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From iOS? Looks pretty similar to something that pre-dates it by quite a bit... http://bitchin100.com/dlpilot/icon.png

Given that laptop sales are at an all-time high, I'd say the answer is "yes". Do people want more? Sure, but they're willing to settle for 3 hours.

They don't have much choice but to settle for it when the market doesn't provide them an option. However I think that's starting to change with Internet tablets and things like EEE PC

Part of them problem is laptops are just an extension of desktops, and desktops are driven by more and more resource usage (and thus more power). I'm sure someone could come out with a laptop with a 12 hour battery life, but: It'd run modern desktop software slowly.

Which features that people actually use in that "modern desktop software" make it run slowly? Other than how printer drivers work and how fonts are rendered, word processors, at least the way folks actually use them, hasn't changed much in 20 years. So I'd say people would do fine without the layers of API bloat that don't add any value. We need a reset on the software side. We need solutions appropriate to the circumstance, not just bloated crap from the desktop. Laptop software should be fundamentally different from desktop software. For example, laptop GUIs should be more keyboard oriented since a mouse isn't always useable.

It'd have a smaller storage space (20 gigs of flash ram?) (this isn't so bad really)

Yeah unless you're doing video editing, 20 gigs is a lot of space. And I think you don't just cram a desktop OS into a laptop, so you could cut out a lot of bloat. The OLPC project is on a decent track, though trying to build everything around Python packages tailored to desktops and servers was a huge mistake.

The screen wouldn't be quite as "nice" as the 3 hour laptop. The maker would likely have to compromise on the screen technology to reduce power consumption.

Yep. Though displays are rapidly improving and some real advancements were made by OLPC

low-power devices like this exist, of course. They're just identified in a different class of device because of the above compromises.

Not in a laptop form factor. I've been looking for a few years now. What I'd like to see: True Portable Definition

I'll add that 8-bit portable computers are an increasingly popular way to get into retro computing. These machines won't take up so much space as to upset your wife, you can easily get them out and put them away, and you generally don't have a bunch of stuff connected (expansion device, disk controllers, monitors, wall cubes...)

Model T (100/102/200), WP-2, Z88, NC100/200, etc.

http://bitchin100.com/

There is a vibrant user community for the Model T: club100.org... users can join the list on that page.

We are also adding more RAM (2Meg + 4 Meg of flash): http://bitchin100.com/remem_project.htm

You can offload files to a Palm with this: http://bitchin100.com/dlpilot

I'm trying to get a magazine/newsletter off the ground for our tight-knit community:

http://bitchin100.com/webad.html

BASIC is nice to have for short programs. Power users program in assembly on 8-bit machines ;-) . But I am working on a Forth ROM replacement for use with ReMem.

-- John.

There is a vibrant user community for the Model T: club100.org... users can join the list on that page.

We are also adding more RAM (2Meg + 4 Meg of flash): http://bitchin100.com/remem_project.htm

You can offload files to a Palm with this: http://bitchin100.com/dlpilot

I'm trying to get a magazine/newsletter off the ground for our tight-knit community:

http://bitchin100.com/webad.html

BASIC is nice to have for short programs. Power users program in assembly on 8-bit machines ;-) . But I am working on a Forth ROM replacement for use with ReMem.

-- John.

There is a vibrant user community for the Model T: club100.org... users can join the list on that page.

We are also adding more RAM (2Meg + 4 Meg of flash): http://bitchin100.com/remem_project.htm

You can offload files to a Palm with this: http://bitchin100.com/dlpilot

I'm trying to get a magazine/newsletter off the ground for our tight-knit community:

http://bitchin100.com/webad.html

BASIC is nice to have for short programs. Power users program in assembly on 8-bit machines ;-) . But I am working on a Forth ROM replacement for use with ReMem.

-- John.

2mb ram, 2mb flash, works on the tandy 100, 102, and 200. very cool project. The Tandy Model T community still has a lot of the old, late 1970s hacker-programmer-computer enthusiast ethic. very very cool people.