Member Avatar for roryt

So a friend used to do alot of travelling as a semi-conductor call centre manager. He used to fly most weeks and spend probably most of his time away from his office desk. So obviously because of this he spent alot of time in airports. So basically he made the comment:

"I would much rather have a simple black and white display laptop that was light and the battery lasted for ages rather than a almost desktop style laptop with a high res screen and all the latest gizmos."

I wondered what you guys think to this, remember the circumstances he is talking about though because it is easy to jump to a quick decision.

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A compact, long-lasting, distraction-free travel machine is a sensible wish and one that a surprising number of frequent flyers quietly prefer. raised the market question; hinted at a practical workaround. Below are realistic options and hands-on steps to get the behaviour your friend wants without waiting for a niche manufacturer to appear.

Consider device choices, not just form factors. Low-power ARM or "ULV" Intel processors, 12"–13" screens, SSD storage and integrated graphics give the best weight vs battery trade. Chromebooks and modern ultrabooks often win on battery life; tablets with a keyboard cover are another lightweight option. For reading and focused editing, dedicated e-ink devices or a small e-ink tablet for notes will massively extend time between charges.

If the goal is a true black-and-white view, enable OS grayscale and reduce power draw:

  • Windows 10/11: Settings -> Ease of Access -> Color filters -> Turn on -> Grayscale. The shortcut Win+Ctrl+C toggles it.
  • macOS: System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Display -> Use grayscale.
  • Linux: use compositor or xcalib/xrandr utilities to force monochrome, or a minimal desktop environment.

Practical battery and travel tips: set the OS power profile to "battery saver" or equivalent, lower brightness, turn off Bluetooth/Wi‑Fi when idle, kill background syncs, and use an SSD. Bring a USB-C PD power bank sized for laptops (check current airline rules—spare lithium batteries are restricted; manufacturers/airlines specify Wh limits). A small external SSD for encrypted backups and a lightweight charger are worth the grams.

If the priority is simplicity and endurance rather than raw horsepower, combine a low-power laptop or tablet with strict power settings and an e-ink reader. That approach recreates the old "black-and-white, long battery" experience with modern reliability.

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Member Avatar for raybay

As grandpa used to say, Things are not like they used to be, and they never were.
Trouble is, what he describes doesn't exist. There were many excellent, but very heavy mobile computers, but the battery life was too short.
As life marched on, they became lighter, faster, and had longer battery life.
There are ways to adjust the high rez color units to black and white high contrast.

Member Avatar for roryt

I understand where you are coming from but if there were more of a call for them hardware manufacturers might start making them. But people have never really thought about. I am not saying it solves lots of problems but it might be a really good step in the right direction. you never know.

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