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There have been SD cards demonstrated that transfer 200-250 MB/s. Not sure why the larger card has a slower transfer rate, but there you go.

how about toshiba?
http://www.toshiba.com/us/computers/laptops/kira/kirabook13/KIRAbook13-i5-touch

$300 less, but has last-gen graphics, last-gen core processor, and a last-gen SSD that's 1/2 the size. it does have a touchscreen where the MPB does not.

Kirabook reviews: Makes an annoying noise under load, fan grille on the bottom (which makes it a tabletop), and reproduces the main flaw in the MBP keyboard - half-height arrow keys. Apparently a very good screen, although I couldn't find any charts showing color accuracy or sharpness.

Still costs 20% more than the equivalent MBP, where I live. Well, that's down from 50% more. Perhaps PC manufacturers are starting to realise why their stuff isn't selling.

Thanks for drawing it to my attention, though.

Apple laptops are not magic

but they are unix, and unlike linux, everything just works out of the box. for some of us, it's worth paying more to not have to dink around for hours on the weekend to hopefully get things running smoothly.

macs are overpriced, but not as much as some folks say. consider this MBP,
http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/macbook-pro

it's $1800 with no upgrades.

the most comparable thing i can find at dell.com is this,
http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-12-9q33/pd?oc=dncwi16b&model_id=xps-12-9q33

it's $600 less, but it has 1/2 the memory, worse graphics, a slightly smaller display and lesser res, and a 128GB SSD vs. a next-gen 512GB SSD. also, it runs windows, not a unix-based OS.

how about toshiba?
http://www.toshiba.com/us/computers/laptops/kira/kirabook13/KIRAbook13-i5-touch

$300 less, but has last-gen graphics, last-gen core processor, and a last-gen SSD that's 1/2 the size. it does have a touchscreen where the MPB does not.

http://us.toshiba.com/spectacle/

Ten minutes to charge and off the shelf:

http://www.toshiba.com/ind/product_display.jsp?id1=821

Ants in Weird/Odd Places:

Bugs in the computer: Sun
Microsystems, Inc. knows why Brazil is known to its native inhabitants as the kingdom of the ants.

Ants in yer... Pants? NOT!
(Toshiba notebook/laptop); Ants
Invade Apple iBook; "Yep, those are ants in that laptop".

(Tele)phones: Panasonic Cordless Phone and Ants In My Nokia Mobile Phone (A Yahoo! account is required).

Ants in Omniview switchboxes: An e-mail story of ants invading a network
switchbox.

Argentine ants invade a network hub.

Computerworld on "Ants had taken up residence in a guy's external hard drive. Seen on /.).

A photograph showing ants nesting in a guy's phone box, affecting his
digital subscriber line (DSL) connection and phone system.

A 38 seconds YouTube video showing crazy ants in a computer mouse.

One minute and 19 seconds Break video, from VideoSift: "Creepy Surprise. -- Wife asked me to try to get the printer to work, since she was having some problems with it. Imagine my surprise when I looked inside..."

Help,
A Colony Of Ants Attacked My Enterprise Rental Car And Ruined My
Vacation!

but a 64 GB SD card is less than $50.

The desire to not have ignorant users like yourself gimp the iPad with slow flash memory is why Apple does not have an SD port. Come to think of it, that is also why GOOGLE is building more devices now without an SD port now also. Performance is guaranteed.

The iPad 3 had storage they can write to at up to 22MB/s, and read from at 78MB/s... the card you listed can do neither of those things as quickly despite the 50MB/s claim on the front.

If you really want to attach an SD card to read movies or media from just buy a camera connection kit and attach it to the iPad that way.

May have been a slick sales pitch.

If so, then a lot of home and small business users are likely to end up believing it.

Windows 8 software should run just fine on Windows 7.

Win32 application compatibility between Windows versions tends to be greater than device driver compatibility.

I have used Vista 64 bit drivers on Windows 7 before

That works because as I understand it, the changes from Windows Vista to Windows 7 were about as extensive as the changes from Windows XP RTM to Windows XP Service Pack 2. I've read that the changes from Windows 7 to Windows 8 were greater than those from Windows Vista to Windows 7, and the network driver ABI might not be fully compatible. See, for example, this forum post about difficulty finding Windows 7 drivers after downgrading from Windows 8.

great. just waiting for laptops to follow this format as they inevitably will. then we'll be able to read up to 3 lines of text at a time!

Toshiba's had one for a few weeks (at least)

http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops/satellite/U840W/U845W-S410/

DISPLAY RESOLUTION
1792x768 (HD+), 21:9 aspect ratio, Supports 720p content

Like: http://www.toshiba.com/ind/product_display.jsp?id1=821 and direct drive Switched Reluctance motors.

But, since they insist on Neanderthal ways of thinking, extinction is the result.

Looks like they changed it to 16:10 for the current models.

Text and the arranged list of tiles they use to demo the portrait work pretty well because they rearrange without needing to stretch anything.

Apparently you haven't been keeping up with battery technology. Toshiba's SCiB charges in 10 mins. Been shipping for a few years now. Other researchers have reported similar capabilities in the lab.

So, your assurances aren't useful.

If these cars used Toshiba's SCIB batteries -> http://www.toshiba.com/ind/product_display.jsp?id1=821 - then they could go from dead to full charge in 10 minutes.

That would make electric charging stations at gas stations feasible.

It takes 10 minutes to fill an SUV with gas.

There is no way he meant that - it would be completely ridiculous with only one eye. That's why Toshiba invented this.

Toshiba makes a 14", 1366x768 resolution, under 3 pound, under $200 USB Second Monitordisplay you can add to any laptop.

Seems more useful than adding 3 pounds to a laptop, more convienient too...

I would much rather have an mobile monitor like this. http://us.toshiba.com/computers/accessories/mobile-monitor/ I could put it in my laptop bag along with a laptop.

If I was doing something like surfing the web, I would leave it in the bag. If I was writing software, I'd pull it out and plug it up.

No, they don't make sense, because you can buy a 20" screen for $100.

Seriously? Does that $100 monitor fit into the not especially huge laptop case? And how much does it weigh?

Good question. I haven't seen a 20" screen that'd fit comfortably into my laptop bag. That said, another poster did draw my attention to this, which would fit comfortably into my laptop bag, and only weighs 3lbs.

1. Those who absolutely need two monitors when travelling,

Fair enough. If I was having to frequently write large amounts of code on-site and was travelling by car, I would certainly consider such a laptop.

I wouldn't. I'd ask them to have a second display waiting for me at my destination. Anybody who can afford to have a consultant drive on site to do some coding for them can afford to provide said consultant with a workstation or a place to work. I can simply commandeer the monitor that's plugged into that workstation to run a dual display with my laptop.

2. Those who aren't willing to pack a second monitor with them but are will to pack a 4.5kg laptop, and

Well, that doesn't really shrink the set by much. The barrier for packing a second monitor and setting it up is far higher than packing a huge laptop.

No so much. As said in the link above, there are options out there for a second monitor you can pack with you that will fit in your laptop bag. Between that monitor and my existing 13" laptop, the total weight would be about 2.8kgs for a portable dual screen setup that would fit easily in my laptop bag, and at a total cost about 1/4 what the laptop in TFA is proposed to cost. (not to mention that the 2nd display is a one-time cost that isn't incurred when it comes time to retire/upgrade my old laptop).

3. Those who are moving around too much to justify buying a second monitor at their destination. ..or those whose destination is not so much under their control, or not in a place likely to have a spare monitor.

I have actually needed a very large screen luggable beast before (dual screens weren't available then) and they make perfect sense given the right condidions.

They do. I have a multi-display high resolution setup at home on my desk. I also have an ultraportable laptop that I use on the road. The ultraportable laptop is usable for almost everything I do on the main system, thanks to desktop switching. It's not as convenient, but it's certainly workable for a temporary solution such as would be the case on the road with a laptop.

The article says the designer came up with the idea "when he needed a video editing workstation on a 6 month working holiday in Hawaii."

Yeah, well, that's nutso. Especially the bit about "working holiday".

But it makes perfect sense for anyone doing enough work off site that this is prefereable to lugging a desktop. Just because you don't need that, doesn't mean it doesn't make sense. After all, you probably don't need a toughbook or a PC/104 machine either...

No, I don't think it really does. It's a *lot* of money to spend on a laptop when there's alternative solutions available to you that are much less expensive, especially in the long run. My experience is that most people who use multi-display systems don't actually need 2 or 3 or 4+ monitors to do what they want to do, they simply find it more convenient to not have to desktop switch or alt-tab between windows. And I say that as somebody who uses a multi-display system almost daily. but even if you are among the few who actually *need* multiple displays, there's other options out there for you to have multiple displays on the road.

Why even have the monitors built in to the laptop. Why not carry a lightweight laptop, and if you need an extra monitor, Toshiba http://us.toshiba.com/computers/accessories/mobile-monitor/ has ultra portable monitors that you can hook up? The laptop and extra monitor probably weigh less than the behemoth in TFA, and you can leave the extra monitor at home for the times that you don't need it.

What a ... blog. Yeah. Just go to toshiba.com and read the press release from the source, instead of the cut and pasted partial version at the ... blog:

http://sdd.toshiba.com/techdocs/MKxx61GSYG_release.pdf

They claim it uses AES256.. How do you know its not some kind of simple XOR? Probably their exotic "crypto erasure scheme" which they don't discuss is simply deleting the AES256 key. Where would you store the key? How about in the partition table? How long until there's a patch to linux fdisk to read the key, or at least not overwrite it when partitioning, and then how long until someone uses a loopback crypto file system support until linux to read a drive assuming you previously know the AES256 key?

Also, those drives are small. The last time I bought a 160 GB drive was in the mid 00s. Wouldn't it be hilarious if the low capacity was because everything is stored twice, once "encrypted" for the (l)user and once unencrypted for government special access "only"?

This is just all speculation on top of speculation, yet it all seems strangely likely.

Switched reluctance motors and Toshiba SCiB batteries.

As of today, there is no way to do it better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched_reluctance_motor

http://www.toshiba.com/ind/product_display.jsp?id1=821

Just sayin'

http://www.toshiba.com/ind/product_display.jsp?id1=821
"...after 6,000 or more charge-discharge cycles..."

That's rougly about 16 years. So at least we'll break "short lifespan" soon. Too bad we're still on "quite expensive".

There are already tons of Windows tablets with both a digitizer based stylus and multitouch. Apple just cheaped out on their touch screen.

Wow, you're clearly misinformed. Most netbooks come with Windows XP OEM preinstalled or Linux. There's no downgrade trick. Here...

Dell
Asus
Acer
Samsung
Toshiba
Sony

He said "Aside from enthusiasts who just like following the stuff".

I might have a passing interest in the progress of processor technology but I'm actually specifically interested at the moment because I'm on the look out for a new laptop. For me that means looking at a Toshiba, a Lenovo (and Dell, Fujitsu etc) and trying to make a judgment about what advantages and disadvantages each has and comparing them to see what makes the most sense for me.

I've found Intel's processor designations mind boggling. They do have a pretty good comparison tool though, which can help clear things up once you've narrowed it down to a few options.

Wait a minute...Dell (and HP, and Lenovo, and Toshiba, ad infinitum) already tell me what software I can run on my new computer. And that's always Windows.

• Dell - Ubuntu and FreeDOS (they also offer Solaris, Red Hat and SUSE on their servers)
• HP - various Linux distributions
• Lenovo said they would offer SUSE preloaded on their Thinkpads, though I can't find one now.
• Toshiba provides support for Linux on their systems.

That's just with ten minutes of googling. I'm sure you could do better with more time.

That's a Nice Satellite There
Be a shame if something was to happen to it. (*Crash*) Whoops. How clumsy of me...

My laptop!

This has been known for many years. Here are more taken from my personal ant Web site:

Ants in yer... Pants? NOT! (Toshiba notebook/laptop); Ants Invade Apple iBook.

Ants In
My Nokia Mobile Phone (A Yahoo! account is required).

Ants in Omniview switchboxes: An e-mail story of ants invading a network
switchbox. Thanks nTrFace.

Argentine ants invade a network hub.

Ants had taken up residence in a guy's external hard drive: Ontrack
and Computerworld
(seen on /.).

A photograph showing ants nesting in a guy's phone box, affecting his DSL connection and phone system.

...out on the web. Nothing in the GPL says that a licensee has to freely offer the code to absolutely anyone free of charge, to anyone that asks, in the manner the asker chooses. It says that they have to offer the code, in a manner of their choosing to anyone that asks.

In a commercial hardware product, that means that the company can insist on only distributing the code by sending it to you as a bunch of floppy disks, for all the GPL cares.

Now, once someone has the code, that person can then re-distribute the GPLed code however they feel.

One example: My Toshiba HD DVD Player (don't laugh, it was a present,) contains GPL code. Toshiba doesn't make this fact obvious. It's buried in the manual for the product. Toshiba doesn't make the code available on their website, because they're not required to. To quote the GPL 2.0 that my Toshiba uses:

b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
        years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
        cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
        machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
        distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
        customarily used for software interchange...

The internet isn't the only medium customarily used for software interchange. And they are allowed to charge a reasonable fee for duplication and distribution. (See GPL section 1.) If they really felt ornery, they would be perfectly within their rights to charge you for the physical cost of a bunch of floppies, and the time (at minimum wage, or even higher,) some flunky had to spend copying onto those floppies.

• Major initiatives, including joint advertising campaigns with studios and extended pricing strategies will begin in mid-January and are designed to spotlight the superior benefits of HD DVD as well as the benefits HD DVD brings to a consumer's current DVD library by upconverting standard DVDs via the HDMI output to near high def picture quality.

• HD DVD not only creates the ultimate high definition entertainment experience, leveraging all of the promise of the format such as superior audio/video performance, Web-enabled network capabilities and advanced interactive features -- it also has a high-level of compatibility with DVD. With DVD upconversion via the HDMI output, HD DVD players instantly make a movie lovers existing DVD library look better than ever.

  "HD DVD is the best way to watch movies in high definition," said Jodi Sally, Vice President of DAV Marketing for Toshiba. "Our HD DVD players not only play back approximately 800 HD DVD titles available worldwide and deliver an entirely new level of entertainment, but also enhance the picture quality to near high definition on legacy DVD titlesby all studios. In short, we added hi def to DVD which already is the de facto standard format created and approved by the DVD Forum that consists of more than two hundred companies."

Bugs in the computer: Sun Microsystems, Inc. knows why Brazil is known to its native inhabitants as the kingdom of the ants.

Ants in yer... Pants? NOT! (Toshiba notebook/laptop); Ants Invade Apple iBook.

Ants In My Nokia (A Yahoo! account is required) 5210 Mobile Phone.

Ants in Omniview switchboxes: An e-mail story of ants invading a network switchbox.

Argentine ants invade a network hub.

A photograph showing ants nesting in a guy's phone box, affecting his DSL connection and phone system.

I used to fix my own. Until it got too hard to get spares, and I imagine that applied somewhat to companies that were doing it. Rubber pinch rollers seemed to be the real killer. When they split, they were no longer available.

For DIY, it can be hard. For dealers and shops, there is many aftermarket parts sources for the LNA rubber parts. It's much like the auto parts industry. If you can't find the genuine Mopar replacement headlamp bulb, you go armed with make and model and hit the cross refrence. You may find the Sylvania 9004 bulb is an exact replacement.

Check with Diversified Parts and Consolidated Electronics. They used to be dealer only, but with the world going online, you may be able to get orders filled. I wouldn't know the current situation as I left the industry over a decade ago.

http://www.ceitron.com/
http://tacpservice.toshiba.com/ConsumerProductSupport/consumer_parts.htm

No... it's any 5 from a list of about 25. Here is the link to the form you have to fill out to get them:
Five free HD-DVDs

disconnecting the battery for a few days to take care of any CMOS passwords.

Decent laptops don't use battery-backed CMOS to store the password etc. You can leave the battery unplugged for a year and the password will still be there.

The 5-free thing is just a "me too" for the offer that is currently available for BluRay players.

You can't pick whichever ones you'd like. Similar to the BluRay offer, you have strict restrictions on which crappy movies you can get free. The list is available in PDF format only. Check it out. No Heroes.

I'm convinced its the teachers, not the students. When you give the students laptops you need to teach them differently, when done right it works great. For 7 & 8th grade my school gave me laptops (part of a Toshiba case study, Toshiba case study [PDF]), this started in '97 and they never had problems with it impacting student performance in any negative way. The classes are all small and the students all did as the teachers said, if you were not suppose to use the laptop you didn't have it out, it was that simple. Nobody could get distracted, when you used the computer the teacher would know what you were doing and would yell at you if you tried anything not related to school. Granted there are always those that will use a laptop for something they shouldn't, I found that if the teacher controls who uses a laptop and when, then its easy to prevent any negative affects. In my school the laptops were only used for non-school stuff when the student was off school (either in study or home), and cheating from laptops was non-existant as test were never given with the laptop present. At they school the program is going so well that this year they are extending the program to all students from 2nd to 8th grade, and i think it is a real example of how a laptop program should be run.

In small print at the bottom: "...Firmware update may be required for some interactive features depending on content, which may also require an always-on broadband internet connection. Some features may require additional bandwidth. Some recordable media may not be supported..."

Then there is this ridiculous one:
"Because HD DVD is a new format that makes use of new technologies, certain disc, digitial connection and other compatibility and/or performance issues are possible. This may, in rare cases, included disc freezing while accessing certain disc features or functions, or certain parts of the disc not playing back or operating as fully intended."

Which is a deliberately confusing way of clearing the ground for when future purchases don't work, next they instruct you to call customer service and get a firmware patch. (We all know what this is about.)

When they're talking about features they aren't referring to extra clips or sound options, they're referring to the paramount feature: playing discs at all. It's advising that it's possible (extremely rare!) that your new discs won't play.

This is a problem that is known by Microsoft and fix/KB Article was generated for it around the Feb/Mar timeframe. The link to the KB is:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932094/

Additionally, if you check Toshiba's support site - they have a link to update their RAID driver for Windows Vista on Protege tablets/laptops that specifically addresses this at the following URL:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_d tlViewDL.jsp?soid=1663403&moid=1209152&BV_SessionI D=@@@@0267420348.1177345927@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchad dkkdidhdkcgfkceghdgngdgmn.0&ct=DL

From their site: This driver corrects a "blue screen" issue that occurs when a movie or audio file is played from the hard disk drive, using Apple's QuickTime player. This driver is for Windows Vista computers only.

This probably is the hotfix listed at the Microsoft site. Try it and see if it solves your problem...

so what would consume more 32gb SRAM or 32gb disk?

MK3006GAL: 1.8" HD, 0.01W/GB, 1.1W power consumption during operation 0.4W idle, 0.07W sleep.

Now, SRAM is a different story. I only checked digikey for SRAM, and the biggest one they had was 128Mbit, but it was actually DRAM that is accessed like SRAM. With 128Mbit chips, you are looking at over 1800 chips! Even with the "low power" chip I found, those 1800 chips consume 375mA in standby mode (not including the insane amount of support chips required to drive 1800 chips!) To actually use the RAM, each chip has an "initial access" power rating of 35mA, making a whopping combined 65A, talk about some thick PCB traces!

I don't have time right now to look up the power requirements of 32GB of flash or SDRAM. There is a link somewhere in the comments for this article to a device that supposedly lasts up to 100 hours on batteries. It is a sort of large, palm os based device with only 16MB of memory, but can run on AAs. perhaps that would suit your needs for now.

I don't know that I agree with you. The Newton failed for other reasons in addition to the handwriting recognition problems.

As another counterexample, the slashdot article says: "It appears that no longer carries DLP TVs". Is that Toshiba? http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions/dlp.asp Is that some big-name store that sells home theater equipment? But does that cast a pall over slashdot to the point that editors read the summaries before posting?

I think the type of notebook does effect the chances of the battery burning. Toshiba said their notebooks don't have this problem despite using the same batteries because they're designed differently. Here's an article with a bit of info about the toshiba recall. http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_d tlView.jsp?soid=1501060

?!?!?

DVD recorders with (and without) internal HDs are all over the place!

You can also use DVD-RW disks for recording single watch material. And the machines act exactly like VHS except record to DVD. Even the ones that allow you to hook up to a service for more ease of setup for recording don't generally REQUIRE it for it to work. I don't use it on my toshiba...

here are a few:
http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/dvd/dvdrecorder.asp

VHS is dead for any new recording that is for sure. However, everyones collections of VHS will of course sit around till it rots or 100 cups of coffie later are transferred to DVD...

You don't need a new receiver to take advantage of the new surround formats such as TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS-HD. All of the HD-DVD players contain decoders in them that will decode these surround formats and output them via analog 5.1, optical, digital coax, or HDMI. Many receivers today have at least one of those connections, HDMI being the newest and more expensive. You can then either overlay post processing if you like (Such as THX surround processing) or simply leave the signal as-is. There is no need to have two decoders doing the same thing.
http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/dvd/product.asp?model= hd-a1

Dig a little deeper. If you follow your own link to the Toshiba web site, and click on "Technical Suport" (their spelling, not mine) the first article outlines their battery exchange programme.

I was going through the local SuperWalmart a few weeks ago, and noted at least two CRT-based HD televisions. They were both in the 26-inch range, if I recall, and both were around $500. Froogle lists several, including the Toshiba 26HF66, Samsung TXP2675WHX/XAA and the Sansui HDTV2600 (A rebadged Orion, apparently, and I can't find a link for it).

Probably just the opposite. Right now, hard drives are being made in the 1.8 in form factor, and Toshiba has a .85 in form factor drive. Since hard drives are so much cheaper per GB, and the price is constantly falling (much better competition in the HDD market than in flash) you will quite likely have a hard drive in your computer for a good long while. Will software manufacturers eventualy switch to a flash OS? That sounds more reasonable, and especially good for them from a licence management point of view.

I honestly think HD DVD will win over Blu-Ray. While name recognition will help, it won't be the deciding factor.
Remember, many don't have much faith in Sony anymore. They've had numerous delays with their PS3, which is their main way to market Blu-Ray. The PS3 is expected to be $599 or possibly more. Not only that, but their last format, UMD, failed miserably and is being pulled off Wal-Mart's shelves. Combine that with their previous failures with formats like Mini-Disc and Sony doesn't have much of a track record with having successful mediums. Also, don't forget, many consumers have a bad taste in their mouth because of Sony installing rootkits on their computers even if they disaggred to their EULA.
Other things that will help HD DVD is the fact that it has at least a 3 month lead on Blu-Ray. That and right now, you can buy an HD DVD player for $499 where as most Blu-Ray players are expected to cost around $1,000 when they're released.
Also, when customers find out that many Blu-Ray players will include a feature to disable themselves remotely if anything "odd" has been detected in the player (I'm sure this will also be exploited by hackers). This permenantly damages the palyer requiring chips to be replaced.
Honestly, I think Blu-Ray is great for doing huge backups and working with large files on computers, but I can't see it succeeding in the movie market.

Specifications from the Toshiba Web Site: http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/hddvd//

Video
-----
Disc Playback: HD-DVD/HD-DVD-R/DVD/DVD-R/DVD-RAM/DVD-RW/CD/CD-R/C D-RW
HD Content via HDMI (Disc Native Resolution)
Video Up-conversion for SD DVD (720P/1080i)
11-but / 216 MHz Video DAC
Enhanced Black Level (DIRE /7.5 IRE)
Letterbox and Pan & Scan Support

Audio
-----
Built-in Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, and TDS decoders
Dolby True HD Compatible (2 channel)
Four 32-bit Floating Point Processors
Multi-Channel 24-bit / 192 kHZ Audio DACs
HDMI Audio Support up to 5.1 LPCM
5.1 Channel Output
Dynamic Range Control
WMA and MP3 playback

Connections
-----------
USB
HDMI Output
Colorstream Component Video Outputs
S-Video Input
Composite Video (1)
Coaxial Digital Audio Output
Optical Digital Audio Output
RS-232
Ethernet 10/100

Okay, the LifeDrive is 0.8" thick, but the [full-size] iPod isn't. How about we allow it to be as thick as an iPod? For reference, the 30GB iPod is 0.43" thick, and the 60GB version 0.55" thick. How about we split the difference and amend my requirement to half an inch, okay? (Not that it would need to be that thick, since an iPod has its hard drive and battery stacked on top of each other, whereas this could have them side-by-side.)

Speaking of side-by-side, that's how the batteries will fit. The circuit board would only need to take up about 2" x 3" of space, and the hard drive would only need to take up about 2" x 3" of space. Together, that's 12 square inches (and a generous estimate!). The total area of an 8.5" x 11" tablet would be 93.5 square inches, and if you use up 12 of those, you've still got 81.5 square inches for the battery. Luckily, the fancy batteries we have today are flexible and moldable -- it's quite easy to make a battery that takes up the extra 81.5 square inches and is 3/8" thick (to leave room for the screen). Moreover, since the thing would be about 30 times larger (by volume) than the battery in my old iPaq, it should have plenty of power for the big screen.

In case you're still having trouble visualizing it, it would basically consist entirely of a screen and a thin battery of the same size, laminated together, but with a rectangular hole cut out of the battery for the circuitboard and hard drive. (The hole would be strategically placed to balance the device.)

Alright, so I decided to do some research: The Toshiba MK8007GAH 1.8", 80GB (!) hard drive is 0.197 inches thick. Since batteries are made out of a material with properties similar to Play-Doh, the battery can be 0.197 inches thick too. Finally, with a suitable choice of chips, the circuit board could probably be made 0.197 inches thick too (although I admit, that's a stretch). That would leave enough room for a .3 inch thick screen, which should be plenty. In fact, I'll wager it's possible to find a .2" thick screen, which would allow room for a larger CPU (and a slightly thicker battery).

One final thought: the iPod Nano really is only a quarter inch thick (0.27", to be precise). Couldn't a device be made that's the equivalent of a bunch of Nanos set side-by-side (except with one large screen instead of a bunch of little ones)?

Considering that the harddrive is nearly as big as the PDA itself, I can't imagine having one integrated into a real, portable PDA. The only reason the iPod can pull off being its size is the fact that compared to a PDA, mp3 and even video decoding can be pulled off by a low-powered, dedicated chip. PDAs don't have this luxury, not to mention the fact that they still have to have room for such things as CF and SD expansions ports. Now that we have harddrives as small in size and as large in capacity as the Toshiba MK3008GAL (the same one in the iPod Video), I wouldn't be suprised to see PDAs with large harrdrives in the near future.