Innovation In PC-Land Alive At IBM: Company To Show ThinkPad Prototypes

A ppleis laptops, from the broad, but thin 17" PowerBook G4, to the rugged 12" iBook, are models of laptop innovation. Many use them as their only computer because they are so powerful, yet so portable.

Many PC makers have tried to emulate Appleis innovative design with varying success, but none has yet equaled the PowerBooks and iBooks with the combination a design, style and usability. IBM, makers of the 970 processor that Apple uses in its PowerMac G5 pro desktop series, is looking to change all of that.

According to C|Net, IBM will take the wraps off of a series of laptop prototypes which could give Apple some stiff competition in the innovation department if they come to market. The new ThinkPads are designed to be a useris only computer, and can be used as a conventional laptop, or be easily converted to a svelte desktop unit when the need arises. From the article, IBM to debut ThinkPad prototypes:

IBMis ThinkPad G-series offers many characteristics similar to a desktop PC and features an angled keyboard that Big Blue said is easier to use. But the companyis two prototypes take those efforts a step further.

One ThinkPad design almost metamorphoses into a mini-desktop. It opens like a clamshell, but once open, its keyboard can be detached and the height of its screen increased to a more comfortable level with a special hinge. The machine allows more options on where to place the screen and where to locate the keyboard relative to it, IBM said.

"It enables different ergonomics for using the machine and also allows me to do something different with it," Hill said.

The second ThinkPad prototype has a special double hinge that allows the keyboard to tilt upward and slide forward for more comfortable typing. The height of the display simultaneously rises by about 3 inches. The keyboard does not detach, however.

You can read more about IBMis new prototypes at C|Net, and the article also includes images of the new models.