Hello, I just saw the LTT video and feel ashamed that I didn’t hear of this company sooner. After watching the video I had so many questions and ideas floating around my head that I need to at least get some off my chest.
First off, in the video Linus said that the laptop only had usb 3.2, which for me, was a drawback but then when I checked the product page it had usb4 on the type c ports! This has me a little confused, why isn’t the storage module thunderbolt/usb4 compatible (is it due to no space for a tb controller inside the module? If so is it possible to have this inside the laptop and and extra input/pin on the module to single to the laptop when to use the Tb controller). Also how does the pcie lanes get divided to the ports since you could have 4 usb4 ports plugged in or only one. Are they always split so each port has pcie x2 (or even x1) all the time or is there a controller to communicate between the laptop and modules?
I like the io modularity but I feel it could be more expandable if the modules were against each other instead of having a divider between them. This way modules that need more space can fit and even use both ports at the same time (there’s a common usb hub design for macs that uses both usb ports on the side). This would also give extra room to fit larger controllers to actually be able to control multiple ports. It could also allow space to use a medium module like a dvi port and have a tiny module with usb c or something so you are still utilising both ports. This would add the ability for developers to work with 4 different sizes (or more even) for whatever needs they could think of.
A bonus of having the ports next to each other could also mean larger ssd’s could potentially fit too. To fit standard nvme size it might need more room than just the two modules space in there current size so making them a little wider for standard ssd compatibility or adding a third module slot (or tucked away hole in the chassis specifically for the added length).
Lastly, having the ability to have ports in numerous different locations around the chassis would be great for customisability. Obviously not all of them would work at the same time but letting the user know this and having a controller that can disable the ports with a false module in it would mean that you could for example, have 4 modules all on the left or even the back so that you can use all 4 ports without getting in the way of your external mouse.
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk and sorry for the long post, looking forward to the discussions!
P.S. It’s 6am and I haven’t slept so I apologise if I’m not making any sense…