I am with you on this idea. I have been building my own pc's for 13
years now and am working out what to build into a boat I recently
bought. I will be watching this thread with great interest.

I se no reason to take up desktop or tabletop space with a laptop when I
can build the components inside a compartment instead. I'll also have my
own choices for keyboards, displays, and other devices. I am thinking of
working from a Shuttle-X base.

One thing I am considering is being able to run the OS and primary
programs from flash drives while sailing. 1 gig drives are common now
and I expect size will increase and cost will drop over the next year.
Why have a spinning hard drive when it can be avoided for much of the
time? When dockside and doing my heavy duty work and surfing I have no
problem spinning up a hard drive.