I have seen the future of computing (ok maybe)...

[cheetahdriver]

Much as I have anticipated the W540 (can I pleeze PLEEZE have my keyboard back?), I have suffered an epiphany. Thinkpads are SOOOO last week...

Spent Sunday running my U2711 (27" monitor) off my Microsoft Surface with a Toshiba dynadock connected via USB3. That allowed me to use my same keyboard, mouse, and everything else with the Surface. Used duplicate, so I could use the Surface touchscreen and get the results on the big screen.

It's not perfect, Win8 doesn't handle different resolution monitors well at all (supposedly fixed in 8.1), there are a couple of issues with multi window (also supposed to be fixed in 8.1). The Surface is low on disk space, even with the 128Gb memory card added. The mini-displayport is pretty much non-functional. But I had no problems with web work and some light accounting. Two things here, 1) I replaced my desktop unit with a portable unit the size of my former iPad, 2) The new Haswell units should be out soon with better processors, longer battery life and bigger disks.

Short term, I see a point in the very near future where my portable simply disappears, and I take a keyboard, a hub and a mouse with me on travel (which I do a lot). TV in hotel room becomes second screen (which I do now with the portable), and my whole computing experience takes place on the Surface (or whatever). At home I use the same 3 screen setup I currently use with the W520. I see that this year.

Longer term, push that same experience down to the phone. You carry a dock (extra processing capacity, storage?) a keyboard and a mouse (sorry, I think HAL may be for the next generation), and perhaps a clamshelled set of 17" monitors (or a 48" rollup?). Call that 2 years down the road. I figure most of that will be wireless, so you can forget the tangles.

Beyond that, my crystal ball gets fuzzy... But the Surface running everything I did, including watching a movie on a big screen TV was so yesterday...

[QWERTY Andreas]

Hi

I might think of something like this; http://i.gzn.jp/img/2011/05/16/windows7 ... C_6486.jpg

It exist, and i have such a phone. However the "Symbian side" of the phone is rather crappy.

I-Mate have announced a phone, similar to the one mentioned before; http://wmpoweruser.com/wp-content/uploa ... tation.jpg

But it is with Windows 8 only, and there have been no news for it for a long time.

Those will both be rather great phones, if they can be paired with a keyboard dock like the "ASUS padphone": http://1.androidauthority.com/wp-conten ... adfone.jpg . It is much like the "Motorola Atrix", which i think is a better solution;http://chromespot.com/wp-content/upload ... pdock.jpeg . A similar product, that is not yet on the market, is the Clambook, but it never came to the market: http://clamcase.com/clambook-android-an ... -dock.html

So TBH, i think that you are right that we may move ahead and end up with our phones only.

[twistero]

The Ubuntu Edge probably fits your description: desktop experience when docked, phone when not.

http://liliputing.com/2013/07/ubuntu-ed ... do-it.html

[pianowizard]

cheetahdriver, back in 2005, OQO's Model 01+ (a 0.9-lb ultra portable PC) could already do what you described.

The Ubuntu Edge probably fits your description: desktop experience when docked, phone when not.

A while ago, a forum member mentioned a not-so-recent (probably 3-year-old) smartphone that ran standard Windows 7. Battery duration was abysmal, and it was super expensive, but I would love to have something like that if it were compatible with one of the U.S. carriers.