What about the CPU?

Hmmm... just throwing this out there, but why not have an external GPU solution? Say the GPU has a dongle of some sort, short to not get in the way, that plugs into the back ports maybe and maybe attaches to the back of the screen via a velcro hold or something..or maybe just sits next to the Laptop in a holding tray of some sorts....This way it becomes upgradeable and you are not stuck with having to change out the whole system. And then heat also does not become a problem. Or maybe it ccould have it's own case like some external harddrives do, that will allow even better cooling as the case could have lil mini fans to compliment the tiny GPU's own fan. I mean if this was to be the case heck, maybe the GPU can be midrange in size allowing for more power...I don't know, just my two pence. What do you all think? Am I off my rockers or is this feasible?

Personally I don't see why power adapter has not been made universal yet. If we had universal power adapters that could lead to universal "battery extenders" that people could use to compliment their internal battery on long flights or even power adapters built into planes, airports, classrooms, lecture halls, presentation panels, etc.

As many other commenters point out, graphics is the #1 most annoyingly fxed part in a laptop.

In a real PC, and by that I mean more than a glorified word processor, you need 3D power and laptops iin general are woefully underequipped in this department:

A minimum laptop graphics card should be one that has its own RAM and uses architecture less than 24 months old. It's amazing how many laptops struggle to run old games such as UT2003 and many of the games you find in the "obsolete" bargain bins at games stores.

Hmmm.... there are obvious advantages here, but I'm not sure the desktop analogy really holds. With desktops, people are willing to trade ergonomics/size for standardization. I don't care that my tower is huge and wastes space because it sits under my desk. A laptop, though, is a very different thing. Look at the extreme case of an iPod -- most people have clearly indicated they prefer the smaller, sleeker iPod with its lack of an upgradable battery to marginally bulkier solutions that do allow you to upgrade your battery. The lesson that I take from that is that for portable devices, size and ergonomics trump other concerns, and designing small compact devices does not lend itself to standardization or user-upgrades.

Discrete GPUs complicate cooling and make it more difficult to modularize the laptop. I expect Intel intends the GPU to be part of what they're calling the "notebook panel" along with the chipset, CPU, memory, and associated cooling. Now they may only intend this to apply to chipset integrated graphics: modular laptops are supposed to be cheap; if you want a discrete GPU you have to pay for a more proprietary design (which may nonetheless leverage some modular parts such as keyboard, battery, etc). Alternatively, one could imagine several "notebook panel" formfactors (area/thickness), the larger of which incorporate a connector for a MiniExpress graphics card and the cooling to go with it. But you want a thin'n'light with discrete GPU? No dice (or, pay through the nose for a proprietary design).

How about GRAPHICS, you peddlers of the worst graphics chipsets in the known universe?!?

Sounds like a good idea - in fact, it's largely the lack of modularity in notebooks that have kept me away from them.

well, that, and being dirt poor......

slow news day...why ?

When your notebook display cracks on an airplane you are talking about a 10-week waiting period for a spare part.

huh? where did you fly, to antarctica? most LCDs can be replaced from a reliable vendor within 3 business days, no matter what country you're in...

I would hope, although not mentioned as one of the 7 components, that the GPU be an easily interchangable device. I know there are currently interchangable GPU's for laptops, but its not specifically mentioned as one of the 7, and I would bet that usually notebooks are built with onboard IGPs, so it worries me that this is not a consideration in this "modular" notebook.

well it's about time... hopefully this will also drop prices on some components too. The desktop market's price, upgradeability and durability advantages are keeping me away from notebooks so far.

It sounds good and theory, and certainly could work with parts that can be easily standardized (as notebook hard drives have been). It certainly would be nice if there were fewer keyboard designs all with good layouts, and AFAIK there's no reason that the LCDs can't be made to be easily swappable. But Intel's proposed "notebook panel" sounds like most of the guts of a notebook: presumably this includes the chipset, CPU, memory, as well as the cooling solution for all of that. And does Intel really want to make it easy for someone to choose a "notebook panel" from them or an equivalent panel built on AMD? And what about that cooling solution? It has to mate with a case that works with it (fan vents in the right places). And a lot of laptop batteries seem designed to fit into "whatever space is left" so a stanardized laptop batteries, while likely to be considerably cheaper, probably won't provide quite the same capacity of the custom solutions. Of course proprietary designs will continue regardless of the sucess of this initiative, borrowing what components they can but providing higher performance at a higher price.

Nevertheless, cheap mainstream machines with parts that are easy to repair or replace would be a wonderful thing, so I hope this bears fruit.