Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What I Want the Next Next Gen Macbook to Be

D

dukeace2094

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 19, 2010
102
0
San Jose, CA
this may not be exatly what I want but it is nearly it.

http://gizmodo.com/#!5375467/unfurl-the-rolltop-the-flexible-oled-display-laptop

imagine. a much more smooth looking device than the one in the video designed by apple's wonderful design team. it could be the size of the 11 inch mbook air and would be far big enough.

hat would be more than enough size with the keyboard is removed and a touch screen in place, fitting the entire 15 inch by 11.8 inch computer.

when necessary, a keyboard would pop up just like on the ipad and when you wanted it to leave or when you were done inputting the text, it would go away.

even if you wanted a trackpad. one could be prompted as a transparent box (kinda like when u drag your curser at your desktop) so that you could still see what is under it but can be used as a mouse for those who hate trying to click with just a finger.

Hell. at the size of the 11 inch air it would still be the ultimate multimedia device (yes, better than the ipad) when flattened and stood up. imagine the 13 inch one, obviously would be made slightly wider too. (even 15??) it it practically a tv. it could even be bent into two to create that ipadesque tablet experience with more mobility.

I guess this is what im trying to portray-

http://www.yankodesign.com/images/design_news/2009/04/27/macbook_touch.jpg

its just a bigger, flexible ipad with macbook pro power and osx. to me, the perfect device.

thoughts?
 
That's such a horrible idea, I don't know where to begin.
If you're going to have a roll-up 11" computer, then you can no longer call it a laptop.
A textile keyboard, no matter how convenient a touchscreen keyboard may be, is always superior, especially for us touch typists.
Even if the computer is 15" flattened out, it will never be as small as a MacBook Air. In a legal envelope, you can fit 8 MBA's. In that same envelope, even if your dream MBP is rolled up, at most only one can fit because it's so thick. It shows an inefficient use of space and real estate for the screen, because you have to develop the hinges for it to roll up in to.
Even if the screen can roll up, the CPU can't. The GPU can't, the heatsink can't, the Thunderbolt controller can't, RAM can't, etc.
Due to the amount of space that's inside the thing when it's rolled up, when you drop it, it's much less sturdy and can break easily.
For the roll-up screen to work, it needs an actual edge-to-edge OLED screen design, which is impossible due to when it's rolled up, the back of the screen will be exposed and damaged easily.
This will require a flexible glass, or glass that can join together to form a SINGLE PANE instead of multiple panes with visible seams.
The fact that it's not protected by a cover means it's very fragile, especially with all that glass and joints.
List goes on and on and on and on...
 
let me make myself clear i dont want it to be a roll up. I want the screen design of the roll up one but the fold away style of the current macbooks. Secondly i meant it would be the same size as the 13 inch air not necessarily 13 inches. so basically double the screen size... it still could easily be thin too. look at that vaio prototype from ces that presented a oled flexible display its thin as hell-

http://www.oled-display.net/images/netbook-prototype-with-oled.jpg

i dont want it to roll up thats hideous and is falsely portable. I wouldnt put that in a backpack ever. As for the textile keyboard, if it gave haptic feedback (maybe) and was pressure sensitive so you could still lay your hand on the keyboard, it wouldnt be nearly as bad as you portray it to be, or as bad as the ipad .

and it is protected. when folded just like a laptop, the back would be some kind of surface that could protect it. nothing like the ipad.
 
Last edited:
It's crazy, but ultimately it's a bad idea. When you're using a laptop, you want it to work. You need to have a stable design that will allow you to use it wherever you need to use it and also be portable as well. The above poster is right, certain components can't just be rolled; that means the device would have to have chunks large enough to hold the parts together. Now lets say we can achive this and can fit them all in one part, that argument is out of the door.

NExt you have to think about the structure and durability of the object. It would be horrible. It would be constantly rolled and unrolled, wearing away at the pieces that held the parts together and the internals that were constantly stretched and coiled on a daily basis.

As for productivity, tactile keyboards are the way to go if you are using multiple fingers. No matter how good you are with an on screen keyboard like the iPad (and I could type pretty fast on it) you could not both type and watch something else at the same time. This created some frustration when I tried using it to type notes in class while looking at the powerpoint or up at the professor. Whenever I gathered some information I had to stop, look down and then type. Yes I could look up from time to time but there was always a pause or disconnect from the lesson and I spent more time typing than I did actually learning.

It's an interesting concept but it isn't practical. It would take up more space than the traditional laptop does, it would have more hinges and a higher chance of breaking, and it wouldn't have tactile controls. Those are three major problems that you couldn't just overcome with an object like this.
 
dukeace2094 said:
let me make myself clear i dont want it to be a roll up. I want the screen design of the roll up one but the fold away style of the current macbooks. Secondly i meant it would be the same size as the 13 inch air not necessarily 13 inches. so basically double the screen size... it still could easily be thin too. look at that vaio prototype from ces that presented a oled flexible display its thin as hell-

http://www.oled-display.net/images/netbook-prototype-with-oled.jpg

i dont want it to roll up thats hideous and is falsely portable. I wouldnt put that in a backpack ever. As for the textile keyboard, if it gave haptic feedback (maybe) and was pressure sensitive so you could still lay your hand on the keyboard, it wouldnt be nearly as bad as you portray it to be, or as bad as the ipad .

and it is protected. when folded just like a laptop, the back would be some kind of surface that could protect it. nothing like the ipad.
Click to expand...

I don't get what you're saying by "double the screen size" while still having the fold away style. Do you mean like the Acer Iconia?
Also, the thinner the screen, the more fragile it is. I'd say the current thickness is perfect.
 
i think what you're asking for would be more suitable to a future generation iPad, not macbook...
 
i want something between the ipad and macbook. I DONT WANT IT TO ROLL UP, but i want one big single screen like in the video. yes like the acer iconia but instead of two screens one big flexible one. also, a verry intresting idea is that with a flexible display, you can create a textile keyboard. if key size squares pushed the bottom of the screen up to create a keyboard, that would eliminate the textile keyboard complaint. also they could push down just like current keyboard, the same way a spring works. and to clarify, this is what i want

http://imgur.com/1ScJH

http://imgur.com/OAsX0

sorry threw that up in like 3 mins. imagine it all one screen. bending in the ways a macbook currently does. but able to go flat to create a huge television-like screen. that is what i want. all the ports a macbook has, all the power, all the mac osx, just flexable touch screen.

a mac version of this is pure gold- http://regmedia.co.uk/2009/01/10/sony_2.jpg
 
dukeace2094 said:
i want something between the ipad and macbook. I DONT WANT IT TO ROLL UP, but i want one big single screen like in the video. yes like the acer iconia but instead of two screens one big flexible one. also, a verry intresting idea is that with a flexible display, you can create a textile keyboard. if key size squares pushed the bottom of the screen up to create a keyboard, that would eliminate the textile keyboard complaint. also they could push down just like current keyboard, the same way a spring works. and to clarify, this is what i want

http://imgur.com/1ScJH

http://imgur.com/OAsX0

sorry threw that up in like 3 mins. imagine it all one screen. bending in the ways a macbook currently does. but able to go flat to create a huge television-like screen. that is what i want. all the ports a macbook has, all the power, all the mac osx, just flexable touch screen.

a mac version of this is pure gold- http://regmedia.co.uk/2009/01/10/sony_2.jpg
Click to expand...

Dual screens like the Iconia with a ton of horsepower is horrible for battery. Plus, Apple does not support multitouch screens on Macs (as opposed to the trackpad).
Also, it would be extremely fragile. Flexible glass is an oxymoron, so it has to be made out of plastic (and you know how much it scratches).
It would be big and clunky; otherwise the plastic screen would have heat issues. The laptop wouldn't close properly without screen damage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back