Solar powered netbooks tip up

Put a hinge at the top of the screen and flip the solar collectors up during use. DUH !

if this actually works this will be amazing. i hope one of these gets reviewed and it doesn't just fall by the wayside

Are the displays bright enough to read in sunlight? :)

Their site says that it will go beyond the four hours of battery life by utilizing the solar panel. I am not sure that is sufficient for the specifications of the machine.

Change the hinge to a 720 degree backside double flip with a toe grab and you can shade the screen and keyboard.

When the crotchtop is open and in use, the solar panel will not be facing the sun.

If you aren't using your crotchtop, are you really going to leave it where it can be recharged?
*In a sunny window or on your car's dash - not a good place to leave a computer.
*On a picinic table - not a good place to leave a computer.

Oh, and why biodegradable housing? Why not plan to reuse the housing with the next gen, ofer a trade-in program. Letting the case deteriorate and leaving the metals to float around in the landfill is hardly a good solution.

It will warp and burn the color of the plastic. Soon the white and red netbooks will be more like yellow and orange.
No to mention the temperature stress on the components and even the battery.
An accessory with the solar cells and a cable to the computer would be much more convenient.

So, What was the energy cost of manufacturing the solar panel versus the amount of energy its supposed to extract from sunlight in an average PC lifetime?

looks chinese

http://laptop.org/en/

Consider people who might live and/or work in remote locations without easy access to power.

The idea that you could just leave them in the sun for a day and charge them up is a great idea.

Were thinking of building some panels and the cells we were looking at produce 3.5 watts average. 90 cells on average produce 150 watts at 9 amps output. The cells cost $1.00 us and are 3"x6". Would you get about 4 cells on that netbook?

I think it's a good start. Over time all mobile/portable electronics will be powered that way. It just makes sense..

A stand alone solar panel would be have higher output and be more flexible. It could be aimed directly at the sun while you sit in the shade. It could also be used to power a cell phone if needed. You could use a mirror to easily double or triple the watts on a stand alone without blinding yourself or cooking your LCD.

That said, with thin film solar like Nanosolar selling for $1/watt and supposedly costing $0.30/watt to make we approach the time when it will be feasible to cover any surface exposed to light with it.

Also, the laptop should try to cut a deal on an epaper display. They use dramatically less power than LCDs.

1.If it's left out in broad daylight in a first world country, it'll be stolen.

2.If you use it in broad daylight, good luck seeing the screen.

3.In a third world country, the case will rot the first time it sprinkles. The material it's made of, IIRC, rots when it gets wet. It's not durable enough for third world countries.

4.LCD screens don't do well when heated to a high temperature.

5.Linux is hard to actually be productive with beyond piddling around with openoffice or very specific tasks that the programmers have specifically taught.

If this is a third world netbook, it's going to be very limited in use for the people in those countries. They don't have time to mess around with a command line.

6.This sounds like something some California blond will carry in her purse alongside her dog and her $120-a-stick lipstick. (Pardon the gross stereotyping, I meant Hollywood blond.)