Have you ever tried to use your laptop on a plane when the person in front of you has their seat reclined?

With a detachable screen, you could hang it on the seat back in front of you (velcro?, strap?) and still use the keyboard.

With a separate stand/bracket, might also be useful for presentations and demonstrations.
-- lee, Jan 18 2001

(?) The 2 piece portable computer... http://forums.apple...m1/HTML/005953.html
AppleInsider forum discussion (with some prototype images) about a detachable screen laptop. [jutta, Jan 18 2001]

Dan's Data review of the Palladine LCD PC. http://www.dansdata.com/lcdpc.htm
Of course, this uses standard PC components, and not laptop stuff... [StarChaser, Jan 18 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

(???) PaceBlade's PaceBook http://www.paceblade.com/index2.html
Transmeta chip in a tablet + keyboard form factor. [jutta, Jan 18 2001]

Don's version of this idea http://photos.yahoo.com/xsarenkax
(See album & photo: HalfBakery/Detachable Laptop Screen) Detachable screen with a stand to support the screen on a desk. [XSarenkaX, Mar 16 2006]

'world first' laptop with detachable screen http://www.pcpro.co...achable-screen.html
From 2005 [skinflaps, Aug 09 2007]

Detachable laptop screen http://www.pcplus.c...7/samsonm70_big.jpg
Good 'n' baked [skinflaps, Aug 09 2007]

This may be more difficult to engineer (without significantly contributing to a laptop's size and weight) than you would think. Apparently it's quite challenging to get enough power from the batteries to the backlight without too much loss even when the two parts are combined. The LCD interface is also a high-bandwidth digital signal. All told, the cable and/or conectors isn't likely to be trivial.
-- egnor, Jan 19 2001


Fully baked and delivered as a product several years \ago. We have a Cruser laptop that has a detachable screen - it can be placed on an OHP bed and can then project via the OHP lens on to a wall or screen. It works well but was expensive.
-- lapwing, Jan 19 2001


Peter, if you put the CPU and storage systems in the "keyboard" half, the problem is that both halves need quite a bit of power and the two halves need to exchange quite a bit of data...

If you put the CPU and storage systems in the "screen" half, then the "keyboard" half really is just a keyboard. I guess that's a "Tablet PC".
-- egnor, Jan 21 2001


A lot of data needs to be exchanged, but it all runs through a fairly small ribbon cable. I've seen IBM laptops broken in half, and it's got a pretty tiny cable. Something like a palmtop <One of our customers uses the Sharp Mobilon> needs even less, its cable is about a quarter-inch wide.

You'll lose some power through a longer cable, but unlikely to be enough to do more than lower the battery life some. Could add a battery on the screen itself, maybe in a bulge on the back that would act as a 'foot' to keep it upright, and avoid that problem. And when you're not using it detached, it plugs directly into the base and uses its battery.

Problem I see with putting the mechanics into the screen part is that then it'll weigh a ton and there's no real difference between it and one of the 'monitorPC's. You'd end up with something like my link above although that uses real computer parts. You'd have to make the keyboard heavier to make it useful, because if you take all the mechanics out from under it, it's a quarter inch or so thick and weighs nearly nothing, so you end up with an 'ultralight' keyboard that's too small to type comfortably and doesn't weigh enough to stay in your lap unless you don't move at all. And if you're going to make it heavier, it defeats the 'make laptops lighter and smaller'...
-- StarChaser, Jan 21 2001


I like the original idea. I don't like the idea of putting the guts of the laptop in the screen part. That would make the whole thing top heavy and it would tip over when you opened it up.

Also think about being able to watch movies on your laptop screen on an airplane. You could put the rest of the thing on the floor or in the seat pocket with the barf bag.
-- willatlguy, Mar 31 2002


I like it both ways.
Keeping the bulk of the electronics in the keyboard makes it more useful for work. As the author notes, the display can be placed where it's best seen.

Putting the electronics in the display make it more useful for multimedia display. The CD/DVD drive (and controls) could be included so it would be possible to watch movies when not working.
-- phoenix, Mar 31 2002


You're all forgetting the main advantage of a detachable laptop screen, and that's to alleviate cases of RSI/OOS associated with people having to bend over to work on laptops all day. Personally speaking, my neck is stuffed from years of it. If there was a foldable cradle that you could place on your desk which could hold the detached screen it would be ideal.
-- damo, Apr 30 2002


Keyboard on lap with cpu, Projector on shoulder/ in specs. what say?

A projector to project 14" screen 2 feet in front of you. Will it be big? power intensive?
-- kamathln, Oct 24 2005


Would electronic paper, i.e. something using ambient light, be an answer here? If the display were largely static, and only required power when it changed, would this not save power?
-- nineteenthly, Oct 24 2005


I think it's interesting to note that most of the annos here are based on the notion that it's "just too tough to pull off". It's not. This is really just an industrial design problem. I love it. (+)
-- zigness, Oct 24 2005


My husband and I recently halfbaked the idea of separating a laptop screen from the keyboard, because he is working at a laptop at work and it is becoming uncomfortable. I posted a link to a sketch of his idea (link). Note that the screen locks into slots in the hinges. My modification to the sketch shown is to make the hinges very large, sturdy rods, onto which the screen will slide. Ports at the bottom of the screen will allow it to snap back into place securely.
-- XSarenkaX, Mar 16 2006


This isn't original. I mean, maybe you thought it up, and it's a good idea, but they're already doing it. A laptop company (I believe it's Toshiba) is making laptops like this in Europe. It wouldn't be hard to do something like this on your own. Crack open your laptop, or an old one for practice, and connect the leads on the ribbon cable to a butchered video-card's video-out jack. Then you can interchange them, if you get it to fit correctly. You could maybe even get the screen to pop on and off, depending on how the hardware was set up. Good idea. Good luck.

But it's not exactly yours.
-- eupoth, Mar 16 2006


This was shown in Popular Mechanics this month. I really wonder how original this idea is.
-- jhomrighaus, Mar 17 2006


Look at the idea date [jhomrighaus].
Original until proven guilty...your Honour.
-- methinksnot, Mar 17 2006


Nice. You could possibly have a fold out stand on the screen so as to sit on a desk like a monitor, connected to the laptop itself by a cable.

For portability, there could be a cable that somehow rolls up inside the machine, like some vaccuum cleaners, but the mechanics of that would add bulk to the machine-so maybe not :)

Either way, the cable (and therefore the whole monitor) should be user removable in case the cable wears out or gets damaged, but the computer is still working-but not as easily as a normal monitor cable (secured with phillips screws?) to reduce the likelihood of somehow leaving them seperated, and momentarily forgetting that they're seperate when you're in a hurry and then end up losing the screen.
-- Dickcheney6, Mar 20 2009



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