02-24-2021, 08:51 PM
I don't think you should rule out active cooling anyway, it would be really quite good to have active cooling whilst doing sustained heavy workload. The PineTab even with it's potato A64 can get noticeably hot to the touch where the CPU is if you push it hard for a while. It could even be thermal throttling in this state...
Active cooling could just be some large fan running really slowly (likely mostly off). This way you can also then get away with not needing any metal chassis at all, further reducing costs.
> When you put the SOC behind the screen, will you keep the connectors in the keyboard part?
As I said before, I think you would opt for a slower, more robust connection to the lower keyboard. Maybe low-speed mode USB2 (on a hub) for the lower keyboard, with USB3 and HDMI connectors from the display part. If anything it becomes more reliable and easier as you don't need to have high speed cables (such as display) going through the hinge.
Having the keyboard separate to the main-board could also bring in some nice options, like having a tablet mode (merging the laptop and tablet products) and being able to do per-customer upgrades. I for example would be happier with a chunkier machine if the keyboard was mechanical (using micro-switches). I would love to see what keyboard-parts the community could build.
Active cooling could just be some large fan running really slowly (likely mostly off). This way you can also then get away with not needing any metal chassis at all, further reducing costs.
> When you put the SOC behind the screen, will you keep the connectors in the keyboard part?
As I said before, I think you would opt for a slower, more robust connection to the lower keyboard. Maybe low-speed mode USB2 (on a hub) for the lower keyboard, with USB3 and HDMI connectors from the display part. If anything it becomes more reliable and easier as you don't need to have high speed cables (such as display) going through the hinge.
Having the keyboard separate to the main-board could also bring in some nice options, like having a tablet mode (merging the laptop and tablet products) and being able to do per-customer upgrades. I for example would be happier with a chunkier machine if the keyboard was mechanical (using micro-switches). I would love to see what keyboard-parts the community could build.