VoteHelp shape the future of the PC. Check out other peoples ideas and vote on the ones you like bestYou Dream it. ASUS Builds It. Intel Inside It.

It is a good ideea but the companies whant to sell more not to upgrade your laptop , to do that u need to change the way they think because they think not how not to take your money

Ive solved the Future Proofing problem: http://www.wepc.com/vote/view/idea/6564/ASUS_Insight

This is kind of against what a laptop is supposed to be, most efficient package the technology allows. But:
- A single manufacturer can make a spec years in advance. If you want to spend more in the beginning maybe you can forestall buying a completely new pc later on (if it is otherwise modular).
- The more network-centric uses mean that maybe you can focus on upgrading a home server and the laptop can stay mostly the way it is.
- I would like to suggest two small hot swappable harddisks. You could easily back up and put one in a safe, you could put in bigger ones when they are developed and automatically copy old one onto it (via raid autoreplication or whatever). In other words, reward the consumer who wants to pay a bit more now so he has more power than he can use (or even the tech can deliver now) as long as he is virtually guaranteed an upgrade path in the future (please keep it open not just one manufacturer, if you can help it, but maybe this is not required.)
- Some things you will want to be able to do but can't now are clearly what is posted on this site. Like being aware of display and audio devices on the network, etc. So put a real good antenna into it that can also be modularly swapped maybe as these standards advance. Modularity adding 30% to price may be okay.
- The easiest things to make modular are the input/output devices. Like the screen, the keyboard, the touchpad / palm rest, back panel sockets, hard disks, etc. For one thing I would like to get an OLED screen. How do I do that now? How about an E-ink screen in 5 years when nice low power color models are out? Current laptops should have power consumption controls sufficient to become greener if you plug in greener modules than what you already have.

an idea worth pursuing if firms like ASUS and Intel seek to consider the impact of their products on the environment

Yeah, what you want is a Sandbender. As seen in Idoru. http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=80

Definately, I still have my "Top-of-the-line" toshiba with 1/2 gig of ram

http://www.wepc.com/vote/view/dream/5633/ChameleonPC

The concept is noble. Yes guys you can never in all honesty fully make a PC future proof. But you can make it last longer than it should. Any classic design will illustrate this. While everyone is trying to go hybrd for fuel economy, we are still taken aback by something like a Lamborghini Countach or a Lotus Esprit, or a Porsche 911 Turbo. "Sleek, classic and timeless" these are the words we use to describe products designed to be ahead of their time. It's no different in electronics. Just make something that will entice 3rd party and open source support. I beg to disagree, the laptop can become "future-resilient" if not future-proof... just think out of the box and don't confine yourselves to that small form factor that doesn't make room for upgrades, expansions or accessories.

Unfortunately, nothing is future proof. The car you drive now is not future proof. The clothes you wear now may not be future proof (even though you do hope they are). Laptop is definitely not future proof.

First of all, an upgrade in the laptop means an upgrade on the hardware. While hardwares do get cheaper while have better performance over time, they're still costly to manufacture. So that simply rules out free upgrade.

With each improvement in technology also means an overhaul on the standard. AGP slot, for instance, was a standard 5 years ago. Now its almost impossible to find a board sporting an AGP slot. Therefore in order to upgrade a laptop, one needs to overhaul the entire interior hardwares, including boards, CPU, memory, chipsets....etc. Therefore that also rules out "cheap" upgrades.

To be honest, laptops are much more affordable compared to several years ago. You can get a everyday laptop for as low as $300USD, courtesy of ASUS's EEE-PC. If not satisfied, you can still pay about $200~250USD more for a full-blooded notebook. A $500 investment for two years is not exactly "expensive".

good idea!