Question Could I have an unorthodox laptop like this custom built ?

[berricana]

Hi,

I'm a young film director seeking a specific custom laptop to feature in one of my short films. I was originally going to try and use CGI for the prop because what I require in the laptop is not what you would often seen on the market. However after learning about how much CGI would cost for something like this, I just decided it might be easier and cheaper to have one made or buy one (if anyone has one they are willing to sell that meets the specifications).

What I'm looking for in the laptop are the requirements below. In my head it seems makeable for not a ton of money but I'm not an expert in the area so I wanted to hear your thoughts on the possibility of making one with the specifications below and if possible, where I would be able to get one. Long story short, I'm seeking for two computers in one laptop, with:
- One screen that is essentially two screens, one for each computer. Can be horizontally or vertically split. Ideally, the separator between the two screens should be seamless.
- Internet connection for both computers.
- On both computers, an internet browser and basic programs should be able to be run.
- One keyboard and one touchpad (mouse alternative is ok). I'd like for the keyboard and mouse to be freely used between the two computers, switching computers with the push of a button (I think something similar to this is called KVM?)
- Some method of increasing and decreasing screen brightness.
- One webcam. If not possible, omitting this option is fine.
- A single battery slot. Battery life doesn't matter because laptop will be charging the entire time in the scene.
- Laptop should look like a normal laptop. Any company's logo and shell is fine. I just want it to look like a sleeper build.

I imagine this laptop could physically look like a market laptop as I've seen computers rungames through boards as small as raspberry pi. I'm of course fine with a laptop with above specs that just uses 2 hidden raspberry pis. Could you kindly share any insight on whether a laptop like this would be possible, and if so, how much it would cost?

I understand my words above may sound a little confusing to you all. To clarify, what I'm looking for is an ASUS Zenbook Duo with the dual screen sized liked a normal laptop screen altogether (right now it clearly looks like the size of two screens) and each operating with its own system..

Thank you,
Louis

 

[Aeacus]

Could you kindly share any insight on whether a laptop like this would be possible, and if so, how much it would cost?

Emulate 2nd OS on laptop and Voila!, two OSes on single PC.

For a movie prop, viewers won't see the actual physical hardware regardless, unless you plan to gut the laptop in front of the camera, whereby two CPUs, two GPUs, two MoBos are seen.

Emulating 2nd OS (aka Virtual Machine or VM for short), will achieve what you're seeking for, with a fraction of a cost.

 

[berricana]

Emulate 2nd OS on laptop and Voila!, two OSes on single PC.

For a movie prop, viewers won't see the actual physical hardware regardless, unless you plan to gut the laptop in front of the camera, whereby two CPUs, two GPUs, two MoBos are seen.

Emulating 2nd OS (aka Virtual Machine or VM for short), will achieve what you're seeking for, with a fraction of a cost.

Aeacus, thank you for your kind reply. I actualy am in a situation where I have to shoot a long-running scene with details similar to the gutting you described has to be shown, unfortunately. So any tips on where I can find a service or builder that could make something like I described? Or even a user would work. I found a video by a Japanese man below, I'm ideally seeking something similar but with 2 screens, 2 raspberry pis and a more professional-looking case:

 

[stonecarver]

Cool project, I bet that video will give some high blood pressure saying its a fire hazard.

To add to Aeacus great post could these add on monitors be useful.



https://www.thexebec.com/products/x...YCxr9dmu1xLrsR5KksdHP_7d1g3Q1V1RoCnv0QAvD_BwE

 

[berricana]

Cool project, I bet that video will give some high blood pressure saying its a fire hazard.

To add to Aeacus great post could these add on monitors be useful.



https://www.thexebec.com/products/xebec-tri-screen-2?nbt=nb:adwords:x:18007878372::&nb_adtype=pla&nb_kwd=&nb_ti=&nb_mi=249380854&nb_pc=online&nb_pi=oeviokza&nb_ppi=&nb_placement=&nb_li_ms=&nb_lp_ms=&nb_fii=&nb_ap=&nb_mt=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAqrG9BhAVEiwAaPu5znBawnHBPORdS-lPAd3hu5YCxr9dmu1xLrsR5KksdHP_7d1g3Q1V1RoCnv0QAvD_BwE

Thank you stonecarver for your generous suggestion but I need the laptop to look like one, commercial laptop. So I won't be able to use these add on monitors, sadly. May I ask if you have any suggestions for boutique laptop builders that could perhaps help me realize my project? Thanks again.

 

[dwd999]

Perhaps you could find one of the prop makers or services already used by film and TV companies. For example, one of the TV series that used a lot of laptop type devices was the Stargate SG-1 series. If you could find out which prop company provided their laptops perhaps that company could help you, although the budget is unknown. But an existing Hollywood-style prop house might be your best bet and have equipment you could rent (although disassembling it might rule out that option).

 

[Aeacus]

I actualy am in a situation where I have to shoot a long-running scene with details similar to the gutting you described has to be shown, unfortunately.

One option, is having emulated/VM on one laptop and when it is time to open it up, two dedicated builds are seen in it.

In reality, 2nd build in it is just a prop. Since you need to power down the machine regardless when opening it up. Viewers will not tell a diff that the 2nd system (hardware wise) isn't actually working or not connected to initial setup that showed two OSes.

Another option, rather than emulate/VM two OSes on single laptop, is having 2nd PC to feed it's display to the main screen, so you can split the live feed on the screen. This way, laptop doesn't have to be beefy (since VM needs quite a bit compute power).

You can do a lot of things with movie magic and trick people easily.
Long scenes are hard to shoot, but with clever positioning, anything is possible.

E.g here's one music video (one part of full movie), that was all shot as one single take.
Watch the video and guess how it was shot.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbknP6VApMU


And here is the behind the scenes, on how it was actually shot. Do watch the 1st video before, else-ways, movie magic is lost;

Spoiler: Click here to view

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyZU8t7KyW8

 

[Eximo]

Considering all the terrible instances of 'computer' props in television, you can get away with a lot.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWTH7mB4rXk


You could just take a regular looking laptop with an 2.5" drive slot, get an old, or new, 2.5" SSD and crack the case open and 'wire up' a second board with some chips and wires and act like there is a second computer on it.

Here is the inside of a typical SATA SSD, lots of room inside to add stuff:

I agree, emulation is the best way to get two systems on a single display in a seamless fashion.

 

[Aeacus]

Considering all the terrible instances of 'computer' props in television, you can get away with a lot.

Telling it to be hard drives ripped from system, but actually showing ATX PSU. 🤣

I guess most people perception when saying "ripped hard drives from the system" means bulky looking box with wires dangling from it (indicating that the HDDs were pulled alongside all the cables it was connected to the PC).
HDD is much smaller than ATX PSU. So, i guess they couldn't show actual HDDs, since those would've been seen smaller than bulky ATX PSU.

In movies, depicting PC hardware is usually inaccurate. Even the movie that is all about PCs, gets it wrong on so many levels. E.g Hackers movie from 1995. Fancy graphical hack scenes but FAR from reality.

 

[Eximo]

LTT actually did a whole reaction to a series of very bizarre TV computer guffaws. They found a few I didn't know about, but the PSU one is legendary. Also the double hacking scene from NCIS.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RLkkVMVHj4

 

[USAFRet]

Long story short, I'm seeking for two computers in one laptop, with:
- One screen that is essentially two screens, one for each computer. Can be horizontally or vertically split. Ideally, the separator between the two screens should be seamless.
- Internet connection for both computers.
- On both computers, an internet browser and basic programs should be able to be run.
- One keyboard and one touchpad (mouse alternative is ok). I'd like for the keyboard and mouse to be freely used between the two computers, switching computers with the push of a button (I think something similar to this is called KVM?)
- Some method of increasing and decreasing screen brightness.
- One webcam. If not possible, omitting this option is fine.
- A single battery slot. Battery life doesn't matter because laptop will be charging the entire time in the scene.
- Laptop should look like a normal laptop. Any company's logo and shell is fine. I just want it to look like a sleeper build.

Everything there can be done with VMs.

This is 5 different OS's, simultaneously, from 2017, on a medium level PC.
Linux, Win 10, Windows Server, etc, etc