Why does not this exist? A laptop that just contains a display, a keyboard and a mouse/trackpad, that just take input and send them to desktop and just display what the desktop broadcasts? I have a powerful desktop at home, but I don't want to spend all day sitting in front of it. If I have such a device, I can work from anywhere in my home. And it would not fry my lap like a cheap laptop do...<p>The way I see it, if you are living in a hot country, the actual machine does not even need to be inside your home, heating your rooms...<p>Why does not this exist?
Just buy an ultrabook/some laptop with good screen, good network card and long-lasting battery. If heat is the problem for you, I would suggest some aluminum-encased laptop that would disperse heat more easily. IMHO, probably Google chromebook (<a href="https://www.google.com/chromebook/" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/chromebook/</a>) is the kind of device you are looking for...<p>Also what you need is a remote desktop app. There are quite a few nowadays (from "Remote Desktop" in Windows, to TeamViewer, VNC or etc.). A quite good list is in wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_remote_desktop_software" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_remote_desktop_s...</a> .
Wouldn't that be terribly inefficient? I'm hazarding a guess here, but I think that no matter what kind of networking technology you use, it's going to be dreadfully slow as compared to doing it locally.<p>Plus, the laptop would lose 90% of its mobility advantage, as it would always have to be in the (network-) vicinity of a desktop.
Amazon workspaces + what's called a zero client<p><a href="https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/workspaces-zero-client/" rel="nofollow">https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/workspaces-zero-client/</a>
I know people who do this with EC2 instances. You don't even need to own a powerful desktop to make this work.<p>(thin client, fat client, thin client - the more things change the more they stay the same...)
I never heard about such a device but I have a Motorola LAPDOCK to control my raspberry. I guess the raspberry could be adapted to control a distant desktop (adding a wifi or bluetooth card, a battery of some sort and a VNC-like software)<p>Or even using a Motorola LAPDOCK + Smartphone with remote-control app<p>See Motorola Lapdock: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004M17D62/" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004M17D62/</a>
Are you thinking of something similar to the Wii U controller which can play games wirelessly from the Wii U via a direct link?<p>Edit: more info on the Wii U game pad link. <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2012/11/16/3653294/wii-u-range-test-gamepad" rel="nofollow">http://www.polygon.com/2012/11/16/3653294/wii-u-range-test-g...</a>
Have you looked at VNC? It does exactly what you are describing. See: <a href="http://www.tightvnc.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.tightvnc.com/</a>
Sounds a lot like the Linux Terminal Server Project<p><a href="http://www.ltsp.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ltsp.org/</a>
it's kind of what a steam machine link device and the new xbox one streaming are. You are able to run games on a less powerful system as long as the wifi or hard wired network are pretty robust.