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This is the most cost-effective mini PC right now, that I've found. Also, one of the smallest.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005575993915.html

I'm not so fond of it because it has a fan. But if you could use it at home, and then had a "phone conversion housing" you could attach it to a belt and have a smartphone. Run wired earbuds out it. Have a trackpoint nub.

Here is a $15 screen. https://medium.com/@lee.harding/building-a-real-time-hn-disp...

There's something elegant about only requiring 1 computing device for everything. Even put it in the car!

It's what Steve Jobs would want.

 help



The power draw looks like it's at least 4W with a max of maybe 45W. That's maybe 7 hr with a 10000 mAh battery assuming it's sleeping the entire time and not really doing anything. Not very practical for people used to a small phone lasting all day without a charge.

Surely there's a way to power down parts of it to reduce the draw? Is that a thing? Like having a V8 and only bringing in cylinders when they're needed. Couldn't cores be disabled or memory modules? On-demand telco and wi-fi. Even having minimal threads activated and perhaps on-demand DRAM over a typically DRAM-less SSD.

These ideas would have to go into a new design.

Also see: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004564646188.html

"At just 155 x 80 x 19mm, this pocket-sized M6 mini PC is perfect for travel, fitting easily in handbags or pockets."


You could power down portions and that's what a lot of modern systems do but you need to incorporate that into the design at a fundamental level. The entire PC would have to be redesigned and you even need a whole new cpu and motherboard design in order to be able to power down enough things while still being able to do useful work.

So yeah, it's possible but you'd basically be redoing the entire system from scratch.


I still think it's a good idea. Apple could do it.

I think you'd want a tiny switchboard where you could manually-override powering up/down parts of the system. Also, just because you're at a desk doesn't mean you want all cores going and when traveling only a couple - it could be on-demand. The other key thing is damage resistance. Just because you've got it in your pocket doesn't mean you want to risk it being damaged. Maybe a free-floating housing for traveling like with the old Sony Action cams.

"The X3000’s entire lens and sensor unit moves physically inside the body to compensate for shake. It is widely considered some of the best stabilization ever put into an action camera."

https://gemini.google.com/share/2839d2aa0a68




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