, Piquadro, LowePro, Samsonite… Heck, even Ikea, why not?

If brands like those designed bags and backpacks to carry around those components safely, use them comfortably and above all, make the concept glamorous…

We could all have mobile computing that, finally, makes sense

A “reboot” of laptops like this would give everybody access to portable computers that are cheap and last as much as it is really possible, because they are really modular, and repairable. Oh, and it would also lessen the load of human-made “fat” on a planet already crushed by it.

That would be real innovation. This is not: