I would like to know if there could be a way to minimize a laptop computer's physical size by slicing unnecesary parts of the motherboard, like "portabilizing" a Nintendo Wii.
I would like to know if there could be a way to minimize a laptop computer's physical size by slicing unnecesary parts of the motherboard, like "portabilizing" a Nintendo Wii.
The thing I have seems to be some kind of Intel Classmate modification made by the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela called CANAIMA. I will call it "thing" because it is from the government of the Bolivarian Grand Republic of the South American Latin American-talking Country Venezuela & Knuckles (sorry, I had to).Is it possible? Probably to some extent, but I don't know anyone who has successfully trimmed a laptop motherboard any significant amount, mainly because manufacturers tend to use up as much of the space on their PCB as possible for components that, generally speaking, are probably more difficult to relocate vs parts of console motherboards.
If you want to attempt it, I would strongly suggest buying some cheapo replacement motherboards (as many as you can of the same, if possible) for old laptops to test how far you can go before doing it on anything you want to actually use and keep.
"Buy". Would you like to check the flag of my country?Laptops are already designed to be portable, though the development of higher resolution screens is pulling them towards being larger again. If you want to minimise the physical size of a laptop, why not buy a smaller laptop?
They are likely to be limited by the keyboard, though. I have an 8-inch iPad mini with a keyboard case, and that is really a bit small for comfortable typing.
If you don't need a physical keyboard, a tablet might suit you better than a laptop. Without a keyboard or trackpad, the size of the device is just the size of the screen.
If you don't need to use it on the go, just move it between buildings with external monitors/keyboards &c., you could even dispense with the screen in the device and use a Raspberry Pi.
Good idea. But I would have to get an SSD (which I don't have) and get over my case of being paranoic about SSDs because they could last less than HDDs because it is an oversized SD Card and because the memory blocks damage over time. Also, I would need more luck because of the country I am in.Would it not be easier to just make it so all the laptop guts are behind the screen (presumably by extending the ribbon and power cables to the screen along with any webcam (if you want such things) and wifi antenna? Or buy a transforming laptop/tablet thing? If you need X86 processors there are surely some kind of Intel NUC or similar microPC type things you can twist into such purposes.
That said I could see something happen, not necessarily by slicing bits off the motherboard (they are usually already pretty small and densely packed in modern devices) but by losing optical drives (assuming it is a thing), batteries, and more besides, moving any secondary boards on top of things/behind things and extending leads.
Good luck boarding a plane with such a creation as well.
O.K. How many files did you lose with those reallocated sectors?Yeah, don't worry at all about SSD lifespans. I've got a "cheapo" Sandisk SSD from like 2012 that's well into 600TB+ writes at this point as an OS drive over 8 years and 3 system changes, well over 5x its "rated" write life, and it's still operating just as fine as it was when I got it (with only a few reallocated sectors.)
SSD lifespans are literally nothing to worry about unless you're rewriting the entire SSD multiple times every single day for months at a time. A potato Corsair SSD lasted for 1.2 petabytes of writes in 2015 before it catastrophically failed after being utterly murdered with writes 24 hours straight for 18 months. If you ever do that many writes to your SSD in the next 10 years, I'll eat every shoe in my house.
Literally none? It's not like on a HDD where that indicates failure, they mean different things for SSDs. Every SSD will have reallocated sectors regardless of use eventually, some even when brand new.O.K. How many files did you lose with those reallocated sectors?
Literally none? It's not like on a HDD where that indicates failure, they mean different things for SSDs. Every SSD will have reallocated sectors regardless of use eventually, some even when brand new.
Reallocation for flash storage just means the Flash controller detects potentially bad sectors and "hides" those sectors from the rest of the drive. It will then use "spare" storage (which is included on every SSD, called "over-provisioning") to replace those bad sectors.
Again, you literally have to work to actually kill an SSD these days.
It's all done via the flash controller on the SSD itself, the PC side would never touch any of the dead sectors, regardless of it's age or type.Would an old computer know how to react to hidden/broken/dead blocks, or do they need a device driver?
Or does it use a so-called NAND?
Also, I assume an encrypted filesystem would make an SSD "literally work".
I forgot to detail that when I say "encrypted filesystem" I'm talking about an ext4 with L.U.K.S.It's all done via the flash controller on the SSD itself, the PC side would never touch any of the dead sectors, regardless of it's age or type.
Regarding encryption, no, you're not performing any additional writes to the drive when you're encrypting it, and decrypting data to read it doesn't write back to the storage device, so literally no difference. Some SSDs actually have self on-board encryption, which is when data is processed via a chiplet onboard the SSD itself before any data is written to the NAND.
Doesn't matter, there are no encryption methods that write data to the disk, then encrypt them, and then write more. All encryption takes place via the CPU, before it's written to a disk.I forgot to detail that when I say "encrypted filesystem" I'm talking about an ext4 with L.U.K.S.
Huh.Doesn't matter, there are no encryption methods that write data to the disk, then encrypt them, and then write more. All encryption takes place via the CPU, before it's written to a disk.
you'll need a bag with ridiculous airflow, because that laptop will die in a matter of hours no matter how low powered it isStream the laptop's screen on my Nintendo 3DS while the laptop's on my bag, and use my iPhone as the hotspot for W.L.A.N streaming. Finally, have a huge enough fan to get out the heat in order for the laptop to not melt, get a new battery because it's broken enough; it starts draining faster at 80% and then it turns off at 66%, and GET A NEW PROCESSOR BECAUSE IT'S ANNOYINGLY SLOW.
It's an Intel Classmate modified by my country's government and renamed to "CANAIMA".you'll need a bag with ridiculous airflow, because that laptop will die in a matter of hours no matter how low powered it is
and if the laptop is from anywhere in the past 5-8 years, cpu nor ram will be upgradeable, especially on smaller models of laptops
yeah that thing's stuck with an intel atom, you'd have to professionally resolder something new as all atoms are BGAIt's an Intel Classmate modified by my country's government and renamed to "CANAIMA".
yeah that thing's stuck with an intel atom, you'd have to professionally resolder something new as all atoms are BGA
if you weren't in an... unfortunate... country, i could easily suggest a ton of very usable cheap older laptops, but since you're also concerned about size, i'm limited on options as my most recommended laptop is 17" and nearly 2" thick1.10 GHz. Didn't know that was s#(;ty until I played a Sonic Triple Trouble fan remake. And it's a minilaptop. <dissapointment> Hahahaha. </dissapointment>