NexDock Portends Dawn Of 'Dumb' Laptops

[scolaner]

Smart people are making "dumb" laptops. It's a good thing.

NexDock Portends Dawn Of 'Dumb' Laptops : Read more

 

[PBuckalew]

I've got an old Motorola Atrix 4G lapdock attached to my Raspberry Pi. It's basically the same as this, though without Bluetooth and speakers.

 

[PBuckalew]

I've got an old Motorola Atrix 4G lapdock attached to my Raspberry Pi. It's basically the same as this (no Bluetooth or speakers though).

 

[CRITICALThinker]

I would like to see a device manufacturer make one of these that uses the phone as the touchpad as well as the processing device, all plugging it in has to do is activate palm rejection software.

 

[RedJaron]

I would like to see a device manufacturer make one of these that uses the phone as the touchpad as well as the processing device, all plugging it in has to do is activate palm rejection software.

Windows Continuum already uses the phone as a trackpad.

 

[CRITICALThinker]

Windows Continuum already uses the phone as a trackpad.

Does it now? haven't checked, and last I heard about continuum was for the hp elite phone, which did not incorporate the phone into the chassis when using the laptop.

 

[hdmark]

i kind of like this idea for my normal PC. if i get a cable long enough, i could hook it up to my PC and play games in bed instead of having to turn my monitors all around on my desk. and of course for my phone and stuff

 

[DrakeFS]

Resolution is to low, I will not buy a device with a screen below 1920x1080, if it is larger than 10"

 

[hdmark]

Resolution is to low, I will not buy a device with a screen below 1920x1080, if it is larger than 10"

thats the part that bothers me. even my 7" tablet is 1080p. hell even my phone now is 1440p

 

[razor512]

Seems like a ripoff.

It relies on an external compute device, while costing more than many netbooks that run windows 10.

A smartphone extender is useless since the current smartphones are running ARM based operating systems, thus you do not gain much productivity.

Using it as a second display is completely stupid since it is a low end TN panel that cost more than than a 20 inch 1080p IPS monitor.

It is also more expensive than IPS based USB 3.0 powered monitors.

Furthermore, marketing it with the ability to use a device like an Intel compute stick, will only hurt their product, as for the cost of both, you can buy a laptop with a better display, faster hardware for about the same money. Getting both components will cost you over $300. If you need a laptop for a little money as possible, you are better off getting a refurbished one.

Many older gen core i5 and i7 based laptops can be found for around $200.

Overall, if they want the nexdock to be successful, they need to lower the price to around $60. For netbooks, the most expensive component is the SOC and the supporting components for it. They make up more than half the cost of the entire device, with thermal management taking up another 10-15%. Their device cuts out all of that. In a world when netbooks (intel atom and celeron based ones, selling for as little as $129 from companies like lenovo (e.g., the lenovo s21e), I do not see how they can justify such a steep price tag, especially since it is using a cheap 1366x768 TN LCD panel.

 

[RedJaron]

Windows Continuum already uses the phone as a trackpad.

Does it now? haven't checked, and last I heard about continuum was for the hp elite phone, which did not incorporate the phone into the chassis when using the laptop.

The Lumia 950 can be a trackpad. You can actually use a mouse with the phone even when it's not hooked up to an external display and get a cursor on the phone's display.

To those complaining about most phones being ARM instead of x86, that's not an insignificant point. However, going back to my Continuum reference, you can get perfectly functional MS Office on ARM, as well as many other applications that can be very productive. It's not perfect, but for people doing basic productivity computing, it's adequate on the go.

 

[razor512]

Windows Continuum already uses the phone as a trackpad.

Does it now? haven't checked, and last I heard about continuum was for the hp elite phone, which did not incorporate the phone into the chassis when using the laptop.

The Lumia 950 can be a trackpad. You can actually use a mouse with the phone even when it's not hooked up to an external display and get a cursor on the phone's display.

To those complaining about most phones being ARM instead of x86, that's not an insignificant point. However, going back to my Continuum reference, you can get perfectly functional MS Office on ARM, as well as many other applications that can be very productive. It's not perfect, but for people doing basic productivity computing, it's adequate on the go.

While there are certainly a number of useful productivity apps for the ARM platform, the primary issue is that you are spending x86 prices for ARM.

For the price they are charging, the product should be at least an intel atom based system, running windows, with the option to also act as a display for another device.

The product is simply priced above its functional level.

 

[zodiacfml]

It took me time to decide whether or not this is useful. The answer is yes but the price should be $100 or less. They can remove the touchpad in place of, maybe, speakers or more space for batteries.

Yet, better, just make it a true laptop with the added capability of the feature above.

 

[falchard]

The display dock from Microsoft alone costs $100, so this isn't too bad a deal. Since my Phone came with a free display Dock and I had a 1080p 27" monitor laying about, it was pretty cheap for me to buy a keyboard and a mouse for it.

 

[WatchingUser]

So boiled down they are selling you a bad monitor and a keyboard as well trying to sell you a concept of what the future could be like if you support this product. Why didn't they just create a modular computer like the one shown in their plans? Why not capitalize on that instead of creating a monitor for a phone?