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After the MacBook Air - Drop Dead Gorgeous

After the MacBook Air - Drop Dead Gorgeous

by , 12:55 PM EDT, March 26th, 2008

Artists concepts for the notebook computer we might be using in the year 2015 were published at Computerworld on Wednesday. Some of the ideas seem remarkably PC centric, but do provide food for thought in the era of the MacBook Air.

The first of five pages shows what might be the best design, a widescreen system with a pull down, touch sensitive keyboard. However, the stylus doesn't reflect current multitouch thinking.


Source: Computerworld

The next notebook concept might well have the caption, "Eliminating obsessed notebook computer users one car crash at a time."


Source: Computerworld

Overall, the concepts are food for thought, but even so, Apple fans may get the vague feeling that the designs are already dated and that Apple could probably do a little better in 2011, not even waiting for 2015.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:Dreadnought Posts: 162 Joined: 01 Jan 2005
Subject: Neither gorgeous or future-worthy

I looked at all of the designs, and found none of them particularly compelling - either for now or a few years down the road. All of the notebooks seemed particularly thick, and while I like the idea of a solar powered computer, the offered design is pretty ugly and not very cutting edge.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: Nah

Picture a familiar guy in a black turtleneck and glasses, and... BOOM! That's it! In other words you SEE nothing. The turtleneck is the input. It has sensors in it to read the vocal nerves. The glasses are the output. They have transparent displays which give heads-up info. [Both these things exist now in the lab.]

Its going to be natural speech, and a heads up display and/or speech output. I know, I know, but it will be, I'm tellin ya! My point is, computers will become invisible soon. Maybe a nondescript black box in the pocketbook or on the belt with a battery and CPU and radios.

Speech! Note in the lab, the hard part has moved from figuring out what words the user is saying, to figuring out what the words are asking the computer to do! If you want to know the next hot career of research, it is working out how to interpret natural, free form input. Get on it, kids!
-Mike from myallo.com

Close Name:Guest
Subject: No wonder PC users don't think Apple makes "real"

It seems whenever a PC user thinks of a computer, all they can imagine are big, bulky, ugly awkward things made out of cheap plastic. I mean, this is what people think that "gorgeous" computers of the future should look like? I think Jonathan Ive has more creativity in his left pinky toe than all of these people put together.

Close Name:Guest
Subject:

Maybe, but Dilbert taught us, don't be the one who has someone shout over your cubical wall: "Delete any file."

Spoken commands are great, as long as someone doesn't immitate your voice.

Now if we actually got to the point that voice print identification could not be cracked, maybe I'd trust a computer to allow me to speak to it, but not before then.


Quote
Guest wrote:
Picture a familiar guy in a black turtleneck and glasses, and... BOOM! That's it! In other words you SEE nothing. The turtleneck is the input. It has sensors in it to read the vocal nerves. The glasses are the output. They have transparent displays which give heads-up info. [Both these things exist now in the lab.]

Its going to be natural speech, and a heads up display and/or speech output. I know, I know, but it will be, I'm tellin ya! My point is, computers will become invisible soon. Maybe a nondescript black box in the pocketbook or on the belt with a battery and CPU and radios.

Speech! Note in the lab, the hard part has moved from figuring out what words the user is saying, to figuring out what the words are asking the computer to do! If you want to know the next hot career of research, it is working out how to interpret natural, free form input. Get on it, kids!
-Mike from myallo.com

Close Name:Guest
Subject: Cell phones are bad enough

Can you imagine what it would be like if everybody had speech input portable computers? They'd be walking down the hallways shouting "Point there! Click! Drag to trash! Delete!" or standing in line at Starbucks "Email Fred. I didn't get that attachment. Are you stupid or what?" or sitting down to eat in a fast food joint and some people playing World of Warcraft sit in the booth next to you "Kill the orc! Kill the orc! Stab-stab-stab! Launch fireball!"

And the ultimate nightmare, you're out for a peaceful stroll in the park but everywhere you go you hear a political blogger ranting as loud as he can yell.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: other than first one, they are terriable

seriously bad. and some thicker than a g3 powerbook

Close Name:Guest
Subject:

I find it amusing that the first one touting the fact that it's "only three-quarters of an inch thick."

Uhhh, the MacBook Air is that thin now. Wow, what visionaries.

Close Name:Guest
Subject:

Yeah, have to agree - pretty blah imo.

Quote
Dreadnought wrote:
I looked at all of the designs, and found none of them particularly compelling - either for now or a few years down the road. All of the notebooks seemed particularly thick, and while I like the idea of a solar powered computer, the offered design is pretty ugly and not very cutting edge.

Close Name:xmattingly Posts: 266 Joined: 31 Jul 2007
Subject: d'uh...?

Some interesting ideas, but poor implementation. Whoever came up w/ the solar panel tri-fold thing obviously didn't put any thought into where the center of gravity would be, and that extra panel would cause the thing to fall over. The Cario: A laptop you can hook to your steering wheel(?!)... in a word, retarded. The Canova... I definitely see a dual-screen design happening eventually, but man, what a tacky design. The one design that really stood out to me was the slider screen, that looks like it could double as a photo gallery in standby.

Close Name:Intruder -   TMO Mac Specialist Posts: 3149 Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Subject: Re: d'uh...?

Quote
xmattingly wrote:
The Cario: A laptop you can hook to your steering wheel(?!)... in a word, retarded.


Especially since that is where the driver's side airbag deploys.

Close Name:BanjoBanker Posts: 86 Joined: 27 Dec 2004
Subject: The PC world

The "designers" in the PC world will never understand true design. Not a one of those future laptops is as sleek as the MBA, or even a MB. I can't wait to see what Apple comes out with in the next 10 years.

Close Name:gslusher Posts: 2088 Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Subject: Re: d'uh...?

Quote
xmattingly wrote:
The Cario: A laptop you can hook to your steering wheel(?!)... in a word, retarded.


A few years ago, while researching laptop desks and stands, I ran across a "desk" that hooked over a steering wheel and which could hold a laptop. There still are such devices.

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