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Sun..err..Oracle via General Dynamics has a Sun Ray thin-client laptop with 3G called a Tadpole.

http://www.tadpole.com/products/notebooks/bullfrogv2.asp there you go. Dual processor, and even has a full-size PCI slot.

I always fancied one of these. Probably just me.

why doesn't Sun Microsystems make laptops

They do. Ultra 3 Mobile.

There are also the units from Tadpole, and I'm sure others

http://www.tadpole.com/products/notebooks.asp/

I am sure the poster knows his hardware needs and has exhausted all alternatives. Since 16GB notebooks are available now there is obviously a market/need for them. So a hardware upgrade might indeed be the best course of action for the poster.

16 GB Ram and dual processor right here. Might have to use wine though to run your apps though.

http://www.tadpole.com/products/notebooks/bullfrog dp.asp/

http://www.tadpole.com/products/notebooks/bullfrog dp.asp

FEATURES AND ADVANTAGES:

        * Powerful Performance and Processing:
                    o Dual CPU 1.2GHz UltraSPARC-IIIi, 1 MB level 2 Cache with 1GB-8GB memory per CPU (Up to 16GB total)
                    o Solaris 9 Operating Environment
                    o Full-length PCI slot supporting Windows co-processor, network adaptors, high end graphics and many other options
        * State of the Art Mobility:
                    o Mobile server consolidation - the 22 lbs Bullfrog Dual Processor replaces a typical 450 lbs server box (with power backup modules) with no loss in performance or connectivity
                    o Permits a "work from anywhere" environment
                    o Consolidation of Solaris and Windows onto one box
        * Redundancy:
                    o Dual Disk Drives with capacity of up to 200GB (100GB + 100 GB)
                    o Built in UPS
                    o Dual Processors
        * Efficiency:
                    o Total costs reduced by as much as 50% over equivalent conventional server system
                    o Total weight savings of as much as 90%
        * Reduced Complexity when deployed with Comet 12/15 Thin Clients:
                    o Wireless Solutions are simple to deploy
                    o Reduced System Admin overheads
                    o Manage services not desktops
                    o Reduce desktop productivity licensing by a factor of 10
        * Accessories & Upgrades: A wide range of accessories that enhance Tadpole Bullfrog usability

Just use a stateless thin client laptop, no need for hard drive encryption and no way to intrude.

Why not encrypt your disk? Because there are more effective ways of protecting data and mitigating liabilities.

You don't really need to carry the data around. http://www.tadpole.com/products/notebooks/comet15. asp

I've seen the tadpole sparc based laptops before. (trade show 'server') It was a couple years back, but it could hold 6G of ram. Poked over to their website and it looks like they have a monster that can go up to 16G of RAM.

http://www.tadpole.com/html/products/mobile/bullfr og-dual/

I've never seen any x86 laptop that could do more than 4G yet.

Tadpole has UltraSparc laptops that run Solaris, they've been around for a while. There were also DEC Alpha laptops for a whole.

Sure, no probs, I probably should have done that in my post first time round...

For PowerPC, Motorola actually roll their own there was a Slashdot article about it a while back. The Motorola ones are particularly cool because they are dual CPU and dual on board ethernet (and of course are regular ATX form factor). You could also get an AmigaOne board (ATX) (currently Pre-Order), or a Pegasos Dual board http://www.amigasuperbit.com/indexcataloge/531.htm (MicroATX).

You can a motherboard and CPU for ~600 Euro from these guys, which is not at all bad.

There are other sites too, but you do have to Google for them. All of these run Linux, and while they may not seem that fast from reading the specs, of if you've ever tried a Power Macintosh of a similar spec that seemed slow on that speed of CPU, don't worry as Linux is extremely fast in comparison to Mac OS X (quite amazingly so, especially as gcc does not optimise compiled code for Altivec (work currently being sponsored by Red Hat, and being done by Alan Cox I think I read...). I've posted this before, but Linux runs much faster than Mac OS X on my G4 PowerBook than Mac OS X does, there is so much difference it's in speed it's scary (and it's not just Mac OS X's GUI that slows the system down, general IO is slower, meaning *everything* (networking, disk access, memory usage) is slower [which is :-) or :-( depending on your position on Linux/Mac OS X :] ).

For SPARC, the SPARC Product Directory web site has quite a few places you buy them from. Tadpole are particularly cool as they make SPARC laptops. A lot of companies simply re-sell Sun parts they buy OEM.

One company, Sun Rise (UK) buy Sun motherboards, CPU's etc OEM from the US and resell them in their own cases in interesting & powerful configurations. Apparently this pisses of Sun UK, but Sun US are quite happy to keep selling them the parts, so they continue to build systems that way...

They are really very good systems and the midrange systems are a much better (and much cheaper) than anything Sun offers, there support is good too, but I think their sales & marketing side of things lets them down I think (their web site is appalling and they don't really seem to know how to drum up business with technology oriantated firms, e.g. ISP's, Telco's, the seem to be after other markets...). They are still worth looking at though...you will save 50% on the cost of hardware (compared to buying from Sun), and you'll get a much better midrange system than anything Sun currently offer.

NB: Sun Rise actually sell business (not consumer) products, but I thought this might be interesting to some people none the less.

Prices vary quite a bit for them (none charge as much as Sun though, most are less than half the cost). Second hand might be best if cost is a big consideration, a complete Dual CPU SPARC system can be had on ebay for ~700 USD.

As for Alpha systems, apart direct from HP/Compaq there are a few component sales in Google like these guys, but most of them are complete systems, badged as 'Workstations', an example is Microway who sell a reasonably affordable complete system (even ships with Red Hat or Windows 2000 (if you like that sort of thing ;)).

Alpha systems are more expensive than SPARC (and twice as much as PPC systems), and while I think the PPC systems are better value for money, if you did want to go 'all out' and get an Alpha system you can get one for around 1,300 USD (CPU + Motherboard).

Fortunately, Macs are damn near infinitely easier to figure out how to operate than PC's.

That was not the point I was trying to make - for Photoshop on a laptop, it is easier and faster than most of the alternatives - but it is different - menu behavior specifically. I traveled with a Tadpole (sparc based laptop running Solaris) for a while. We all ran the same app server / ldap / database, but most of the SE's were lost trying to start things up as soon as they saw it was not Windows (or Linux for that matter). With gobs of RAM I was able to get more work done than the others who had to drag around multiple standard issue Dells that had a physical limit of 512M RAM at the time. When I got pulled into another project leaving my environment (which was a fair mimic of the production system), chaos ensued. Solaris was just enough of a curve ball to miss the deadline. It is not like they were not qualified, the tools were just a bit different.

In the mean time, he's going to get his work done quickly enough to save lives (US soldiers and Iraqi innocents.)

This is a bit of a straw man, but I'll bite. The reality is the US Forces have a limited budget. More lives could be saved by having better satellite uplinks, better lenses on the recon equipment, tanks that went faster on less fuel, more powerful targeting lasers... the list goes on and on. Every standardization is a compromise somewhere down the line. You are a former RATT operator, so why did they not hand everyone an updated set rather than tuning both the old and new series so they could co-operate? Budget would be my guess. I suspect your CO would also have you peeling potatoes if you swapped personal equipment for older gear 'because it would save lives'.

I'm not comforted that your platform bigotry extends so far that it has you placing more importance on some tired two button mouse arguement than on people's lives.

Again - this is not about mac's sux, bill rulz! In an environment where you have to work with a fluid team, you cannot always select what you consider the perfect tool for the job.

Damn mods smoking crack again...

In a similar direction to buying an iBook/Powerbook from Apple, there is another non-x86 option, Buying a UltraSPARC (sun) based laptop from Tadpole Computers that runs Solaris. In my search for a laptop earlier this year, I did eventually give up and pay the M$tax. I do run windows on it, (just not the version it came with), and Linux, and BeOS, and hopefully soon Solaris x86 too. It seems that OSless x86 laptops don't really exist anymore, but you do have two other options. (Although both are a bit pricey).

It looks like antelope is doing something different w/ their MCC stuff from IBM - split the display and input device out and save on weight - would be a nice setup with a monocle and a flexi-keyboard .. or you could try the SparcBooks which are unfortunately a little heavy (3.5kg) .. if it's size you're after - I'd look to the Asian market trends which tend to value the smaller size much more than the fat fingered lazy Americans and Europeans - the Sharp Zaurus PDA comes to mind there, and even smaller vaios only available on the japanese market (i started using a U1 a while back and love it) .. for durability - take a look at what the US gov't is doing for the military - there's a big push away from MS there and good luck! I think the real battle is away from the X86 instruction set - the majority of MS code is too embedded on this dependency!

There is an obscure manufacturer of SPARC-based notebooks going by the name of Tadpole. These are marketed as portable Solaris systems but I'd bet some flavor of Linux will run on these (Aurora Linux comes to mind).

If you don't mind the high cost, Tadpole sells a variety of 32 & 64 bit SPARC laptops, some with a capacity for up to 4 gigs of RAM. It comes pre-loaded with Solaris. I think these are usually used by the military for on-field trajectory calculations.

From Tadpole in 1995, WORLD'S FIRST DEC ALPHA POWERED NOTEBOOK. Oh yes, it ran VMS! Now they just sell SPARC notebooks :-(

We have this price list from 1998, which is the second or third generation of machines. I have what I think is a first generation SPARCbook (a 3XP w/ 85 mHz MicroSPARC II) I got on eBay for $110 after shipping. Here's an idea of what this might run you. Prices are in Australian Dollars (1998 dollars. I ran 36,990 AUD through a converter and it spit back $20,669.64, to give you an idea).

SPARCBook price List

Start selling your children and vital organs now to avoid the market flood in Dec when these things come out. What I'd like to know is if it's running a stock Solaris, or a special Sparcbook version like they had for mine. It had a different kernel and I believe a different version of CDE (I don't know, I don't have it, or any OS on the machine for that matter). Kernel was to deal with all the whacky hardware packed into the magnesium monster, especially the microntroller that prevented ungraceful heat death and power management, that I don't think any BSD or Linux deals with 100% correctly. Moot point as the 3XP doesn't have any good way of getting an OS onto the machine (no floppy or CD-rom included, whacky network port [that you can get a cable to convert to AUI, which is less whacky]).

It's nice to see that they are still doing new hardware, but these definately aren't meant to take market share away from Apple or x86 in consumer laptops.

See also Tadpole AlphaBook, Tadpole 7007/IBM N40 RS/6000 laptop with a neat Byte writeup here. (portable AIX is a steal at $12,000. Now there is NO escape!)

they create a fictitious business to show you how to save money and you can download the specs in get this: an excel spreadsheet. WTF?!?!

see here:

did i miss something, or does office now run on unix? (no os x trolling here please)

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I betcha it's the only laptop you can buy with Unix not only factory-installed, but as the primary OS.

You're wrong. Tadpole Technology makes portable SPARC servers and laptop SPARC workstations. They have horrible battery life and they cost a fortune, but they're the only way to natively run Solaris/SPARC binary (proprietary) applications on a laptop computer. The new Tadpole laptops cost something like $20,000 or more, just for reference. You won't be buying one of them unless you really need it for something really specific.

They come preinstalled with some version of Solaris. The other OS's you could run on them would be either Linux or NetBSD. But you wouldn't buy one for that. You'd buy one to run binary only Solaris applications that only run on the SPARC version of Solaris and not Solaris x86.

Cryptnotic

--
Forget Napster. Why not really break the law?

Hellooooo!!! Anyone with more than 1 room and access to The Outside World, would want one of these to escape being chained to his immobile computer. I have been scouring the web for just such a product for almost a year now. The closest I came to it was the J-Slate which is very expensive and proprietary. The convenience and price would make all the difference in getting one of these vs. a notebook computer. Short of a voice-activated control panel in every room (a la Star Trek), this would finally bring the computer into daily utility.