Walk through any airport terminal or coffee shop, and you will inevitably see a homogenous sea of aluminum clamshells. Everyone at the gate is furiously tapping away on a MacBook Air or a Dell XPS. To their credit, Steve Jobs unveiled the MacBook Air with portability first, pulling it out of a manila envelope on stage for the unveiling. Today's Air is an undeniably fantastic machine—sleek, powerful, and utterly conventional. But laptops are also rigid, single-screen monoliths that lock you in a terrible posture and a cramped visual workspace. To me, mobile productivity is more about modularity, footprint, and versatility than sheer compute-per-square-inch.

So, I set about redoing the same challenge as Jobs — cramming an entire mobile computing experience into a manila envelope, but this time, with dual screens. It consists of an unconventional quartet: an X-Plus Tech Netbook, an Aurzen Zip Cyber Edition pico projector well-acclaimed at CES 2025, a Bonk40 mechanical keyboard by my friend Arko, and a Satechi 4-port travel charger. Here is why leaving the conventional laptop behind was the best travel decision I’ve made.

The Brains: An Intel N100 netbook

Compact and just powerful enough

A while ago, I wrote an article about ditching my heavy 16-inch laptop for a Khadas Mind mini PC and a 1080p portable projector. It was an excellent experiment in decoupling the screen from the computer and relying on hotel walls for my workspace. However, the Khadas Mind, packing a 13th-gen Core i7, was overpowered for simple travel tasks, and I missed having a screen on the move because the projector was the only one I had. I've replaced my smart TV OS with that little Khadas Mind Mini PC, hooked up to the TV by HDMI, where it now serves flawlessly as my Home Theater PC.

With the Khadas re-homed, I needed a new brain for the travel PC. Enter the X-Plus Tech Piccolo, an Intel N150-powered netbook with an 8-inch convertible display, 16GB of memory, and 512GB of storage. It's truly pocketable computing that runs full Windows 11, rather than a compromised mobile OS. I am acutely aware that it won't render 4K video in Premiere Pro or compile massive codebases in seconds, but its Gracemont efficiency cores punch hilariously above their weight for heavy web-based workflows, writing, and remote desktop tasks. Its processing power paired with incredible portability and a measly 25W peak power draw makes it vastly superior to lugging around a heavy, overpowered machine I'd barely stress on the road.

A second display

For work, fun, and much more

In my previous setup, the projector was my primary and only display. Now, I use the Piccolo's 8-inch screen for primary focus tasks, sometimes even in tent mode or tablet mode. However, the panel is painfully tiny for the split-screen multitasking I enjoy on my 32-inch desktop display. Traditional portable external monitors are fragile slabs of glass that occupy the same footprint as a second laptop, completely defeating the purpose of an ultra-light setup. My solution is the CES 2025 award-winning pico-projector called the Aurzen Zip Cyber Edition. It's a 720p LED-lamp DLP projector that's smaller than a swollen wallet. It also has screen mirroring, auto-keystone, and a tri-fold design that assists in freestanding operation.

I'll admit the 720p resolution is low by modern standards, and it falls apart completely on a 60-inch projection. But for a secondary display dedicated to monitoring Slack channels, keeping Spotify open, or throwing up massive PDF reference documents, pixel density matters less than the luxury of a 40-inch screen on a hotel wall. The integrated battery only offers an hour of high-brightness usage, but powering it via USB-C transforms a cramped hotel writing desk into an expansive, dual-screen workstation.

Satechi 4-port travel charger and comfortable I/O

Familiarity and power in any country

And that brings me to how I power this whole contraption, because a modular setup usually invites a rat's nest of cables and massive power bricks, easily destroying the space savings of the devices themselves. The unsung hero holding this entire envelope-sized kit together is the Satechi 4-port GaN travel charger with 145W output. Sure, my laptop and projector have independent batteries isolating me from short power outages, but the travel charger consolidates power delivery for the netbook, the Aurzen projector, my phone, and a camera. This single brick efficiently manages the wattage distribution required to run a multi-device setup, thanks to USB PD support. It also has swappable plugs, with adapters included for most popular international outlets. I'd only complain that there's no dedicated earthing pin.

In using this setup on my first trip, I realized the Piccolo's keyboard is quite cramped, and the unique layout takes some getting used to. So now, I pack my Bonk40 along. It's a wired 40% mechanical keyboard with a lightweight 3D-printed frame, carbon fiber plate, and USB-C connection, making it the perfect travel companion. And yes, it fits in the manila envelope.

I understand there is a glaring weakness to this modular approach. I cannot balance all this on my lap at a crowded airport terminal, but the Netbook alone is great for those situations, like fitting on the in-flight tray table. Furthermore, this setup requires unpacking, plugging in a charger, aiming a projector, and connecting peripherals. It takes minutes to get going, whereas a laptop opens and wakes in a single second. Also, external peripherals heavily drain the netbook's tiny internal battery, tethering me to that Satechi charger. And I'm not deluding myself by pretending a 720p wall projection beats a Liquid Retina display for color-critical visual work.

Despite the friction, the modular setup wins for the simple reason that ninety percent of my travel work happens at hotel desks or Airbnb dining tables, not mid-flight. In those environments, having dual screens (one of which is massive) and a familiar mechanical keyboard vastly outweighs the clamshell convenience. It might work because I just need Google Docs and basic web utilities on the move, but ergonomically, I'd never be hunched over a singular glowing screen in my lap. The modularity also affords me cheap and easier replacements if a component dies or gets stolen. I won't be helplessly looking for a whole new 16-inch laptop.

A joy that works for me

Ultimately, there is a tangible joy in the hack. Building a hyper-customized, ultra-light setup that slides into an envelope but expands into a sprawling command center is deeply satisfying. It isn't for everyone, but it proves that rethinking form factors can yield incredibly versatile results.