h a l f b a k e r yOK, we're here. Now what?
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
Laptops are getting thinner, to the point where they're in danger of becoming edged weapons.
This increasing thinness is often accomplished by the simple expedient of removing functionality - serial ports are too fat for a slim laptop; CD drive takes up too much space; presumably the keyboard will
eventually have to go and we'll just let the computer decide for itself what it wants to do.
Proposed, thencefore, is an Under-laptop device (or ULD, as the marketing department prefer to call it). It is about 9/32nds of an inch thick, and has a raised lip in which the base of the laptop snuggles. It's slightly wider than the actual laptop, and it is locked in place by two USB plugs that slide, latch-like, into the laptop's ports. This not only holds the ULD in place, but also provides it with power and data connectivity from the laptop.
The ULD itself is packed full of goodness. It has every imagineable kind of port (all interfaced via the USBs, and with additional USBs replicated on the ULD), a CD drive, serial port, potentially even a 5 1/4 floppy drive for nostalgists. Another option is to have some additional batteries, for longer working time.
Best of all, the ULD has a little drawer, which can be opened computronically, for holding paperclips, PostIts, pencils, or one very thin sandwich. It also has a retractable handle for carrying your laptop around.
All options are, of course, customizeable. You want a carbon-fibre ULD for a Dell 8210, with two serial ports, five USBs, a SCSI, an SD card reader, 1/4" headphone jack and a Tic-Tac dispenser? No problemo, amigo, comprendo?
Please log in.
If you're not logged in,
you can see what this page
looks like, but you will
not be able to add anything.
Annotation:
|
|
// they're in danger of becoming edged weapons. // |
|
|
Docking stations are WKTE. |
|
|
Yes, but they're rarely capable of inflicting lethal injury. |
|
|
Lukewarm ? If Samsung make it, then the sandwich might well be
toasted ... or indeed charred. |
|
|
The original MacBook Air was used as a cake knife shortly
after it became available, to highlight its bladeyness. |
|
|
I sometimes myself wondering who these hordes of consumers are who are so anxious to purchase razor thin electronics. I've never heard ANYONE say "you know, I would buy that phone, but only if it had half the battery life and was 2 millimeters thinner". Not that I'm ungrateful. I recognize that the other end of the thinning phone is the wearable phone, and right next to that is the implanted phone and I'm okay with this kind of progress. It's just that the intermediary steps seem to be making products that aren't as good. |
|
| |