Apple Imagines Mac-Inside-a-Keyboard Device Evocative of 80s Home Computers

[CarlJ]

How the f**k does this warrant granting of a patent? Raspberry Pi 400 anybody? Apple I?

We’re on page 15 of the comments. This question has been asked and answered probably a dozen times already. How the **** do people not bother to take even the slightest glance at the comments in their rush to bring up the Pi 400? It’s no longer an original question.

 

[George Dawes]

If you could use it in conjunction with an Apple TV and a big screen I’d definitely be interested

 

[mango fever]

Just what the world needs: mac keyboard landfill becomes mac landfill. Nice one Apple!

 

[laptech]

Somebody at Apple has been watching too many retro videos on Youtube with them rushing off to the bosses saying 'Hey, I got a great idea for our next project'.

 

[ponzicoinbro]

Somebody at Apple has been watching too many retro videos on Youtube with them rushing off to the bosses saying 'Hey, I got a great idea for our next project'.

Retro computing vids on YouTube are probably the best tech videos on YouTube. In general the retro computing and retro gaming communities are the only spaces in tech and online that are sane, fun and non toxic. Probably because most of them are techies from boomer and Gen X. They are full of knowledge and sharing. Lot of young people are flocking to those spaces.

 

[ArrayDecay]

Look, Ma! No chin!

 

[laptech]

Apple's patent is called 'Computer in an input device' which is basically what the computers in the 80's were, computers in a metal/plastic chassis with a keyboard on top. So just how exactly is Apple going to get away with the patent when virtually every computer back then in the 80's was a 'computer in an input device', the BBC Micro, the Vic 20, the commodore 64, the ZX Spectrum, the Amstrad CPC, the MSX, the Amiga (to name a few)

Surely one of the makers of those computers is going to claim prior patent on the design or at least the concept of a computer in an input device.

 

[cmaier]

Apple's patent is called 'Computer in an input device' which is basically what the computers in the 80's were, computers in a metal/plastic chassis with a keyboard on top. So just how exactly is Apple going to get away with the patent when virtually every computer back then in the 80's was a 'computer in an input device', the BBC Micro, the Vic 20, the commodore 64, the ZX Spectrum, the Amstrad CPC, the MSX, the Amiga (to name a few)

Surely one of the makers of those computers is going to claim prior patent on the design or at least the concept of a computer in an input device.

Because what determines whether or not an invention is patentable is not the title of the patent application.

This question has been asked and answered many many times over the course of 16 pages of comments.

 

[antibolo]

This is what the iMac should be.

 

[kc9hzn]

So… a MacBook Air without a battery, and video output routed to port instead of a built-in screen. Not so much an engineering exercise as a marketing one.

Going between two residences, I carry my iPad and work laptop, but my Mac Pro and MacBook Pro stay in their respective places. Been wondering whether a Mac Mini would be a good ‘one computer’ to carry between the two desk setups. I think I’d still prefer a Mini to a Keyputer, if only because I already have bunches of keyboards.

“A MacBook Air without a battery and video output routed to a port instead of a built-in screen.” Mac mini: “What am I, chopped liver?!”

But seriously, while I’d prefer a Mac mini and an external keyboard, this would be great from a footprint perspective. The footprint of such a computer would be dramatically better than keyboard+Mac mini+display (especially if your desk is arranged so that the monitor is on a VESA mount). You’d have a computer with the footprint of a keyboard (and the attached or wirelessly connected pointer device). But, even without a VESA mount, this would enable computers to be set up in more work constrained spaces. With such a Mac, though, I’d really want to see an emphasis on wireless Time Capsule and other technologies that reduce the number of wires coming out of this keyboard (maybe even wireless HDMI).

(Actually, a keyboard with wireless HDMI? If I can hard bolt a pointer device onto it, specifically a trackball, sign me up! The keyboard and trackball would dramatically reduce my desk space needs relative to my current setup, and I could easily put the monitor somewhere where I can comfortably see it but where it’s not taking up room on my small desk. Or maybe I could get a floor stand for the display. This is all assuming that the computer has some sort of wireless HDMI that works with existing monitors through a dongle or something like that.)

 

[kazmac]

As long as the Mac Mini is still exists, why not?

 

[codewrangler]

Why would it be lower than a Mac mini? You are getting a keyboard on top of basically a Mac mini.

I would assume that it would be very entry level...less features than a mac mini

 

[kc9hzn]

I would assume that it would be very entry level...less features than a mac mini

You’re probably not wrong. An A14X based (or M0) keyboard Mac could probably sell for less than $500 for sure (maybe closer to $300, or even less, if it doesn’t need to be as specced out as an iPad). It would be a great machine for the sort of educational markets that currently go in for Chromebooks.

 

[sublunar]

Yes. I agree with you that a keyboard/computer presents some impracticalities, but it’s surprising what a little isopropyl alcohol and some q-tips will do to a keyboard, if used periodically. (And, frankly, if it’s hideously unclean, I don’t want to type on it.)

I see some sort of smart glass keyboard as an eventuality someday, but it doesn’t just need haptic feedback. A big part of touch typing is being able to rest your fingers on the keys and press them to type. So, you’ve got to come up with a haptic mechanism that allows you to feel keys that aren’t really there, and then you’ve also got to have some sort of force feedback in the glass, so you can rest your fingers on it without it just thinking you’re typing all the home row keys at once. I think we’ll get there, but it think it’s a long ways off. And you’d need some sort of really enormous improvement in capability to outweigh the advantages of touch typing - being able to type while looking at data and not your fingers is nothing to give up lightly.

I suspect that Apple will find it perfectly adequate though, and keyboard enthusiasts would still use a 'real' keyboard of their choice - plenty of wireless ones to go round.

The idea of having a software layer that lets an iPad be a giant app specific Touch Bar accessory to a Mac app surely has to have been thought about. Sidecar, after all, lets you use an iPad as a second Mac display but why not let a Mac App use an iPad as an additional control surface or hybrid track pad? For example - Elgato Stream Deck or Stream Deck Mark 2?.

 

[aliasfox]

“A MacBook Air without a battery and video output routed to a port instead of a built-in screen.” Mac mini: “What am I, chopped liver?!”

Well, a MacBook Air already has all of its computer guts in 0.5" behind the keyboard, whereas a Mac mini would need to be rearranged.

I will agree, however, that from a footprint perspective, it would be nicer than a Mac mini - I'm just thinking about the Micro-ITX computers that are often prevalent in computer labs - they're on a little 'backpack' mount on the back of an LCD monitor. Keeps them out of the way, and definitely more modular than an iMac, but not really all that elegant...

 

[Boil]

Would love to see something like this in a low-profile mechanical keyboard style, something like the Keychron K1...

 

[return2sendai]

iBored.

Whoops, I mistyped…. No, I’ll leave it.

 

[nottorp]

There should be a prison sentence for attempting to patent stuff with 40 year old prior art.

Also, apple keyboards are too thin (read: too short travel) for comfortable extended typing so who is this for?

 

[Mainyehc]

How can any company patent something like this, when as the first sentence of this piece says, this is how all home computers were like 40 years ago?

How? It's simple: this isn't an invention patent, but a design one. Apple is just registering this particular implementation, i.e. the general look and feel of such a computer and the layout of it.

And this just comes down to the fact that their old Apple II patents are way too dissimilar in looks, and their more recent Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Magic Keyboard 1/2 don't include internals other than a control board and a battery, or any connections other than the Lightning port.

Also, there's no guarantee they'll actually build one of these (though they certainly could, considering how small their Apple Silicon-based Mac Mini logic boards are (and the fact that they very well could come up with an M2-based machine with one as small as those found in iPad Pros). Here's the thing: if they didn't patent this design, some other company could very well do so first, and Apple would have a much harder time stopping them.

 

[Kebabselector]

Make it a rubber keyed keyboard and i'll buy it!

 

[cmaier]

How? It's simple: this isn't an invention patent, but a design one.

Actually, no, it’s a utility patent application with 20 claims as-filed, not a design patent application.

 

[HowardEv]

Don't put the computer in the keyboard, because the keyboard should be wireless, and the computer will need to have attached wires for charging, display, and usb peripherals. The computer should be in a separate box, like a Mini, but with a battery and USB charger like a MacBook. Then get I/O devices that fit your needs.

 

[mschmalenbach]

what makes you think a patent was granted?

I haven't suggested one has been granted. I simply question whether it's warranted or not.

 

[mschmalenbach]

We’re on page 15 of the comments. This question has been asked and answered probably a dozen times already. How the **** do people not bother to take even the slightest glance at the comments in their rush to bring up the Pi 400? It’s no longer an original question.

Whatever.

I'm not sure who you're referring to about not taking the slightest glance etc etc. If it was me, you're inaccurate.
There is this concept of simple expression of emotion. If you don't like it you can always just scroll on by...

 

[HowardEv]

What about Mac-Inside-a-Trackpad? Same design as current Magic Trackpad but with A16 SoC and 3 USB-C ports (one can be used for both power and display). It's basically a large iPhone but without a screen, speakers, cameras and other hardware components. Battery life lasts for more than 12 hours under basic load or 6 hours under heavy load.

...yeah it's a bad idea. 😋

You are on to something. the new portable Mini could have a trackpad on top so things like volume could be controlled with gestures, heck yeah a screen too, to show Play and Pause etc. But of course it'd still need a big display and keyboard and trackpad, and you don't want wires plugged in to that stuff.