The machine's portability wasn't the only factor. Needed a clean space to set up. There was a second machine hooked up to the house water lines. It would be used to create dialysate which was pumped into the dialysis machine. You could travel without the water pump, but to replace it, you needed these massive disposable bags of dialysate. Each bag was heavier than the machine itself and they were essential.
I guess with car trips, you could take the pump too to generate dialysate on site but it wasn't designed for portability as much as the main dialysis machine was. Was heavier. We kept it on rollers.
There were other supplies needed too. Saline bags. The dialysis machine had one-time use cartridges that were quite convenient but took up a fair bit of space. All added up to considerable bulk.
We only used the machine at distant locations when we knew we were going to be there for a week or more. One factor that made things a little easier was the the dialysis company was willing to deliver supplies to wherever we were, as long as it was within the US. We didn't have to take weeks worth of supplies. But we did have to take enough supplies to get through the first few days before delivery.
Vacations were rare but doable if we were going by car or if there was a dialysis center at the location. I guess we could have flown with the machine but we didn't trust airline baggage handlers enough to risk it.
Oh, also, if you do peritoneal dialysis, it’s daily, whereas hemo dialysis is generally two or three times a week.
For someone with meticulousness, educability on maintaining the pieces that go into PD, and a good living situation, it's far better than hemodialysis. But people like that are rarely the ones whose kidneys fail.
I guess though a backpack version probably could be more like an always attached glucose device with just a tiny line.