For when devices like the one I am writing this on end up as e-waste.
Thanks to the ever-increasing power of mobile devices and a landscape that seems intent to have the same processor architecture in your laptop and your phone, we are at a point where we are redefining what should constitute everyday carry. Samsung has been attempting it for a while through their DeX functionality. There’s logic to it, for most people who are not interested in gaming on their PC and mostly do content consumption and text-based productivity, we’ve long since reached the point where pocketable devices have more than enough horsepower to cater to their needs.
The main two problems with this approach are on the off-chance that the user does need to do something that requires more computational power than their standard workload or when their preferred solutions (or the ones of their employer) require a specific operating system to function properly. There is an argument to be said as well about the mindset of “needing” to own a computer apart from the one in your pocket.
It’s under such circumstances and the current paradigm of very thin, very light, very unrepeatable laptops that I am so happy to see that the big push for right-to-repair has not only created companies like Framework, who build modular computers with easily replaceable parts, but also caused the tech incumbents to make an effort to address their concerns at least. Listing the ones that are token at best is rather useless, so instead, let’s focus on the one that made me conceive this article, project Luna.
Dell’s product appears to be an attempt to perform a simplification of the laptop concept to its barest concept. An incredibly small motherboard, so that it is lighter and makes use of less raw materials. This lightness means that components can be more spread out, with the motherboard being both behind the device’s screen and passively cooled. This would, of course be made with water soluble glue and flax fiber. And finally, the whole thing is allegedly held together by four screws instead of, and I am quoting Dell here, “Hundreds”.
And to me it sounded great. Until I thought about it. When I recommend someone who does not need a computer for a specific use case and they aren’t just doing Fido barks the numbers, I recommend a used business-class laptop. Inexpensive, built like tanks (if you get the right one they even kinda look like one), and crucially, upgradeable. The PC will work but a stingy accounts dept. limited the company to 4GB models? Flip that single stick for a couple of bucks and put 8/16/as much as you want in there? Fan broken? replacements have part numbers you can get from the manufacturer. No not of the laptop, the OEM for the fan. Same for the battery. Increased and faster storage is just a 2.5" or m.2 drive away.
Reading the spec above, does it look like project Luna will enable users to do any of that at all? Because “small light motherboard” reads like it would have “with all the components soldered to it”. “Water soluble glue” reads like “So fixing it won’t be a matter of sending it to Louis Rossman to replace a very specific component”. And four screws makes me think about how many things are glued in. The benefits to the user are welcome, but incidental.
Of course. One shouldn’t take concept luna as a final product but just as what it proclaims to be, a concept. A statement of intent of the future Dell laptop that will grace your backpack or briefcase. However, one can then disagree with said statement of intent. I do like the idea of the simplified design and the reduction of overall resources, and further research into battery technologies that would last longer between charges and replacements. However, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. There’s already a surefire way to make your product long-lasting, dependable, a darling of IT departments and get at least a positive note from the reviewers that will not buy one. It’s quite simple.
Make it modular and with standard components
