Meet the Laptop of 2015

cweditor writes "Like concept cars at auto shows, the computer industry designs 'concept notebooks' to imagine the machines of the future. The 'concepts' may not come to market as-is, but it's likely some of their ideas, components and features will. Take a look at systems you might be using in 7 years. In one, a touch-sensitive screen acts as the system's keyboard and mouse, allowing you to slide your finger across the screen to immediately shut off the display and keep what you're working on confidential. Their associated image gallery includes a prototype for a dual-screen laptop."

That's nothing new

I have a "concept model" of a dual screen laptop. It fits in my hand and can play Mario Bros.

Re:That's nothing new

The difference is that it's a gaming machine, not anything that matters. The dual screen is a terr-rrr-rrr-rrr-ible idea and it will never be on a successful laptop.

Re:That's nothing new

You mean until it is successful, right?

With vibration, haptic advances, visual, and audio feedback, what is wrong with a second touch sensitive screen as the keyboard?

Then when you don't need it as a keyboard, it can become a tool-kit, palette, and any other interface you need.

Re:That's nothing new

Using a touch-screen as a keyboard is a terrible idea, and only good for very casual users.

For the typical road-warrior that totes a laptop around, you need a keyboard that you can type on without having to look at it.

Touch screens work adequately for systems like the iPhone where you need to be looking at the display anyway, but are useless on a laptop where you need to be able to type quickly and move on and off the keyboard without having to look at it all the time.

Re:That's nothing new

dual screen is useful until you figure out you can watch video on one while you work on the other

Re:That's nothing new

No sane computer user would ever have two monitors on one desk, and 640k is enough for anyone.

Re:That's nothing new

And it runs Linux [dslinux.org]! Not to sound like a snob, but I own two because not enough of my friends own their own.

small dual screens is kind of a dumb idea

I've always thought the idea of dual screens on the Gameboy DS was a bit of a strange idea. I mean, why not just use one screen that is twice as big? Then, games that want to use a 'dual screen' concept can always split the screen in half and draw one set of stuff to one half, and another set of stuff to the other half. But, other games can use it as a single, large screen.

I personally think it probably comes down to cost - it's cheaper for Nintendo to buy two smaller screens than a single large screen. My understanding of LCD technology is that, apparently, it's difficult to grow the crystals without bad pixels, so that as the screens get larger, they rapidly get more expensive, because it's decreasingly likely that you'll get an LCD panel of a particular size without flaws - so all the flawed ones either get thrown away, or maybe they can cut them down to smaller displays (that is, cut out the bad part and end up with 1 or 2 smaller panels) and sold more cheaply at the small size?

Anyhow - *my* laptop of the future has a simple white (or neutral color) flap onto which a display can be projected, and the flap can be folded under the laptop when I want to project onto another surface, like a projection screen or white wall. That is, a laptop with built-in projector, not an LCD. (I suppose, ultimately, for power consumption purposes, you'll never have a projector built in, because it would take too much energy to run, but I can dream, right?)

I'll be dead by then

You insensitive clod!

In the future nobody touches anything

Apparently in the future the idea of tactile feedback is dead and everybody just types on glass screens like in the movies. Presumably these laptop designers have not actually tried that themselves to see just how much people actually like typing on a piece of glass with no cues at to where the keys are.

Re:In the future nobody touches anything

Tactile feedback is kinda overrated. I have an iPhone and I like it. Even typing is fairly easy...(for the small space). Even for a full laptop I doubt that the lack of tactile feedback will be a major problem in the long run. You just have to get use to it. It is funny the Technology Croud who is working with one of the fastes areas of change are often the most resistant to it.

Re:In the future nobody touches anything

Type a lengthy text message without looking at the phone's keyboard. Quickly. ^_^ I mean, there's a reason there's a bump on the 'F' and 'J' keys on the keyboard I'm using at the moment. A good reason.

Re:In the future nobody touches anything

Why wouldn't a touch-screen provide the bump? Vibration (or advanced haptic technology) can provide that.

Even better, with a touch screen, EVERYWHERE you put your fingers, initially, is the homerow.

Re:In the future nobody touches anything

There's been plenty of research into tactile touchscreens already (Nokia seem to think they're on to something [redferret.net]). I'm sure there will be more within the next 7 years.

Re:In the future nobody touches anything

Agreed. Typing on rigid, flat surfaces is painful and inefficient.

Which is why a combination of the concepts presented in the article would be far more attractive than any of them separately (I'm surprised the author of the piece didn't pick up on this): One of the laptops is billed as being "for blind people" because the surface can deform to generate bumps that the blind can read. The rest of the laptops have flat touch-screens for keyboards. Which is great for dynamic layouts but sucks for typing.

But combining them would be amazing. Imagine a keyboard that can reconfigure not only what is displayed on each key (like the Optimus), but also the keys themselves. If this "surface deformation" technology was good enough (and could be integrated with flexible displays) then you could have a surface that acts as a flat screen some of the time (for reading e-books, as a drawing pad, etc.) but generates the tactile relief of keys when typing is required.

More generally, it could reconfigure to generate new keyboard layouts as required. This would also solve one of the criticisms with the iPhone and iPod touch: you can't operate them without looking directly at the keys. Imagine if in addition to visual changes on the screen, there were bumps and grooves that dynamically appeared so that by touch alone you could feel the current key layout.

This, to me, is the ultimate future for compact computing devices: we will have screens that can vary both display and topography. Of course the technology to do this will be difficult to "get right" (key topography is only half of typing: you need the keys to "spring" properly)... but there is nothing impossible in principle about having deformable surfaces with integrated flexible displays.

Re:In the future nobody touches anything

As much as people keep going on about their iPhones, you need tactile feedback to type at any speed, and to do it without looking. These screens might work okay for an occasional use notebook but not as a general purpose business machine.

Not only do normal keyboards provide an excellent method of interfacing with a computer, they also cushion the fingers as you type so you don't experience pain and pressure by tapping away at a hard surface all day.

It looks pretty as a rendered image, but functionally I'd never own a computer for regular use that didn't have a normal keyboard - unless you could speak to the computer as you would in Star Trek land.

Re:In the future nobody touches anything

Tactile feedback is making a big comeback in cars and I expect to see it stay in laptops.

As in, when you hit another car, it gives you obvious physical feedback, such as smashing your face in with the dashboard?

No but seriously, I'm curious what you're talking about here.

Not to poo-poo, but...

This concept art all looks like my first-year 3d design projects. Are they developing new plastics that will automatically produce lens-flares against any light source available? God, I hope so.

One thing I noticed...

... it looks like the laptops of the future all have crappy keyboards.

It's the whole "gee, look, with touch-sensitive screens we can paint a keyboard on the screen that you can use instead of an actual keyboard!"

How the heck are you supposed to touch-type on something that gives you no tactile response?

Re:One thing I noticed...

"How the heck are you supposed to touch ... something that gives you no tactile response?"

May I introduce you to my wife?

Hardly "futuristic"...

A whole bunch of "futuristic" designs, and not one that utilizes a flexible LCD.

With a flexible LCD that rolls up when not in use, coupled with a flexible keyboard that likewise rolls up, one can escape (at least partially), the limiting factor of computer design...that is, having a system that a human can interface with comfortably.

Confidential....riiiiight

FTFS: "allowing you to slide your finger across the screen to immediately shut off the display and keep what you're working on confidential"

Will it automatically hide the box of kleenex and bottle of hand lotion, too?

Worst ideas ever

Seriously, the people who came up with this stuff are completely unimaginative and idiotic. Tactile feedback for typing is almost a necessity given you *don't f-ing look at the keyboard while typing*!! The only "future laptop" with some actual touch feedback they showed was the oily blob, which I don't even know how to approach. If I want to replace my laptop with an oily blob, I'll gain 200 pounds and sit on the table myself.

The one that turns into a book viewer if you turn it 90 degrees is a total joke. Seriously, take your laptop right now, turn it 90 degrees so that the break between the two "halves" is vertical, and tell me that's a comfortable way to handle reading material. Unless it's laying flat on the table (in which case it better be quite small) it's completely unmanageable.

The one they showed slung over the steering wheel of a car, that's just bad. BAD BAD BAD! Hey guys, here's a piece of crap with a touch-screen keyboard you have to stare at in order to use that you can hang right on your steering wheel! And then what, drive and type? That looks like the most uncomfortable thing ever even if you're parked.

I give all these "laptops of the future" an EPIC FAIL out of 10.

I don't want a laptop at all

What I want is my 1TB USB keychain (or iphone) to have my favorite OS, apps, and all my data, and to be able to plug it into CPU/keyboard/mouse/display/diskless/OSless stations in airplanes, cafes, hotels, etc.

The various Linux-on-a-thumbdrive distributions and products are a step in the right direction. What we really need now is for vendors to design stations that these doodads can plug into.

Re:Obvious question

But of course! In 2015, everything runs Linux and OEMs ship it pre-installed. We know this because, as everyone knows, 2008 will be the year of Linux on the desktop.