I'd get an old Android phone. A lot more portable, easy to hide, easy to charge. Just turn off WiFi for security.

Do you really mean Cold Storage? If so, why not a paper wallet? cheaper than any laptop and far easier to secure/hide, plus the added advantage of never breaking down!

Try this: https://www.bitaddress.org/bitaddress.org-v2.9.3-SHA1-7d47ab312789b7b3c1792e4abdb8f2d95b726d64.html

maybe a bit offtopic, but some time ago I was thinking of a cold wallet/general password storage based on an android phone with a camera (and working screen). communication (including possible wallet/password updates) solely via QR code exchange/on screen keyboard. i didn't find anything suitable, but should be pretty straightforward to implement.

A raspberry pi combined with a battery pack and a case would work out for these - except you'd need a screen, mouse and keyboard. Depends how portable you need it to be I suppose. The Pi would set you back about $30 and depending on the other addons you would probably spend about $100 all up.

Alternatively you could buy a cheap second hand notebook, but the battery life probably wouldn't be that great.

Why not just buy another HDD ? boot linux from USB ? Isnt it not enough ? Please enlight me i am a newbie

Yes - I do *air gapped* so it doesn't matter how badly virus ridden the original OS is (or the one you boot).

By using the CIYAM Safe (https://susestudio.com/a/kp8B3G/ciyam-safe) all communication is done via QR code (i.e. by webcam not by USB or any other *wire*).

That's not good enough for cold storage. Set a password. Set the phone to Airplane mode, then turn the phone off. Remove the battery, store it separately.

Consider the use of a safety deposit box.

the phone? why are you talking about a phone ? arent we discussing laptop storage?

Problem with a raspberry pi is that then I would also need to find a monitor, keyboard and mouse to plug in, in order to do any transactions, which would be nearly impossible to have ready access to that stuff on-the-go. Problem with true paper wallets is well, its too easy to damage, get moldy, ink to smear or just simply lose it etc.

I do like the netbook with removing wifi card and ethernet drivers and your ethernet port "mods".

However, even more interesting is the idea of a phone in airplane mode. Especially if I could get a full disk/OS encryption (I think android tablets have this function? not sure if the phones do?) AND get electrum on it and somehow sign online transactions with it..... Electrum is a must for me.