" Increasing compatbility of laptop parts... good bad ?

[madmax]

Stumbled on article about Intel initiative to make laptop
parts more interchangable in future... overall I think it
would be good as long as individual company builds were
good... don't know where propietary parts will
fit... I guess we have to wait and see if idea catches.

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/0 ... ty_inside/

Max

[tfflivemb2]

Thanks, I have been looking for an aritcle on this. I read something back in September, and was all excited about the potential of building my own new laptops from scratch and selling them, then I couldn't find any more articles on it.

This is a long time coming, though I forsee some of the same issues that they mentioned in this article, but still, it is a huge step forward.

[DIGITALgimpus]

That could take years.

IMHO not likely. I don't see vendors like IBM and friends willing to convert to that model. The proprietary laptop parts are big business. Don't kid yourself.

[tfflivemb2]

I don't see the major companies helping out the independant barebones any time in the near future. HOWEVER, I do see companies popping up creating unified parts for barebone laptops.

Eventually, makers like IBM, HP, Sony, etc. might cave and begin creating like parts, as Compaq did way back when with their proprietary parts.

The need is there, pure and simple.

[madmax]

My opinon is it will be a long time comming also...
The parts they mention other than display and keyboard
seem more likely. Hard drives are mostly compatible (barring
SATA and PATA differences) Adapters could be if there was
some standardization ( but that depends on MB specs)

The appeal of laptops... size and individualization by
manufactuers will make standardizing displays and keyboards
difficult. Anyone trying to replace a display without
correct bezel housing and cables is doomed. Connectors on
keyboards are the same.

Laptops appear to be the largest growing sector of PC
hardware for consumers which may push standardization
but style and function decide for most people. There
may be an Emachine standardized laptop but I think it
will be a few years yet down the road

madmax

[amgdoc]

well, according to what i learned in economics, if the need is there and someone happens to build a company to fulfill that need, eventually other players (like the big boys ibm, dell, etc) will enter the market as well just to take some of that pie.

They may have a proprietary governance going on now, but that is a bunch of BS when it starts to compromise the bottom-line.