[undeaf]

As I've been saying before, the wii is very odd in how little power it will use(at least the parts we know of), and in how small it would be.

Now while being such a low heat/power device is not really useful for a normal system, only allowing for questionable levels of miniaturization, it's excellent for laptops, allowing longer battery life and higher portability and low noise. With a cpu that uses maybe something like 9 watts, and without requiring a hard drive to play games, a portable wii could have better battery life than almost any laptop.

Not only would it be a great portable console, but its specs would make it a pretty good laptop also(taking good battery life into account). To make it full featured, all that would be neccessary to add would be a hard drive and a bit of extra ram, and it would be capable of running even a bloated version of linux acceptably. Windows of course can't run on power architecture, but the biggest problem with that, ie. games, would not be much of an issue, and the difficulties of setting linux up would be very greatly diminished if it came with it preinstalled.

If the price was $585 ($250 for the wii, $30 for the keyboard and such, $140 for the screen, $90 for the battery, $50 for a 40 gig hard drive and $25 for 256 megs of extra ram) it would still be cheaper than a PS3.

If nintendo doesn't make one, then I'm sure modders will make a considerable number, and some companies will probably make an external battery pack for it and a monitor, but that of course won't be nearly as awesome as a wii laptop made by nintendo.

[insane_cobra]

You crack me up, little buddy.

[undeaf]

Well, hardly anyone here resents the wii as much as you.

[tabacco]

Stop

[bysmitty]

I think undeaf has some pretty good points. It would be pretty feasible. Everything is already scaled down in size and the components eat up very little power, just pop a flat panel screen on and add a battery. The only big question is the controller. Most of the games look like they are supposed to be played standing so far so I'm not too sure how they would incorporate the motion requirements into a laptop design. I don't know how marketable it would be but it sure sounds possible. Interesting theory.

...bysmitty

[undeaf]

Originally Posted by bysmitty

The only big question is the controller. Most of the games look like they are supposed to be played standing so far so I'm not too sure how they would incorporate the motion requirements into a laptop design.

One option would be to just use the controlls the normal way, and to integrate some basic controls into the base. That would mean that it couldn't be used someplace like on a bus or at one of those shielded library desks for certain games. Another would be to also put in a minijoystick and trackball or trackpad into it, that should make a lot of games compatible in any position.

[custard]

Get the guy who did this to make 'em

http://www.benheck.com/Games/Xbox360/x360_page_1.htm

[Spiwak]

That's ridiculous! I wonder how much it cost the guy.

[bysmitty]

Bah, it is not about cost. People do stuff like this for the same reason people climb mountains or run marathons. It is about personal challenge, not practical reasons.

...bysmitty

[stuboy]

I've been thinking for a while that Ninty should stop pi***ng around making their home systems smaller and smaller and just make a portable with TV output and controller ports. I mean, the PS3 already had good-enough for home quality a couple of years ago and now there are portable gamecube rumours - you can bet your bottom dollar they're cooking one up somewhere. They've always dominated the hand-held market, so if they could use it as a trojan horse they'd be on to a win.

[SCRUGAtes13]

this thread is awesome. i think a wii laptop would be amazing, but then again that 360 laptop is out of the box, i've spent about an hour reading everything, soooo much fun to be had here.

[Giligan]

A Wiitop, eh? Interesting idea.

Get the guy who did this to make 'em

http://www.benheck.com/Games/Xbox360/x360_page_1.htm

Wow, that's the coolest piece of homemade electronics I've ever seen. Wish I could do things like that.

[undeaf]

Originally Posted by bysmitty

Bah, it is not about cost. People do stuff like this for the same reason people climb mountains or run marathons. It is about personal challenge, not practical reasons.

...bysmitty

Wait a minute, are you saying they won't make wii laptops because it wouldn't be hard enough?

[bysmitty]

Sorry undeaf, I wasn't clear. I made that post in reply to Spiwak's comment about the ridiculousness and cost of the 360 laptop.

...bysmitty

[Starflux]

Originally Posted by stuboy

I've been thinking for a while that Ninty should stop pi***ng around making their home systems smaller and smaller and just make a portable with TV output and controller ports. I mean, the PS3 already had good-enough for home quality a couple of years ago and now there are portable gamecube rumours - you can bet your bottom dollar they're cooking one up somewhere. They've always dominated the hand-held market, so if they could use it as a trojan horse they'd be on to a win.

You're going to have to elaborarte on that, Stuboy. Wasn't the Gamecube already quite portable (it had a handle for carrying at around, even)? Or do you mean make an actual handheld with the specs of the Gamecube, much like an upgrade to the DS? With output to the television and a small screen?

Seems like a hybrid not whole lot of people would buy into. The handheld crowd might, but not the console peeps.