Vendor touts notebook as desktop server replacement
Marvel at its quad-core processor! Gasp at its one-hour battery life!
We've all heard of laptop computers that have been designed to replace desktop PCs, but this is the first time we've come across one that's intended a server replacement.
Notebook specialist Eurocom this week unwrapped the Phantom-X, a machine equipped with an quad-core, 95W, 12MB of L2 cache Intel Xeon X3360 processor running at 2.83GHz; three 3Gb/s SATA hard drives in a 1.5TB RAID configuration; and 8GB of DDR 2 memory.
Eurocom's Phantom-X: your server on the go?
Eurocom also said the server has a "built-in uninterrupted [sic] power supply", which, since this server comes in a 17in laptop form-factor, we take to mean the battery.
Yes, said Eurocom, it is the battery, and it'll give users a whole hour of off-the-mains usage.
The whole shebang weighs in at 12lbs/5.4kg and measures 39.5 x 29.8 x 5.1cm, but that undeniably bulk didn't stop Eurocom describing the machine as "one extremely fast notebook that offers server on-the-go capabilities".
Blu-ray Disc knee-burner
It went on: "Mobile Server is a new category of notebooks designed with a professional user in mind. Software and/or database developers, training centers, military personnel, emergency relief organizations and service organizations who must frequently travel, yet need access to powerful computing, are the core target for Mobile Servers."
Users like these will appreciate the Phantom-X's Gigabit Ethernet port - a second one can be added using the machine's ExpressCard slot - and 802.11n Wi-Fi, but we don't see them making much use of the integrated Blu-ray Disc rewriter.
Eurocom didn't say how much its mobile server will cost would-be on-the-go sys admins, but you're looking at the best part of £3000 ($5862/€3775) if its Phantom-X Workstation online configuration tool is anything to go by.
COMMENTS
Re:UPS...
They are quoting the standard Laptop battery (Lithium Ion I assume) as a UPS, yet I've seen that with most batteries of this kind that continuous charging actually slowly breaks the battery causing it to store a lower charge, therefore not lasting anything as long as it's supposed to. So after a few months of use the UPS becomes pretty useless...
Or is that only on the really crappy & cheap Dell ones?
This is actually more of a design issue. Traditionally Dell laptops power up via the battery hence you can not remove the battery when the machine is on mains power. Hence Dell batteries have in my experience tended to run slightly warm even when the machine is on mains.
Most other laptops settle for a augmented supply configuration where the battery is an either/or option and gets charged via the mains when it is available. To me this latter configuration makes most sense for a UPS as a UPS should be able to handle a brown out as well as a conventional blackout.
However you do get problems with batteries when you cycle frequently my current laptop needed a new battery after 9 months of being power cycled twice a day but then most people don't need to work on a train for a stupid number of hours a day.
Fans
Looks disturbingly similar to the Rock Xtreme 64 I had.
The fans on that suck cool air in from the bottom and blow hot air out of the back and the sides. It was actually quite cool on your lap and the cat liked it because the graphics card exhaust blew hot air out of the side.
Of course, with the fans sucking air in from the bottom it makes it harder to pick up while it's running.
1 hour - Ok ... but...
O.K., so the beast stays up for an hour ... but what I want to know is what's going to power our networking and telephony structure when some JCB touting maniac cuts the cables?
Also, most laptop batteries I've had eventually die in short order when kept in the machine while the mains powers it. Sounds like a solution looking for a prob... oi! Who cut the lights?!?!
Disk heads
Maybe you have to drop to dos and issue the old PARK command.
@but will it...
Blend?
Re: Re: Server disks in a portable?
As for the IBM Deathstar you have I have a group of drives on my wall coverless (the tech wall of shame or dead hardware), and the only one I have is an old Quantum Bigfoot that cannot move the heads off the disc. Even an old Maxtor Diamond has the ability to just you cannot see it as instead of moving it "OFF" the disc edge it moves towards the center and gets lifted off to park there. *shrugs* just my 2 cents.
