The World's First Four-Screen Laptop 134
Barence writes "Intel has stunned visitors at IDF by showing off the world's first four-screen laptop. The oddly-named 'Tangent Bay' has three miniature touchscreens set horizontally into the case below the main, full-sized panel. It is a fully functional prototype: delegates were able to scroll photos around the touchscreens by swiping with a finger. The idea smacked a little too much of the ill-fated Vista SideShow." Seems strange that they would put the screens above the keyboard. I think embedding an iPhone type touchscreen in place of the trackpad would be a far more useful thing.
Useful (Score:5, Interesting)
Seems strange that they would put the screens above the keyboard.
Actually, when done correctly it works good. Myself I have Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard [logitech.com], which has 320x240 color LCD on the top of keyboard. Now I dont play much, but I find the keyboard really nice with its extra buttons that you can use for macros etc (and I get teh nerdy "command center" feel ;)
The main thing I use it for is the cpu/ram meters. I know I could get it on the screen aswell, but I dont like that as I tend to run everything on fullscreen.. browser, visual studio, irc and just alt-tab between them. That is why desktop widgets dont work, because I never see them. On the other hand always-on-top widgets would be in the way all the time. But when its running on the lcd screen on keyboard that I dont all the time use for something else, its nice.
Another thing that I frequently use with the LCD is the YouTube player. When people paste some youtube link, I copy it to clipboard and instead of opening new browser tab and bringing it on top of the screen, it starts playing on the lcd screen. That way I can watch the video without actually putting all my concentration on it.
The screen is also great for providing all kinds of information from various programs, like chat windows, irc, rss reader, music player, stats or healthbars and so on in games. On an interesting note, someone even developed a counter-strike hack that used the lcd screen to display its menu and a radar. That way there wasn't any hack related menus etc on the actual screen, so screenshots didn't catch it.
However it looks like you would be looking at that laptop's screens from 45 or higher angle, which cant be that nice. Maybe they could had added another surface between screen and keyboard so that it would be angled better. But like the article says, its just a prototype to show off intel's experiements, and not likely a product.
Extra small screens can be really useful. It's a great place to show information or content that would get in the way if it was on your actual monitor. Having second monitor on side usually tends to go into other purposes and isn't usually on the view as good as lcd on top of your keyboard.
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What's next, airplanes with two or three sets of wings?
Been there [wikipedia.org]. Done that [wikipedia.org]. Minimalism is all the rave nowadays, like doing away with the freaking fuselage [wikipedia.org].
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Gillette - Because it's not a close enough shave if you don't need a blood transfusion afterwards.
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Multiple screens
Reminds me of the psycho killer in "There's Something About Mary"
It reminds me of the Crystal Palace War Room screens in WarGames. I'd be tempted to have a brute force codebreaker running in the center low screen.
"Woah now, hold it! You can't be browsin' the web in here; people might get distracted!"
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The main thing I use it for is the cpu/ram meters.
Serious question. Not trying to troll or whatever else.
What do you do with your computer that makes CPU/RAM meters something you look at often?
I ask this because I was searching for a theme to dim Snow Leopard and I kept running across these very busy desktops with all sorts of meters and such on them. I do a whole bunch of Photoshop, and a lot of video editing, so my computers tend to be well stocked with CPU and RAM, which I did specifically because I don't want to have to pay attention to the machine's r
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but I'm wondering what the actual useful applications might be.
Quite simple actually, they tell you when you need to start closing stuff. See my computers often get laggy because I'm doing many things at once and it's useful to know who the culprit is. Did I forget to shut down a tab with flash in it, or did something hang in the background and made everything crap. Often with two cores you'll get a hung app and not notice for a few days before you tax the other core enough to start problems.
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Yep, thats the thing. Those hanging programs are even more of a problem with quad core, since they only hang one of them so you dont really notice. But when the meter shows that one core is all the time taking 100%, you know some program has hanged.
Interestingly I noticed this on my laptop just a few days ago. Things weren't as fast, but not really slow either. When I happened to look at the process monitor, I found that Firefox had been hanging there for a few days taking 50% of cpu :)
You also easily notic
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> Interestingly I noticed this on my laptop just a few days ago. Things weren't as fast, but not really slow either. When I happened to look at the process monitor, I found that Firefox had been hanging there for a few days taking 50% of cpu :)
On Windows you can just run task manager - it minimizes to an icon and you can see if something is wedged. Actually on a laptop it's pretty easy to tell even without looking because you can hear the fan spin up.
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But that only tells the overall usage - its harder to notice with dual/quad cores since it only takes a small amount.
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If your CPU usage is 50% and you're on a dual core system, one core is running at 100%.
Same with quad core - if it stays pegged at 25%, something process is stuck.
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Re: What do you do with your computer that makes CPU/RAM meters something you look at often?
Easy: if you're in a development environment, developers, QA, and release engineering types would all find that useful.
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I would LOVE to have a small 3-7" screen
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It's almost like we need some kind of "Dashboard" for little widgets that we want easy access to, but don't want to clutter our screen with all the time.
I guess I'm not a fan of this display concept since it could be duplicated with a taller screen and software, but with the additional flexibility of using the extra space as part of the main display area.
I guess for gaming it could be a bit different.
Touchscreens... (Score:5, Insightful)
What's with all the hype about touch screens? And THREE of them? What possible use could the third one serve when no OS I know of plays nicely with even the first one? Do they have fingerprint protection at least?
Yes, it looks cool, I'll give you that. But so does the 3 megabytes of xorg.conf to make them work properly, and you still don't get application support.
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Yes, it looks cool, I'll give you that. But so does the 3 megabytes of xorg.conf to make them work properly, and you still don't get application support.
You could try using a windowing system where you don't need to fart around with things like xorg.conf.
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You could try using a windowing system where you don't need to fart around with things like xorg.conf.
Let's pretend I do. Can I use this in a meaningful manner with a browser? How about a video player, an IDE, an image viewer, IM, anything that wasn't specifically written for this?
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Clearly it depends on the implementation, but...
Each subscreen could act as a mini-desktop so that you could "minimize" an application like a browser or video to a smaller screen and still run your main app full screen in the large LCD while keeping an eye on other apps. You'd be able to run multiple apps without losing any screen real estate. Likewise, a quick tap could bring the application to the main screen and minimize the other app to an open subscreen. This could be implemented in the OS and wouldn't
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Why throw hardware at a software problem?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiling_window_manager [wikipedia.org]
Now, don't jump down my throat just yet. Yes, I realize these are not for most people, but your "minimize" idea reminded me of dwm and xmonad's default tiling behavior. While replacing standard window managers with things like dwm and xmonad wouldn't be acceptable, perhaps standard window managers should be extended with faculties that allow easy tiling when desired. Supplying this particular need with hardware s
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somehow the idea that our brains can handle 4 independent moving objects at the same idea is what tehy are going for.
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They dont need to be interacting all the time. This can be really useful for things like cpu/ram monitor, chatting, now playing or video. The another example people have here is the multidesktop thing, where you could change between desktops with the mini screens. Of course nothing world exploding, but small things like these can be quite useful.
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You only have one set of eyes, they can only focus on so much. With a high resolution display, we already have things like CPU/RAM monitors/etc already in a single display, maybe on a toolbar or on a status bar. So what is the difference if we put it somewhere else *away* from what you are looking at, other than inconvenience? I don't mean this as a personal attack to you, I am inquiring to you directly.
Just like how MS lets you minimize the task manager, or the windows/linux/any os system tray?
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what about minimizing things that you don't need to see?
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hmmm (Score:2)
unlock the taskbar so changes can occur
click the windows taskbar in a blank area
drag the taskbar off the bottom-like to the side....
I use a 24wide in landscape mode, next to a 20wide in portrait orientation off to the right
depending on the task at hand, my taskbar is on the left side of the 24"monitor or on the right side of the 20
either way it's about the same height, & I can read enough of the titles to intelligently pick the window I want at the front.
I just wish to christ I could have the start butt
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its been a while but I know there's an application/plugin/something that can replicate the start button separately, widget I believe.
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There's a Logitech G19 gaming keyboard with an LCD that can play You Tube videos. Lots of laptops have a low res OLED screen for information.
No basically.
I remember back in the old days it was really useful to run SoftIce on a mono card while you were doing full screen stuff on an SVGA one. Maybe you could use it to run a text mode console so you can fix your xorg.conf when the main display is fubar.
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I think the point about the number of screens is valid, but not the point about lack of compatibility. This is concept design. Obviously nothing supports it yet. Why would anything support it if it's in existence?
I'm also willing to bet that at the show they demonstrated other UI abilities that the article didn't talk about
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I'm also willing to bet that at the show they demonstrated other UI abilities that the article didn't talk about
I'm willing to bet that if such abilities existed, they would have made it not just into the article, but the summary as well. Maybe selective zooming for Photoshop or something, once it'll support this.
The keyboard + mouse combination is a powerful one, there are basically no UI input problems that need to be solved anymore.
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These Wacom tablets [wacom.com] have screens now, it would be useful to have something similar in a laptop. Even better would be to have one on the outside of the laptop as well.
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Do they have fingerprint protection at least?
Yeah, right? One thing that drives me crazy is when people touch my screen. Usually it's an accident, but I still have to clean it off. No worries; spilled milk.
Come to think of it, for me a touch screen interface makes about as much sense as a milk-based drink that you serve by pouring on the floor.
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They only really need two large touch screens: one for the monitor, and one for the keyboard. In a laptop form factor, it's even better, because you can turn it sideways like the dual-screen e-book readers to make one huge screen, or present two interfaces for on-the-spot multiplayer gaming.
oblig (Score:2, Funny)
That's a laptop? (Score:5, Funny)
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The hell are you talking about?
It clearly says the touchscreens are OLED. Where is this 1996 coming from?
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access to multiple desktops (Score:4, Interesting)
If the touch screens represented the active desktops, that would be neato. You could just tap one to switch it out with the deskop displayed on the panel.
Re:access to multiple desktops (Score:4, Informative)
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I dunno, being able to see the other desktops is certainly a boon. Also, how is 'CTRL+ALT+arrow key' easier than 'touch the desktop that looks like the one you want'? Hell, even your grandmother could do the second one.
It's probably not worth the money for most people right now, but if PC enthusiasts cared about how much it cost to make their e-peens bigger, we wouldn't have titanium computer cases with elaborite window artwork showcasing a UV-reactive liquid cooling setup in the shape of the Ark of the
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Also, how is 'CTRL+ALT+arrow key' easier than 'touch the desktop that looks like the one you want'? Hell, even your grandmother could do the second one.
True. But my grandmother doesn't keep her hands in the "home" position on the keyboard. By "easier" I meant "more efficient over thousands of uses" not "more intuitive to understand how to use the first time". Moving a hand away from keyboard, and then back, each time I want to switch desktops is significantly more inefficient - and this is based on months of experience working with a KVM switch placed right in front of my keyboard.
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I use VirtuaWin on XP and have Alt+(1|2|3|4) to change to my desktops, which is pretty easy, and I never took a typing class. And the only parts of my body actually above my desk are my forearms and head. So I'm not exactly sitting in ergonomic positions. And it's still very easy for me. Plus I have these icons in the task bar that let me switch using my mouse, which on my ThinkPad is a trackpoint, so I never take my hands off the keyboard.
Plus, your grandma would still have to reach over the keyboard t
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In this case, you can see activity and alerts. You do't need to switch screens to check.
I could see a use for putting Social network client in thos windows as well.
Of course, I've been wanting to see a monitor that 'unfolds' into 2 or 3 monitors for years.
Reminds me of mtv.. (Score:1, Funny)
Yo dawg...
Meh (Score:4, Insightful)
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http://www.gamepc.com/shop/systemfamily.asp?family=gpcp4 [gamepc.com]
Tiny touchscreens? Meh indeed.
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try the Gefen DVI - USB adapter (Score:2)
How do you tag a story? (Score:1, Offtopic)
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Can someone enlighten me?
The garbageman puts your recyclables in the same truck as the rest of the trash.
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It used to work for me, then they introduced the +/- grey bar and it stopped working for me. Typical Slashdot though, "bad coding barely achieves aims". Still, could be worse, could be Facebook.
Apparently... (Score:2)
...it only works if you use the "Firehose". Click on Firehose link, and from there click on "Stories".
Now you have all the +/- thingamajigs, tagging works. And it will keep working as long as you use "the hose".
Bastards! Now I have to do some extra clicking every time I want to tag everything "dick", "fuck", "cunt", "sucks", "ass" and other useful tags.
Oh... Firefox 3.5.3 here. But it was the same for the earlier versions as well.
not very creative (Score:2, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
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(You left the most crucial part out, which goes something like this)
P.S.
Sorry about your dick, pal
Notice the film strip across the three touchscreen (Score:2)
Personally I like the concept of the smaller "informational" screen. I don't have anything specific visualized yet but I'm sure it can come in handy, working with a list of emails, a calendar, and perhaps a seperate IM screen, etc.
Another possible use is to take advantage of the Aero effect from Vista (or m
To which Gillette replied... (Score:5, Funny)
To which Gillette replied, "Fuck everything, we're doing five screens!"
- RG>
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To which Gillette replied, "Fuck everything, we're doing five screens!"
- RG>
LOL. Reall funny. Never quite realize why Proctor and Gamble would not enter into the consumer electronic business. They hire enough engineers each year to make something like that work, and they have the marketing machines to push any products into the market!
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Ha, nice. I came in here looking for the Onion reference [theonion.com].
Why don't they... (Score:2)
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http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-tactus/
http://www.techrevision.com/2007/06/13/lcd_keyboard
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It could be interesting - when you wanted to use it as a book, turn it 90% and you have a familiar form factor. Everybody will whine about the touch keyboard, but pretty much all laptop keyboards are a poor compromise anyways (sorry Apple, we know you tried). Include a free bluetooth keyboard in the box to quiet them down.
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Sort of like this?
http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet [gizmodo.com]
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but does it run OSX?
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Yes, the optimus tacticus I linked to above tends to gets universally bad reviews due to no tactile response causing slow and inaccurate typing.
To me, nothing says quality like a good old IBM model m keyboard. Big heavy keys that go click. With the weight and durability to bash someone over the head and get back to typing without damaging the keyboard.
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the Atari 400 sucked because it had a membrane keyboard with little-to-no tactile feedback. Typing on those things SUCKED; touch typing was a near-impossibility, and those "keys" were slightly raised. Even many laptop keyboards suck ass for touch typing. Are you seriously suggesting that keyboards become totally flat, Star Trek:TNG style?
Good for? (Score:5, Funny)
Wow, that looks great for scrolling through photo album thumbnails. And for... um... No, wait, I'm sure I'll think of something...
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No, wait, I'm sure I'll think of something...
Porno, with every alternative camera angle playing simultaneously !
Fail (Score:1)
I could see a touchscreen touchpad (like what was rumoured for the MacBook Pros once in the past), but this is just silly. I prefer the laptop that had the fold-out full-sized second screen.
This makes the laptop deeper (or the touchpad area smaller, moving the keyboard forward into a more awkward position).
On the other hand, a single touchscreen display for launching things with icons, changing volume graphically, etc, is better than the Optimus keyboard in many ways.
Does it run Linux? Drivers? Battery Life? (Score:2)
Seriously, I don't get the warm fuzzies from the current video driver manufacturers fro normal laptops in either Wintendo or Linux, I can't imagine the support nightmare for a laptop with one main screen and three sub-screens.
On that note - what about battery life?
Screen savers?
Why three touchscreens? (Score:5, Interesting)
The word useless comes to mind... (Score:1)
Disappointing... (Score:2)
At first I thought this was a laptop with four FULL SIZED screens, people have been adding tiny screens to everything. Bummer!
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ob quote (Score:2)
I am not saying this is not useful, simply that putting more stuff in does not make it better or more useful.
Pfss, that's nothing (Score:2)
My laptop has 1 280 * 768 little screens.
And a few monochrome ones for power indication and such.
WTF, those tiny LCDs count as screens? (Score:4, Insightful)
LoB
meh. (Score:2)
Intel has stunned visitors at IDF by showing off the world's first four-screen laptop. The oddly-named 'Tangent Bay' has three miniature touchscreens set horizontally into the case below the main, full-sized panel. It is a fully functional prototype: delegates were able to scroll photos around the touchscreens by swiping with a finger. The idea smacked a little too much of the ill-fated Vista SideShow.
Four-screen laptop? I expected a laptop with 4 roughly full-sized screens. Not one full-sized screen and three tiny ones. And those three tiny ones, due to their positioning, may as well be one oddly-shaped screen.
Seems strange that they would put the screens above the keyboard. I think embedding an iPhone type touchscreen in place of the trackpad would be a far more useful thing.
While I agree that an iPhone type touchscreen could be very handy instead of a trackpad... I can also see some utility having those screens above the keyboard. It could be a nice way to display additional information without cluttering up your workspace - maybe the toolbars for Photo Shop, or
4 screens (Score:1)
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Yo dawg we heard you like posting played out memes so we killed your family.
Screens located near the trackpad (Score:1)
I hope this kind of thing comes to market (Score:2)
Hey Dell! Update the M6400 with this and the i7 please! Oh, and be sure Linux fully supports it; preferably OpenSUSE and Kubuntu. OpenSolaris support would be a nice bonus as well.
Seriously though this would be an excellent feature in mainstream workstation replacements. How about firing up an IDE with a dedicated screen for the debugger, one for resource monitoring, and of course, one for watching hulu while you work?
iphone type touchscreen (Score:2)
4 screens??? (Score:2)
video everywhere all the time (Score:1, Offtopic)
Yo dawg... (Score:1, Redundant)
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Being a geek I used duck tape. Now I can't see the iPhone screen. Help.
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