Lattepanda Janktop??

[StripeySnake]

I've been toying with the idea of designing a much smaller Janktop type machine with a battery, good battery life, and decent performance, but with some very cool and nice features that will come in handy during hardware development. I recently learned about the Lattepanda alpha single board computer, which has a decently fast efficient quad core CPU, 8gb ram, 64gb emmc, and two m.2 slots. The really cool thing about it though, other than the small size is it's built in Arduino and serial i/o pins. The reason I'm so draw to this is for one thing, it's actually possible to connect a laptop keyboard through that serial i/o and get it to input, meaning this Janktop could have the same massive keyboard compatibility as the 4.0. On top of that though, and Arduino can be used to program eeprom chips, so I could integrate a slot for a chip or test clip directly into the laptop. That's not all though, as the second m.2 slot is type b and can be adapted to pcie 16x. The idea would be to also have a pcie 16x slot somewhere on the laptop, that can be used to test and utilize desktop graphics cards externally. The egpu would be powered by a pico psu, and you would have to plug a big old 330w or so power brick into an auxiliary input jack in order to use it. That said, the rest of the machine would work fine without the second charger, it would just be needed for the EGPU. Ultimately, the goal with this concept is not to create something that's all that powerful, but rather a lightweight developer laptop with good battery life, decent modularity, and some really niche useful features for hardware developers such as myself. Additionally, you could use whatever keyboard you want, which is a big plus nowadays considering the god awful chicklet keyboards on most thin and light machines. Target size would be 14 inches, with extended rear and an inch or less thick.

 

What do ya'll think of this idea? I know it's not as modular as the 4, and while I would like it to, certain sacrifices do need to be made for size and effeciency. It's not meant to be an improvement either, just kind of the other half of the project, a portable, efficient machine with decent modularity and niche developer features to go hand in hand with the giant clunky op beast. The 4 can always be remote accessed as well, and that's actually what I'm doing with mine right now in college most of the time.

[Reciever]

I would definitely be on board for journey :) 

[StripeySnake]

I've done a lot more thinking about the concept, and i won't forget it, but it's getting shelved for now. I may redesign it around a framework laptop motherboard as well, as the lattepanda is quite weak. That said, I'm picking up the Janktop 4 once again, and I expect the 4.5 design to be finished around Christmas, which will include a fully custom display assembly and support for modern 17.3 inch displays. I'm also going to be getting my hands on my own 3d printer, so not only will the updated design finally be making it's way into a real machine, but I may be able to sell chassis kits on commission much sooner than expected, if there is demand.