cyberdeck design log #1

//DESIGN LAB ONLINE
//cyberdeck-01 PROJECT OPENED
//STATUS UPDATE

Initial planning stage of my cyberdeck build has begun. I started by brainstorming ideas re: what I wanted to get out of this device and listing my inspiration(s) in terms of physical design.

I’m a sucker for 80s and early 90s luggable and laptop designs. Big, chunky, utilitarian hardware that doesn’t try to hide that it’s a tool to be used, and not a decorative art piece. Think laptops like the GRiD Compass or GRiD Case, or the Amstrad PPC512 and PPC640.

(I actually had a pair of GRiD CASE laptops given to me by a friend’s father. He worked for a scientific instrumentation company and got ahold of a couple their IT department was tossing out. I managed to use the parts from one to repair the other… which I promptly sold because I was a struggling student at the time. Another regret.)

The Amstrad PPC640 is another interesting design. Amstrad was a British consumer electronics company that sold a number of very popular home computers in Britain. They were not commonly seen in Canada, where I live. But I did manage to get my hands on one and I guess the design made an impression.

In the late 80s I was working part-time for a local computer store. We carried Commodore, Atari and IBM-compatible PCs - pretty much all the popular hardware (in North America) at the time aside from Apple and Tandy gear.

I showed up at the store one day for my shift, and immediately noticed a very unique-looking pair of laptops on display. Somehow we had become official North American distributors of Amstrad hardware. I remember loving the full-size keyboard that doubled as a cover. Flipping it down revealed a small LCD screen that you could pop-up and angle however you’d like. It had an integrated handle moulded right into one end. I also recall being impressed that you could (in a pinch) run the entire computer off a stack of D batteries.

But most of all I remember loving the general aesthetic of the machine. It looked sleek, but utilitarian - like something you’d take into the field with you. A device you can Get Things Done with.

That’s what I want my first cyberdeck to be. That’s where I’m going with its design: an evolution of those early rugged laptops and luggables.