Concept Hybrid Transformer One - Portable modular All-in-One system

[Philairflow]

UPDATE:

Renders of the current version (45% finished):

List of changes:

- Size: This is now a 17.3 inch machine! So the width got reduced by 30 mm and depth by 20 mm which means less volume. To make this possible the inner layout had to be changed (pictures will follow when model is ready). The main reason for 17.3 inch is the availability of way better panels. This gives access to the following panels:

1) 17.3 inch WQHD (2560x1440) 120 Hz TN 400 cd (my favorite)

2) 17.3 inch Full HD (1920x1080) 144 Hz IPS

3) 17.3 inch 4K (3840x2160) 60 Hz 100% Adobe RGB IPS

- Keyboard: The case got optimized for Mircosofts Surface keyboard which fits perfectly.

- Sound: The new layout gives me the opportunity to integrate 3 inch speakers with 30 - 50 Watt RMS in the corners. This means way better and more powerful stereo sound. A powerfull little stereo amplifier board will power these speakers.

- Cooling: Cooling system and airflow got improved: 3 x 70 mm fans (backside), 1 x 90 mm fan (above mainboard), 1 x 60 mm fan (side). No speakers on the front means better air-intake and better evacuation of hot GPU air.

Specifications:

Dimension base unit: (H x W x D) 425 X 360 X 45 / 80 mm

Volume base unit: 9 liter

Material: Aluminium and stainless steel

Display: 17,3 inch WQHD 120 Hz

Mainboard: ITX

Graphics card: 2 slots, 275 mm length, 125 mm depth with AiO CPU cooling installed

Power supply: SFX PSU

Hard drives: 2 x 2.5 inch

Side ports: 2 x USB 3.0

Cooling:

- 120 mm AIO with slim fan

- Fans: 3 x 70 mm, 1 x 120 mm, 1 x 60 mm

 

[Philairflow]

Old Pictures:

 

[BernardoZ]

This is awesome man, really!
It will probably be difficult to develop, but if u manage to do it, will be very unique indeed.
The only downside of it I think (at least for me) would be the high keyboard. Might be annoying to keep your arms so elevated from the table, specially after some hours using it.
Good luck, hope u can make this real. Cheers

 

[Philairflow]

This is awesome man, really!
It will probably be difficult to develop, but if u manage to do it, will be very unique indeed.
The only downside of it I think (at least for me) would be the high keyboard. Might be annoying to keep your arms so elevated from the table, specially after some hours using it.
Good luck, hope u can make this real. Cheers

Thanks! Thats why you can rotate the display around and use your favorite external keyboard. Currently I have my keyboard on two books to try it out Works fine so far at 60 mm height.

 

[BernardoZ]

Thanks! Thats why you can rotate the display around and use your favorite external keyboard. Currently I have my keyboard on two books to try it out Works fine so far at 60 mm height.

Fair enough, ok
Will be following your progress on this one, looks very interesting.

 

[Wantabiggercpu]

Holy... I need a moment and think about it. This is too good.

 

[gunpalcyril]

This would be perfect as a portable vr system, or even for on site film and production sites that need huge amounts of rendering power. Small niche though, even among itx community. Looking forward to this.

 

[Wantabiggercpu]

Ok I came down and I think this has huuuuuuuuge potential. This is perfect for a lot of applications where you need mobility with big performance but no battery. The perfect lan stomper.

This would be perfect as a portable vr system, or even for on site film and production sites that need huge amounts of rendering power. Small niche though, even among itx community. Looking forward to this.

Agree. But when you look at the sales of big gaming notebooks it is not that niche.

 

[gunpalcyril]

Ok I came down and I think this has huuuuuuuuge potential. This is perfect for a lot of applications where you need mobility with big performance but no battery. The perfect lan stomper.



Agree. But when you look at the sales of big gaming notebooks it is not that niche.

Well, in a way, you sort have proven my point. Why buy this when there are prebuilts available? I might be wrong.

 

[Wantabiggercpu]

Well, in a way, you sort have proven my point. Why buy this when there are prebuilts available? I might be wrong.

So why ever buy a sff case over a prebuild thing then? It obviously has a lot of advanteges like other sff cases have over bad prebuilds:
More performance, high quality components, superior cooling, less noise, easy replacement, the option of upgrading, easy to adapt to your needs, the fun to tinker, the chance to bring up something new... I can go on

 

[BernardoZ]

So why ever buy a sff case over a prebuild thing then? It obviously has a lot of advanteges like other sff cases have over bad prebuilds. More performance, high quality components, superior cooling, easy replacement, the option of upgrading, easy to adapt to your needs, the fun to tinker, the chance to bring up something new... I can go on

I agree. Plus, I would add hardware price (much more expensive on laptops than desktops).
Despite of that, I don't think he should aim this as a competitor to Gaming Laptops, cause the main feature of laptops is actually the existence of a battery. But there might still be a good niche for it, if he makes it real, just because of the innovation.

 

[ChainedHope]

Not to stomp on your parade or anything, but there have been laptop styled cases before that support desktop components. Granted those only allowed the CPU, GPU, RAM, and HDD to be changed and had a set motherboard/battery you had to use for the shell (Think it was a one-off Clevo design). There have also been some slim AIO desktops with the same concept but all those have kinda died off.

Nevertheless, I look forward to some updates and might be interested depending on how it goes.

 

[gunpalcyril]

So why ever buy a sff case over a prebuild thing then? It obviously has a lot of advanteges like other sff cases have over bad prebuilds:
More performance, high quality components, superior cooling, less noise, easy replacement, the option of upgrading, easy to adapt to your needs, the fun to tinker, the chance to bring up something new... I can go on

I'm on your side trust me, but I think you are misunderstanding the current status quo of computers. SFF pc's is a really small niche, thats why every small itx build is kickstarted, and most mass manufactured cases are big. Now combining sff form factor with a format that is directly comparable to large prebuilt laptops, and thats even a smaller niche, shoot, large ass gaming laptops are in an even smaller niche.

I'm trying to not sound like a know it all, but many people have thought of this before (configurable laptop). What I'm tying to say is that this case is going to be much tougher to develop, market, and sell at a profitable price than other projects on this forum, and that I support the designer's effort should he ever try to fully dive deep into his design.

 

[Megaden44]

Really cool, I wouldn't have the IO on the front in this situation because it could interfere with keyboard usage, but I could be wrong I've never used something like this.

 

[Philairflow]

Thanks for all the feedback.

At first I want to make one thing clear. I don't care about possible markets and selling. This is for now a concept. I love it and I want to find out how far I can push it. I am not doing this for money. It is a free time project to improve skills with the goal to make it real and not to conquer any markets. I want this badass on my desk and not on newegg

So I am super happy for any criticism or suggestions. But please dont say things like: "Stop it, people will buy an Alienware or XYZ". I don't care about market at this point.

When I am at home later I will post a picture of the backside and maybe the vertical stand.

 

[Philairflow]

Not to stomp on your parade or anything, but there have been laptop styled cases before that support desktop components. Granted those only allowed the CPU, GPU, RAM, and HDD to be changed and had a set motherboard/battery you had to use for the shell (Think it was a one-off Clevo design). There have also been some slim AIO desktops with the same concept but all those have kinda died off.

Nevertheless, I look forward to some updates and might be interested depending on how it goes.

As you said, everything we have seen before was bounded to it's motherboard, MXM or whatever and had a battery. I don't think there has ever been something like this in the style of a notebook.

 

[rokabeka]

S4 Mini owners also tried to combine the case with a portable screen, even attached to the chassis. that is kind of similar concept, but I admit your design looks cool.
if you want to really use the keyboard in this position you might want to design an armrest, too. or probably make the keyboard detachable, so you can improve cooling.

 

[Philairflow]

S4 Mini owners also tried to combine the case with a portable screen, even attached to the chassis. that is kind of similar concept, but I admit your design looks cool.
if you want to really use the keyboard in this position you might want to design an armrest, too. or probably make the keyboard detachable, so you can improve cooling.

Air intake is on bottom. So I don't know if it would do much. I want the upper side to stay clean.

The idea for external keyboards is to just rotate the screen around and use the case from the backside. I will make a picture of this later.

Can you provide a link of the NFC screen idea? I would be really interested to see it. The S4 threads are so long it for sure is hard to find. BTW the internal layout I am trying here is not like S4. Both GPU and CPU take in air from bottom side.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

As you said, everything we have seen before was bounded to it's motherboard, MXM or whatever and had a battery. I don't think there has ever been something like this in the style of a notebook.

This is called a rugged portable chassis and it's been there for decades. The below example supports mATX motherboard and has 1U PSU

I even saw products supporting up to eATX with 7 expansion slots.

Nice concept of yours but definitely not "the first in the world". @Philairflow, please change your thread title accordingly as this assertion is false.

 

[Philairflow]

This is called a rugged portable chassis and it's been there for decades. The below example supports mATX motherboard and has 1U PSU

I even saw products supporting up to eATX with 7 expansion slots.

Nice concept of yours but definitely not "the first in the world". @Philairflow, please change your thread title accordingly as this assertion is false.

No Problem. Changed it. Although this monster is not a notebook. What is the manufacturer of this suitcase pc? It does not look good, but it is very interesting.