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64-bit Laptops Reviewed
prostoalex writes "ExtremeTech reviews current mega-notebooks, which are powerful enough to become a desktop replacement. Among the laptops reviewed there's one with 64-bit AMD Mobile Athlon 64 3200+ (2.0GHz clock rate) - the Voodoo Envy m:855."
... Steve Jobs is choking and fuming because he wasn't able to fit G5s in PowerBooks and sell the "first 64-bit laptops".
Maybe we deserve this world ?
I'd really like one of these.
Wow, I should not post when knackered.
I saw the name Voodoo and about shit myself thinking that 3DFX had come back from the dead. Thankfully, it's just another company using the Voodoo name for their product. However seeing 3DFX come back only to enter into the laptop market, or computer market for that matter, would be humorous. One CPU for adding, one CPU for subtracting.
Hate to tell them this, but even my Pentium II 433 laptop is plenty powerful to replace a desktop. The only difference between any laptop and any normal desktop is form factor.
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
They keep saying "Oh, these flashy notebooks are now good enough to be a desktop replacement! You don't need a desktop any more! You're FREEEEEE!"
And then nobody replaces their desktop with them, they just swan round office meetings and expensive cafes with them to show off.
In 6 months, desktops are even more powerful and laptops have fallen behind again.
Yawn
graspee
Basically it looking like this are some kick ass machine in the power area with fast CPU's, Inbuilt RAID good graphics. However they get a bit to warm for comfort and way a tone. Would like to have one, need to be a little bit cheaper.
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
/.'d
You are confusing me with someone who cares.
Hasn't almost every notebook that has come out in the last 10 years been touted as a "desktop replacement" ??
The Voodoo Envy laptop makes such promises as "3 + hours of battery life(when running real world apps like MS Office and the internet)". It also weighs in at 8 pounds.
No thanks, I'll pass on that.
My idea of a laptop is a good mix of power to get things done and portability. I doubt users will be carrying around their 8 pound Voodoo Envy for long.
Add that to the $3500 price tag and you have an expensive and unusable "laptop".
Come on, there are two reasons to prefer a desktop over a laptop. First, ergonomics: some people just prefer to have a big keyboard and a big monitor and being able to move the two independently of each other. Second, hardware capabilities-- you can fit more into a desktop, and you can upgrade it easily. (Oh, and you don't need to optimize for size or battery lifetime, so things can be cheaper and more powerful.) Neither of these is going to go away. Even if there are some really powerful laptops out there now, there'll be some even more powerful desktops coming up soon.
That said, there's no reason why laptops can't replace desktops for many kinds of people today. I haven't had a desktop in 3 1/2 years -- nothing new there.
Wow! Pretty impressive. This could be the next ultimate LAN gaming machine, but will I ever really be able to run it on batteries for more than 15 minutes? I know they claim 3+ hours, but.....
What about cooling? I thought my 12in Powerbook got pretty warm on occasion, but this might have to come with a warning.
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If they can fit 64 bit tech (why couldn't they before?) into a laptop, I'd love to see something modular come of this. Get a keyboard that can detach from the thing. A small wireless mouse that hooks on the side. A dock for the screen.
That way we can have our cake and eat it too. I want a laptop that PAINLESSLY becomes my desktop when I take it home, without having to plug a bunch of crap in.
When are they going to get it right? Must we do everything ourselves? I mean seriously...look at some of the innovations that would have never happened without someone in the modding community doing it first.
If I could get funding, I'd even build the thing and send it to a manufacturer if it means I can buy a bunch for my kids in the future when they hit college age.
Damon,
http://actionPlant.com
The feeling of actually placing an Athlon 64 notebook on your lap is probably not too different from placing an upside-down George Foreman grill on your lap.
No kids for you!
while this is a pretty interesting article, the benchmarks are dubious at best. most, if not all of these apps, are 32bit apps. the OS seems to be win2k, which last time i checked is not a 64bit OS. altho i'd have to admit they are comparing the notebooks themselves and not the chips. in any event they both look like monster "laptops".
God is real, unless declared integer.
Anandtech has had a review for a week or so:
part 1
part 2
their conclusion:
"We recommend this beautiful notebook to those looking to tackle the best of desktop gaming, high-end multimedia users, and even those looking for an alternative to the very popular Pentium 4 desktop replacement notebook, like those that are ODM through Clevo (Sager/Eurocom/Hypersonic). At the moment, this is the only notebook on the market to use a processor from the Athlon 64 family, and we are sure there will be more to follow. We are particularly excited to hear about AMD?s upcoming mobile Athlon 64 processor, which should breathe a breath of fresh air that mobile systems have yet to fully appreciate"
later,
"Im drowning here, and you're describing the water!"
Personally, I think these things are like road-biased SUVs - overpriced hybrids that by being adequate for two tasks are not very good at either. Gimme a real desktop machine, a thin-and-light (or, better still, an ultralight), and rsync and you've got a much better solution.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
I have to bitch about the low memory limits on these AMD64-based laptops. All the ones I've seen so far max out at 1GB (actually, many of the desktops also max out in the 1-2GB range, but at least a few are cluefull). This pretty much kills the point of having a 64-bit processor (I guess you still might get a boost with properly tuned integer code).
Word to the wise: 64-bit apps actually take up more memory, if for no other reason than all the pointers are now 64-bit instead of 32-bit. So your 1GB laptop is going to feel a lot more memory constrained than if it were running 32-bit code. The Intel systems have better power management, and they typically will let you go to 2GB, so for most folks they will actually perform significantly better.
Methinks this first generation of laptops is essentially for folks who want the bragging rights of saying they have a 64-bit CPU, without really understanding the implications.
sigs are a waste of space
Pros:
I don't know why people drop serious cash on these things. It's something like $700 for a low-end Dell laptop, which gives you everything you need except serious gaming potential. I'd never make a laptop my main system just because of the reliability factor alone.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
Useless graphs, over-emphasis on gaming, lots of flashy buzzwords and "benchmarks" that involve nothing more other then running the latest games... Did someone screw up the DNS records for extremetech.com and reroute all traffic to tomshardware.com? No? Damned!
Seriously, all of that is fun but laptops are usually sold for two reasons*, one being the size and the fact it's easy to hide then. ( really nice if you don't want a desktop case in the middle of your living room ) The second reason is that they are mobile ( really! ) and thus can be lugged around by business people who seem to value their email more then their own lives. What about important factors to people who want a laptop for those two reasons? What about size, weigth, heat during use, screen brightness, stability, etc etc? 98% of the people who buy a laptop care more about the damned thing being lightweigth instead of being able to cram out 0,2543 fps on Halo. If you're going to buy a laptop for gaming you're a bit dense to start with. You can buy a state-of-the-art laptop and before you left the story it's ancient already. Try upgrading the proc or graphics card of your shiny new laptop to run HL3 or Doom4. Try playing for more then six hours without the system stalling due to overheating. Try to install an extra HD or something.
There, simply put; laptops are nice but aren't made to be used for gaming. Hence why putting a bunch of laptops through a series of benchmarks, aimed at gaming and set up by some people who most likely consider this to be the most arousing thing on the internet, is very useless. At best.
* = Working in computer retail business, ( kill me please ) so I unfortunately know what I'm talking about here.
Hate me!
How much credibility can you give to an article which uses the words "DirectX" and "standard" in the same context?
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Only on the address bus, tardmuffin.
My desktop is almost 2 meters long and 1 meter front to back. It holds a 24.1" LCD and a 17" CRT (G4 is underneath), an iBook along with a set of speakers and subwoofer. You can also find the normal suite of accessories, external harddrives, digital cameras, hubs, coffee mugs, remote controls, shrunken head pencil holders, etc.
I seriously doubt all this stuff can fit on top of a laptop, no matter that it is 64-bit. Besides, I can get a new, larger desk if I need, it for a lot less than the price these things are liable to bring.
You guys are pulling my leg, right? Right? sheesh...
Amen, brother!
Not only is 32-bit sufficient, it is usually FASTER (as on Opteron and MIPS). This is why Apple's claim to have delivered a 64-bit computer, given that you won't see a 64-bit OS that can give more than 4GB to one app is a LIE.
...asbestos pants are the new, hot (no pun intended) fashion for 2004.
I for one welcome our small-but-hyperactive overlords. :p
Only in a Slashdot fantasy can a Slackware install turn into several hours of sex . . . . .
I've been drooling over Hypersonic's Laptops for quite a long time now, and I find it very hard to believe that either of these companies have the first Athlon 64 laptop (which Hypersonic has had basically since the Athlon Mobile 64 was announced) or the first RAID array in a laptop, which Hypersonic has had for a long time in their Aviator GX8 series.
Way too many "journalists" see something like that and go "whoa, that must be the first time that's ever been done." without ever looking into it.
Random and weird software I've written.
With the docking station, you leave the keyboard, mouse, monitor and printer as well as other peripherals plugged in all the time.
These have been around for something like ten years.
Do you want to lament how some other 'cool' technology you have thought of still doesn't exist?
Ooooh! I have one... You know it really sucks when you get a flat tire on your car. If there was some easy way to lift your car off the ground and hold it there, it would be really easy to change the tire... What could we call these things? I better patent that idea before someone takes it...
When Apple comes out with the G5 powerbook he'll just say it's the first 64-bit laptop. Nobody will know the difference.
My amazing wife - Artist, Author, Philosopher - Laurie M
I find even powerful laptops a poor second to my desktop. One thing is 3d agmes. The laptop I have does ok, but still nowhere near what my desktop can do. Of course, there are now better laptops that are as good or better than my desktop, but likewise there are better desktop cards. However the biggest thing is audio work. I finally have audio interfaces that will work with a laptop (firewire and usb), however the drives are still damn slow. So that means it's either a lot of wating, or bringing an external drive. Oh, and you can never have too much CPU for that sort of thing.
Now to try and use a P2 433? Thanks but no thanks. It'd be faster to save the data, walk it to a real comupter, render it, and walk it back than wait on a complex rendering on that. And forget about games.
Look, I appreciate that there are people out there who do very little with their computers resource wise. That's great, I'm happy for you. However this silliness of "Well X old box is great and all you need" every time a story comes out on new hardware ought to stop. There are plenty of people who DO use lots of power for work or pleasure and so it is relivant to them.
The point of a "desktop replacement" laptop means one that is powerful enough in every respect to compete with today's high end desktops. For those that want lots of power, this is of intrest.
Its a slow ass laptop replacement
"...which are powerful enough to become a desktop replacement..."
Can i be the first to say: what a fucking boner! My work IBM T-30 (2.0 GHz) is more powerful than my desktop, which is a 900 MHz P3 that I used for the past three years.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
That is very untrue. That (larger address space) is only one limitation of the 32-bit processors that you can ignore when using a 64-bit processor. The ability to natively do calculations with numbers larger than 4294967295 is a good plus for many types of applications. The lack of memory is certainly not a reason why the 64-bit processor would not be "worthwhile."
440MHz 64bit for $3K?
What might you need this slow ass laptop for that would require the extra address space?
I have an old Nvidia Riva video card (128 bit) that I'll sell to you for the low low price of only $1000
In case you haven't noticed companies are working very hard to put out high end components for laptops. Seems to me they'd not be doing this if they did not see a market.
Let's see: Dell is currently willing to sell me a laptop that has a P4 3.2ghz processor (faster than my desktop by 2x), 2GB of ram (2x more than my desktop), a 1600x1200 monitor (higher rez than my deskop), a GeForce FX Go5200 64MB (less ram but more features than my desktop), a 60GB 7200rpm harddrive (less space but equal speed to my desktop), and all sorts of extras like a DVD burner and such.
So tell me how this system isn't designed for games, given that it is more powerful in most ways than my desktop, which is no slouch? It's not stopping either. nVidia already has a faster, more powerful mobile FX card, and ATi has a lineup to match.
Ya, a lot of people care about light weight laptops. Hence why Dell et al sell small laptops. They are happy to sell you one with a small screen, low power P4-M chip and few included periphals. However there clearly are those that want large, capable desktop replacements, and so they sell those too.
Take these power laptops from all the makers and run them on batteries.. see how fast they can complete their tasks and if how fast they run out of juice. Imagine a Photoshop contest with the Athlon laptop, some other 64-bit laptops, and the fastest 32-bit G4 Powerbook.. UNPLUGGED. Turn off all power-saving features and see which ones actually get work done without dying.
That's the true test of a mobile desktop replacement.
Those who laugh at you for you having a Mac.. are the people who constantly call you to fix their PC.
The advantage of a desktop computer is the ability to open it up and futz with the innards. Want to call your laptop a desktop replacement? Give it an AGP slot so I can upgrade the video card.
So what if it'll be bulky and power hungry as hell? I want that high speed 3D rendering goodness to last and last.
At the very least, a desktop replacement laptop needs to synthesize the roar of 8 miniature fans turning. Without that sound, it just seems like an aspect of desktop-ness is missing.
I've got two Dell Inspiron 8200 here on my desk, and I can't seem to find any desktop computer here. *wonders*
:p
Both comes with 64mb Ati Radeon 9000 graphic chip, 768mb memory and 60gb harddrive.
They are both 14-15 months old and I still don't see any need to replace them. They are kickass computers for whatever need you could have, except for the extreme ones
Want to play games? 99fps in CS, or runs Silent Storm pretty good (even desktop computers have trouble with that game)
The screen resoultion is best at either 1280x1024 or 1600x1200.
I'll never-ever get another desktop computer.
Calgary, AB Canada!
That's right... they're Canadian!
I've been into there store... 1 word.. WOW!
If I had the cash, they would be the first place to go!
They customize all their components, and the clean up the clutter that normally indures any geeks computer system! Round IDE Cables, Custom Cases, IDE-Cable folding, Lights, Mods.
It's great to see a Canadian company do well for themselves!
Keep up the good work Voodoo!
Umm, it's called an ODM/OEM. Hypersonic gets these from a manufacturer, just like VoodooPc and everyone else selling this Athlon64 notebook - it's the same friggin model with the same specs, just slightly different colour choices & definitely different prices depending on who sells it to you. I've seen them as low as $2500.
Same deal for most no-name [and even many brand name ] laptops. I cringe every time people buy an Alienware laptop when they could buy the same Clevo ODM model elsewhere for a LOT less.
I switched over to only using laptops when my tendonitis became unbearable ... as a result I was able to throw away my wrist brace for the first time in 5 years .... for me at least there's no going back.
I buy the biggest, fastest laptop around, beautifull 1600x1200 screen, runs linux like a charm - sure I could get something that's 20% faster ... but what would keep my lap warm at night ....
Only one of these laptops is 64 bit.
The Pentium 4 one is clearly not.
Okay... let's see if this works better...
People who are saying there is no market for these things are people that take their extra space for granted. I live in a very small one bedroom apartment. I have no room to have multiple desktop machines. However, being a computer geek, having more than one computer is an absolute necessity. Given the choice between having 1 desktop or 4-5 laptops in the same amount of space, I'll take the 4-5 laptops.
A laptop like this is ideal for me - I can finally have a relatively high powered machine and actually play some of the newer games out there instead of having to find the games that are 3 years old because that's the most my laptops can handle...
"I predict that within 100 years, laptops will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them."
Seriously.
1: They didn't do ANY 64bit tests 2: The A64 was running on winxp pro not winxp 64. This would have been a much better comparison. 3: The memory bandwidth description is WRONG. the via k8t800 chipset actually has support for 2 hypertransport busses from the DDR to chip, because the chipset was designed for the opteron not the a64. Meaning that it's chip dependant how much memory pipeline there is.(I wonder if the laptop would handle a64fx chip which would mean an 800MHZ pipeline, the chipset does) This is glossed over (the nforce3 150 on the other hand has only one, because it's designed for the a64).
AEnertia
Witty, tag line goes here
Oh yeah, that's what every guy wants. A laptop that only has enough battery power for 60 minutes (power consumption) and second-degree burns on his member.
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
Now that's worthy of a few canning. FFS it's the gayest thing I ever heard. lol
Man, I know about this practice, and I know a lot of people swear by buying ODM models. But the fallacy about "all they do is repaint it!" really needs to stop.
As far as I can see, the Clevo top-end notebook, the D800P (correct me if I'm wrong) does indeed bear striking similarities to a few of the Hypersonic PCs. It also lacks several features that they have, including a 1600x1200 TFT (also known as UXGA, if you're a complete tool and prefer marketing jargon) and 802.11g, and a great dead pixel policy.
Yes, the motherboard and most of it's assorted equipment are standard, but they do make changes, improvements, even things as small but tremendously important as putting down a new keyboard layout. Saying that it's just the same thing with a new paint job really isn't true at all.
Random and weird software I've written.
I'm typing this on a Sharp Actius RD10 laptop...running Knoppix Linux off the hard drive (and still able to dual boot its original install of WinXP Home if necessary). Available at well under half the price of the two systems mentioned (if you're a savvy shopper), it does all that they do and more...but it does weighs 10 lbs. If you want all the bells and whistles in a desktop replacement machine, you have to sacrifice something....in this case, weight.)
I better hurry up and get this before its too late.
maybe you mean
a stereo is a stereo is a stereo
#include
Even with a 64-bit powerful CPU, it won't hit the multimedia/gaming market as hard as a desktop PC due to the lack of a comparable GPU (video processor). I have seen some laptops that game decently, but neck-on-neck with similar desktop systems the laptops always seem to fall a bit behind... particularly when you can't upgrade the video hardware easily. Why can't laptops come with a more easily replaced video board (easy like RAM), or perhaps a slot for something akin to the old accelerator cards and keep basic functionality onboard.
I've seen some which do nicely by simply getting rid of the battery. I think some are here.For those that really need it, you can buy an optional external battery, but for those just looking for a portable PC+monitor option, these do very nicely.
No battery means less weight, room for a fullsize processor and/or hard-drive, as well as other components.
How often would you run it on batteries? My laptop lasts a little over an 1.5hr, but I've never really had to run off batteries at all except when relocating while running, or once when I was waiting for a kernel compile to finish.
Mostly, these things just end up being a "portable desktop." You might use them in the car, in which case there are car-kits, but generally most other places you can find power to jack into.
the Voodoo Envy m:855. translated in my l33t-speaking brain into "Voodoo envy my aSS". And I wondered what it had to do with the 64bit laptop.
I only have one computer in my life. For years, it was a desktop machine. 2 1/2 years ago I got a 15" TiBook.
It replaced my desktop. Not that it can do more faster, but it can do all that I want, and the ability to work wherever I want (like in bed right now, with my sleeping cutie snuggled up beside me) outweighs performance power I rarely need.
When I have a really heavy video project, I go to a friend's place for a night (this is a few times a year). The rest of the time, I'm much more than fine with what I have.
I can't think of a need for a desktop and doubt I will for some time to come.
15 years ago I was saying exactly the same about the Compaq SLT/286, which was a 12MHz 286 (16-bit) with 1 megabyte of RAM, a 20MB hard disk, a 3.5" floppy drive and a 16 grey scales 640x480 LCD. Why would anyone want one of those fancy 386 thingies in a laptop forgoodnesssakes.
Stick Men
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
Bah, I think the ability to cook your breakfast while you update your morning reports has its advantages.
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
Tadpole (www.tadpole.com) has been making laptops with 64-bit Sun UltraSPARC processors in them for quite a while now. So what's new about a 64-bit notebook?
OK, all right, OK, now I'm hungry for a dual 2GHz G5 PowerBook and I won't wait any longer. I want it NOW... ;P
ATI's Mobility Radeon 9600 3D graphics
;P
OK, now there's no question what I want from Father Christmas.
Sure takes the edge of 64-bitness when big memory addressablilty is stifled by a platform that only takes a MAX of 1Gb of RAM.
No, Virginia, 64-bit systems aren't faster unless they can use big memory (more than 4GB).
I changed my mind - I do NOT want a 64-bit Voodoo for Xmas.
The Voodoo comes with XP pre-installed. Who would ever want that?
I think I'll take one of those short-lived iPods instead.
That all depends on what laptop you buy.
The Tecra 9100 that I use full-time has a close to full-size keyboard (around 99% of the IBM desktop keyboard on my desk). Make the machine a bit of a beast that barely fits in my laptop bag as a result at 12.25" W x 10.25" D.
Touch-typing is pretty easy on the larger laptops. Plus with the little nubby mouse in the middle of the keyboard, I rarely take my hands off the home row. (I do have an external USB mouse, but find it rare that I need to resort to it.)
Heck, having the little nubby pointer available at your fingertips makes using a regular keyboard/mouse almost a throwback. Especially in a GUI environment where the developers failed to provide consistent keyboard navigation and you have to reach for the mouse to get something done. One of the reasons I miss the OS/2 v2/v3 user-interface where they spent a good amount of time making sure everything was "keyboardable".
Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
Is that is has all the disadvantages of a lap-top, and none of the advantages of a proper desktop system to begin with.
1. I do not like to type looking down to the screen, but rather looking horizontally at the screen.
2. The keyboards are still small and iffy, this is my main issue with them. I do sometimes liek to punish my keyboard (When angry) safe in the realisation that replacing it is really not a big deal. I also like having a numeric keypad separate from the rest of the other keys. I do use my right hand for that a lot.
3. I like to open my desktop if anything goes wrong or if I need to replace something rather than having to pay someone to do it for me, something I would have to probably do with a laptop.
4. I cannot trust playing games on a laptop, probably to do with the keybaord thing again.
5. Many laptop components are very limited, slow hard drives, slower graphics and so on, which is what makes for a really good desktop.
You could probably add more and more. But this is the reason why lap-tops do not make good desktop replacements, even if they are as fast or faster. I think work is definitely slower on lap-tops, but maybe I am used to them. If I get a lap-top I will probably look for somethign otehr than spped in it, which is probably the reason Apple lap-tops are popular, they put in a lot of value adding stuff. Speed is not of much value in a lap-top.
I ordered a Voodoo M:855 over a month ago. They were *supposedly* in mass production. My credit card bill for Oct came in with $3500 of bad Voodoo Mojo on it 4 weeks ago, but still no computer. When I ordered they said I would get it at the beginning of November(that was mid October), and December is only a few days away. Just wanted to warn you guys. If you want one, be prepared to wait, and wait, and wait.... If you order one now, I believe they said you will not get it before Christmas. Sure, the specs look good, but all of the competition will have the same for cheaper by the time this thing actually comes out.
Unless you have a desknote with a desktop hard drive lappies also have much slower and smaller hd's.
Hmmm... Pie...
For those who dont like the pricetag of the Panther - check out the 8890 at PCTorque.com (yes this is a shameless plug for a company that deserves it more than many I know). The machine is the same but the pricetag is a lot less. Also check out the 5680 (my personal machine) Its a smaller box with a UXGA screen. For those of you who are game freaks I play halo at 1600x1200 with full settings and have no lag. The 128MB 9600P overclocks nicely and is plently fast enough - add to the the fact its a dx9 card and you have a machine that will carry you to and past DOOMIII and HL2 (If they ever get released)
I was not saying it was the most powerful gaming card. I know that, nvidia has power powerful ones, so does ATi. If you look at my post, I note that. It just happens to be the ones that Dell is shipping, so it is what I noted.
Also, you ought to comprehend that this post is speaking in a hypothetical. I HAVE a laptop, thanks, this is talking about what I could get today, as a rebuttal that they can't replace desktops.
So quit with the "ATI si teh rox!!!" stuff. I know, I have a 9800 Pro in my workstation I'm typing on right now, and my next card at home is going to be an ATi, barring any major changes. Quit jumping on people just because they mention nVidia or fail to laud ATi in a post when that isn't even the topic.
There was such a thing - the Ergo Brick, IIRC. A brick sized cpu/cdrom (pre dvd days), hence the name, which you were supposed to carry around, leaving a KB, mouse and screen wherever you wanted to use it. Great idea, as long as you know where you use your laptop, or your host can provide the requisites. Nowadays, I've been thinking about one of those nice boxes you can get with the handle - I don't often use my pc as a true laptop - like most people it runs off mains power 99% of the time, and most places I go have KB. mouse & screens I can use.
but they are MACs, which means they suck, duh
Don't you mean "laptop" -- singular?
- I am made of meat.
The machine you see in the movie is a prop. The LCD screen is showing the output from an off-screen SGI desktop. As SGI built portable LCD displays at the time, this was a simple humbug for the physical effects people to pull off. A company (rsi-cri.com) once made some ruggedized SGI 'laptops', but they were a whole 'nother animal. They still make some awesome ruggedized SGI rack-mounts, though.
And now, a plug for Jodeman's SGI & Stuff site(s)
http://www.bbsolutions.com/jodeman/
- I am made of meat.