This wouldnt be for me, but it'll be cool to see a finished product. I may not adopt all the latest and greatest trnds in tech but I do love to see progress.
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Foldable MacBooks: Six Things to Know About Apple's Future Plans
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This will be a day-one purchase for me, I cannot wait. I'm just hoping there will be an option for a physical keyboard that you can put on top of a screen, something like on ThinkPad X1 Fold.
Me and I'm sure plenty other people.
Apple really wants you to unfold your wallet 😁
My work laptop is a Microsoft surface and after four years of productive work ranging from engineering reports in Word, Excel, mathcad, Visio, Inventor, Autocad, MSPaint at times, photo editing, I’ve never touched the screen.
For long sessions of productive work with apps optimized for keyboard/mouse, maybe the act of switching from keyboard/mouse to touch/tap/pencil has too many inconveniences that outweigh the conveniences, so I never think to reach out to the screen. The idea of those apps being watered down to better interface with a touchscreen frightens me — losing any valuable screen space for larger menus would be a big no no.
I figure that by the time the Macbook Stretch gets released that optical eye control will be 100% error free (yah, right!) amd I don’t need no stinkin keyboard; it will work just by Tom looking at it and having his eyes rapid;y dart back and forth.
Yah, bring on the future 😎
Tom
Yah, bring on the future 😎
Tom
or perhaps all that AI will know what you are trying to do and just do it for you.
Yeah, I plan on taking my MBS into dialysis, unfolding it in landscape orientation and then I can stream my cable TiVo subscription from home - b/c who doesm’t need an almost 20inch OLED monitor with them when they are dialyzing? 😎🤣
Tom
Tom
I’ve thought a foldable laptop would have been the norm by now, having imagined this product years ago back when the talk of foldable OLED screens first were discussed. But beyond the hinge crease and the fact that the ultra-thin glass covering on the screen just doesn’t feel as good as a rigid glass panel, the thing that will make a device like this a niche product is that typing on an on-screen keyboard is just not as efficient, in a full sized device, as typing on physical keys that move. It may be great for designers and artists who use pencil or stylus for input on the device, like with a Wacom tablet, but otherwise I think there just won’t be the acceptability by the general user for using a large on-screen keyboard.
I would like one but not if it's going to be a new high end model above the MacBook Pro. I hate how cheap and fragile the keys are on MacBooks so getting rid of them and having a touch screen with haptic feedback would be great. If this ever comes out then it'll probably be another 10 years before it trickles down to the Air which is the only MacBook I'll ever buy.
I don't get the idea of such a large "iPad". Maybe they will only have it fold open so much so you can't actually lay the screen completely flat.
Edit: I guess you could use the MacBook as an iMac when it's fully open if you connect a keyboard/trackpad/mouse to it. That'd be cool but I don't see apple doing that and completely killing off the iMac.
They aren't the same. That's just two screens stuck together with one replacing the traditional keyboard/trackpad. The Apple rumor is that it's a single foldable display that I assume will transition between a laptop experience and then super large ipad.in all of the pages on this thread. Notice that no one has mentioned that the windows version of this already exists.
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So. I could see Apple doing this.
I don't get the idea of such a large "iPad". Maybe they will only have it fold open so much so you can't actually lay the screen completely flat.
Edit: I guess you could use the MacBook as an iMac when it's fully open if you connect a keyboard/trackpad/mouse to it. That'd be cool but I don't see apple doing that and completely killing off the iMac.
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Hard to believe as it is described.
Hope the final device has something really well planned ahead this few nosense points.
Hope the final device has something really well planned ahead this few nosense points.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Yes, just like when iPhone was proclaimed "perfect" screen size by Apple at 3.5" for a couple of years... only to then move to 4" and proclaim that the new "perfect" supported by all that "one handed use", "fragmentation", pants with bigger pockets, and man-purses ridicule absolutely, positively saying with great confidence they would NEVER go to the "abominations" that were phablet-size phones.
What's in your pocket?
A magical thing about the Appledom: what Apple does NOT have for sale is pretty much undesirable, junk, gimmicky, useless, solution in search of a problem, etc only until they roll it out... and then it's generally "shut up and take my money" and "how did we ever get by without..."
Personally, I have zero interest in virtualizing a laptop keyboard within a screen (except perhaps for "in a pinch" situations like when the normal keyboard is dead/lost/broken), but I'd be much more interested if this unfolding screen is paired with a lidless MB piece with traditional keyboard + trackpad. Hello 20", 24", 30", 34" MB!.. with all such sizes still fitting in a traditional laptop bag thanks to the fold (or perhaps a rollable screen). Such tech ALREADY exists... just not from Apple... yet.
So yes, all that added screen RE for a mobile device is also a useless, gimmicky, undesirable, solution in search of a problem, abomination, etc... until Apple rolls out their own version... and then WOW... how passionate opinions will almost certainly flip flop overnight!
Best I can tell, there are only 4 ways to maintaining mobility while creating more screen RE: 1) Virtual (screen), 2) Foldables, 3) Rollables, 4) Projected (on wall or other surface). There IS a market- and probably a sizable one- for mobile computing tech with bigger screen RE... just as there was a market for bigger-screen iPhones than the former "perfect" sizes. That's why everyone is working on various cuts at it... including Apple. Just as we now tend to tag 3.5" and 4" as puny screens and "how did we ever get by with...", this kind of thinking might eventually assign that same "puny" and similar to current phablet-size phones and even 16" screen laptops... especially if the bulk of the benefits of existing form factors beyond mobility can be retained.
I see no path to even a 20" MB by simply enlarging the existing form factor (imagine the WEIGHT of that)... certainly not 24" or 30" MBs: too much aluminum basically wasted in the bottom half so that it is as big as the top half. Ideas like this foldable screen, Vpro and similar are attempting to resolve that VERY tangible problem/want:
Bigger screen RE in MOBILE devices
Bring em on!
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Even if it's not for you, and assuming Apple solves the screen crease, can you really not imagine the why?
I used to think this, but the world has changed. While vertical touch will never be a primary interaction (Jobs was exactly right about that), it's increasingly common in work environments for groups that are huddled around a screen to reach out and move (or expand, etc.) something on the screen.
Right? Seems like the perfect travel device for those who need to work on the go and will want a larger screen at their destination. If this works the way I'm visualizing it, this would be a Day 1 purchase for me.
If you really need the extra screen space, doesn’t it make more sense to buy a regular macbook and an ipad that you can use as an external display? Thus you get an additional 11”/ 13” display and regular keyboard and trackpad. Probably cheaper.
This product makes absolutely no sense.
This product makes absolutely no sense.
I cannot like this post enough.Yes, just like when iPhone was proclaimed "perfect" screen size by Apple at 3.5" for a couple of years... only to then move to 4" and proclaim that the new "perfect" supported by all that "one handed use", "fragmentation", pants with bigger pockets, and man-purses ridicule absolutely, positively saying with great confidence they would NEVER go to the "abominations" that were phablet-size phones.
What's in your pocket?
A magical thing about the Appledom: what Apple does NOT have for sale is pretty much undesirable, junk, gimmicky, useless, solution in search of a problem, etc only until they roll it out... and then it's generally "shut up and take my money" and "how did we ever get by without..."
Personally, I have zero interest in virtualizing a laptop keyboard within a screen (except perhaps for "in a pinch" situations like when the normal keyboard is dead/lost/broken), but I'd be much more interested if this unfolding screen is paired with a lidless MB piece with traditional keyboard + trackpad. Hello 20", 24", 30", 34" MB!.. with all such sizes still fitting in a traditional laptop bag thanks to the fold (or perhaps a rollable screen). Such tech ALREADY exists... just not from Apple... yet.
View attachment 2384143
So yes, all that added screen RE for a mobile device is also a useless, gimmicky, undesirable, solution in search of a problem, abomination, etc... until Apple rolls out their own version... and then WOW... how passionate opinions will almost certainly flip flop overnight!
Best I can tell, there are only 4 ways to maintaining mobility while creating more screen RE: 1) Virtual (screen), 2) Foldables, 3) Rollables, 4) Projected (on wall or other surface). There IS a market- and probably a sizable one- for mobile computing tech with bigger screen RE... just as there was a market for bigger-screen iPhones than the former "perfect" sizes. That's why everyone is working on various cuts at it... including Apple. Just as we now tend to tag 3.5" and 4" as puny screens and "how did we ever get by with...", this kind of thinking might eventually assign that same "puny" and similar to current phablet-size phones and even 16" screen laptops... especially if the bulk of the benefits of existing form factors beyond mobility can be retained.
I see no path to even a 20" MB by simply enlarging the existing form factor (imagine the WEIGHT of that)... certainly not 24" or 30" MBs: too much aluminum basically wasted in the bottom half so that it is as big as the top half. Ideas like this foldable screen, Vpro and similar are attempting to resolve that VERY tangible problem/want:
Bigger screen RE in MOBILE devices
Bring em on!
So many closed-minded people, "because I'll not find usage for it, it means it's stupid".
Constant complaints about Apple not innovating enough but when Apple drops something new or there's a rumor about something new you have people say how pointless it is.
Always the same cycle. Remember when people were saying smartphones are stupid? I remember.
I cant stretch an app window onto my iPad so it's not useful for people who need wider screens for things like video timelines or Photoshop palettes. An 19" laptop which fits in a smaller bag like a 12" laptop makes sense to me.
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It’s a fake story anyway. Apple already learned from Touch Bar and butterfly keyboard not to **** around too much with Mac design.
At the very most this is a large iPad for designers who want to folder it for travel and can use it as replacement for Wacom/Huion tablets that are over 16 inches.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
And conceptually, since there was once a 17" MB, a foldable screen that could be in the bag with the lidless half of a Mac could unfold to 34". Imagine a 34" MB for that video timeline! Since the screen folds to 17", it would still fit in any laptop bag that could hold that old MB 17". And actually, since even a 12"-13" MB can be big enough for normal sized keys + trackpads, this "laptop" could feature a very compact computing "half" with up to this 34" screen in the laptop bag because both "halves" would not have to be the same size.
My main screen is 40" ultra-wide. I love the expansive screen RE. I could never go back to anything less as my primary screen. And it's misery to step down to 16" when I have to hit the road.
But 34" would be quite appealing: almost as spacious to do any of that kind of work... less scrolling around to see as much... less need for mission control spaces because I can get more windows in the current range of view.
Personally, I think the ideal solution for this kind of want is a Vpro-like option with a lidless-MB, as described in a prior post (creaseless and same total weight with ANY size of screen that is desired). But for those who can't stand "something strapped to my face", ideas like this are trying to give them paths to much bigger screen MOBILITY too... if they want it. If some don't??? No problem. Existing form factors will probably persist as the long-established norm.
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