Dual Screen/Display Laptop

DrFishstik writes "A friend of mine sent me a link to his uncle's startup, featuring dual screen laptops. Literally, two LCDs! It is a really interesting design, and in (as far as I know) the late beta stages. Could be a real boon for video developers or web designers on the go down the road..."

Comments

Cool

[Kajakske]

Now they can actually bring out electronic books which you can read in your bed. You even have the same lay-out (2 pages at once) ...

However, you'd have to hold it. For some uses this is better, but for others, the conventional positioning is much easier.

We'll see what it gives, I guess.

Re:Cool

[ackthpt]

Now they can actually bring out electronic books which you can read in your bed.

I suggest trying to read something on a conventional laptop, in bed, before speculating what a boon this would be. I find laptops to be difficult at best for reading. Try a palm-size computer. Even my ultra-slim Sony VAIO comes in at 2 pounds and generates considerable heat.

I worry about cooking the CPU when resting it on insulative materials, like a comforter. In the summer I occasionally receive a mild burn if I set it on my knees while wearing shorts.

Further, it's unwieldy if you shift position as often as I do, usually I read on my side or back, and a 4 oz. paperback or magazine still works best. Further, it doesn't require batteries. :o)

For dual screens, it's great for development takes place on one and preview uses the other screen. Probably good for demoing where control requires one screen and display on the other.

Ouch. That was fast.

[DavittJPotter]

One comment and it's already unavailable... How about "Dual Web Servers for Load Balancing"?

UGH...

[Anonymous Coward]

I am so not going back to that website after it attempted to install some comet cursor rubbish. Spyware, stay away.

Re:UGH...

[Kajakske]

You know, you can just click 'no' when asked to install, even in windows ...

I want one

[fozzy(pro)]

So like this is the best of the previous dual screen latops mentioned here and a tablet. Imagine having a slide of what you are discussing on one side notes on the other...genuine notebook style. Would help me alot in school and work. Also much better nt lugging many notebooks in snow.

Here's one already available

[edgarde]

The Xentex Voyager is already available as far as I know. I covet the Linux version they claim they're developing drivers for. $5000 tho.

Re:Here's one already available

[SirSlud]

Dude, putting that thing away is origami!

There's an important distinction here. This dual LCD puppy (its very cool, maybe somebody else has made one before) is the closest thing, interface wise, to an electronic book as I've seen.

Re:Here's one already available

[alumshubby]

Dual-page display on a laptop with a comfortably-sized keyboard? This thing is a technical writer's wet dream.

Re:Here's one already available

[LoudMusic]

All they've done there is make a big laptop with a bar down the middle of the screen. What's the good in that!?! Why not just have a single big ass screen? Dell, Apple, Gateway, even AlienWare ... they've all already made such devices, and they're not $5000. I haven't been able to see the laptop featured by this article, but surely it's better than this thing.

Re:Here's one already available

[swillden]

This dual LCD puppy (its very cool, maybe somebody else has made one before) is the closest thing, interface wise, to an electronic book as I've seen.

Yes, there have been others, the only difference is that the others I've seen run a proprietary OS and can only be books. Without a keyboard, it's not clear how much can be done with this device.

However, I see this attitude about bookiness and dual pages all the time, and it bugs me. Why is it that people seem to think that having two pages makes an electronic device more like a book? The fact that you tend to look at two pages at a time with paper books is an artifact of their construction and the fact that it's efficient to print on both sides of each piece of paper, not because there's any inherent advantage to seeing two pages at a time.

In fact, for an e-book used to read novels, two-page displays have a signnificant disadvantage: You need two hands to hold them. A smaller, single-screen device can be held with one hand. Sure, you only have to "turn" the pages half as often with a two-screen device, but with, for example, the Gemstar or Rocket e-books(*), turning the page takes just a twitch of the thumb on the hand holding the book.

With reference materials, I can see an advantage to dual-screen books: the ability to display pages from different parts of a document or even different documents, to correlate their contents. However, being limited to displaying only two such pages is a problem: how many of you have ever sat on the floor surrounded by five opened textbooks, with assorted ad-hoc bookmarks marking several pages within each? Very useful. I suppose the effect could be approximated more compactly by an electronic device with the ability to define a number of tabs or buttons that jump instantly to a particular location in a particular document. If you have that, though, the advantage of dual screens mostly evaporates.

Further, a dual-screen device is going to be heavier, have more moveable (and breakable!) parts, be more awkward in tight spaces and generall more of a pain to work with.

Nope, even though paper books show two pages at a time, electronic books gain nothing and lose much by trying to mimic paper too closely.

(*) I own two Rocket e-Books. The first I got three years ago and have used so heavily that I beat the poor thing nearly to death, so a few weeks ago I acquired another, used, device that is in good condition. The ability to read anytime, anywhere -- in the dark, while exercising, while eating, at the beach, in the shower, etc., -- coupled with the ability to carry a half dozen novels at all times in one compact package is simply fantastic, and far superior to paper in nearly every respect. The only disadvantages I've found are: (1) no reading during takeoff and landing, which is pure silliness, but what can you do? and (2) extended trips to locations without power. The battery will last for several days, but on a week-long backpacking trip, for example, the battery would die. Not that I've taken any such trips; getting babysitters for that long is essentially impossible.

Re:Here's one already available

[swillden]

Wow, I never imagined reading a book in the shower, or even taking my $500 palm in there with me.

One word: Ziploc

Re:Here's one already available

[SirSlud]

Despite a joystick being repeatedly proven to offer better control to the driver, we still drive cars with steering wheels. Why? Because thats what humans are used to.

Books are indeed subject to the physical and mechanical contraints on their manufacture. But now people are used to books. They like books. They know how they work. They seem familliar.

Thus, any limitations of the physical manifestation of a 'book' are superceded by the familliarity people have with them. Put simply, adoption of technology often heavily depends on how small a learning curve there is to become familiar with said new technology. Its in the ebook industry's interest to get people using ebooks (using a computer similar to a regular book), and then improving on the design over time rather rather than simply trying to develop a technology who places its chances on success soley on progressive engineering rather than familiarity of interface/design.

Why do you think segways get made so much fun of? Why do you think they called it the 'horseless carrige'? New technology needs to harken to the technology its meant to replace or it simply doesn't often succeed.

Re:Here's one already available

[swillden]

So what?

If you're moving from paper to an electronic device, you have to get past the familiarity issue, because no electronic device will be just like paper. Given that you're choosing to learn something new, why saddle yourself with a great deal of annoyance just to retain one small measure of similarity?

In this case, I think it's *not* in the ebook industry's best interest to try to entice people with dual-page books. Why? Becuase they're a pain in the neck! They're better off giving people something that's a little more different but much more usable. Otherwise, they're likely to decide that there just aren't enough benefits to ebooks to outweigh the disadvantages

Finally!

[Bowie J. Poag]

Finally! A laptop with extra GAY!!! :)

Cheers,

dang...

[Shymon]

well i had money i left over for christmas. yet another toy i must somehow justify getting.

how can a free news source indirectly end up taking all my free cash?

hmm.... enimity

[tanveer1979]

I think your friend does not like his uncle very much, a good way to take revenge.. slashdot the startup to the dot com heaven.... my god.. people can be paranoid ;-)

Re:hmm.... enimity

[glesga_kiss]

Personally, if I was running a tech start up, being slashdotted could be the best thing to ever happen. Lot's of free publicity in your target market is a Good Thing (tm). Hell, you can even read the comments for some of the best feedback you will ever get, from people who generally know what they are talking about.

You can't buy a service like this anywhere!

Penny's "computer book"

[Glytch]

Anyone else remember Inspector Gadget? As soon as I saw pictures of this, it's what I immediately thought of. Looks interesting. If someone could write a version of Ghostview that could display a page on each screen, it would be a nice e-book reader.

Re:Penny's "computer book"

[nounderscores]

Warning! Contains metal cutting laser!

Not recommended for child geniuses or talking dogs under 3 years old.

Re:My lap top already does dual screen

[jridley]

I have a Dell 8200 with a GeForce 4 video card; it implements the TV out as dualhead - it's pretty nice, I can play the kids a movie on the TV and continue to work/surf on the main display.

Re:Pointless

[carlos_benj]

I'm not sure what 'protability' is, but this would be just as portable as a laptop because it's basically two laptop sized screens that fold together. Unless your laptop has an inspector gadget keyboard and screen that folds multiple times (with cartoon sound effects?) and slips into your pocket you have not made a valid point.

Uncle Estari?

[eingram]

An interesting feature would be turn it sideways (so it looks like a traditional laptop) and one screen displays an on-screen keyboard so you could at least type somewhat normal.

You could almost pull it off with Windows 2000/XP on-screen keyboard, but it's too small and doesn't rotate 90 degrees.

Re:smoke and flames

[Daniel Dvorkin]

I bet the kid's uncle is real happy about now, with his web server smoking and getting ready to burst into flames and all.

Yeah, no shit. "Hey, Uncle Joe, I told my friend about your business and he posted it on Slashdot! You should be getting tons of interest now!"

"Um, gee, kid, thanks ... I think ..."

Creates a better possibiliy for ...

[Gyan]

a virtual menage-a-trois for the sex-starved geeks.

Re:My lap top already does dual screen

[glesga_kiss]

As long as you don't run Win2k, that's fine. For some reason, MS completely broke laptop dual-heading under that OS. Works fine with two discreet graphics cards in a desktop apparently.

Ah well, X2VNC is much better anyway, sure you need two machines, but one can be *nix and you get shared keyboard/mouse between the two displays and even better; cut & paste between them.

And it's free. Highly recommended if you work with several machines and find yourself using the wrong mouse now and again...

Slashdot - where ads are free...

[WIAKywbfatw]

A friend of mine sent me a link to his uncle's startup...

Translation: "Go look there and buy those puppies! Buy two! Buy as many as you can! Cos when my friend's uncle sees the amount of sales I've generated for him he's gonna have to give me a couple of these to play with and put me on the payroll too! Sweet!"

(Or, alternatively, he might just get pissed at you for /.ing his server.)

Seriously, I appreciate that this is /., where editors fall for even the most obvious of hoaxes but would it be asking too much if someone was to tone down the number of free ads/informercials we see disguised as genuine news stories? This isn't even a shipping product yet! It's still in development!

OK, it's the holidays and I've had more than I usually would have to drink in the last couple of days but would it really kill the /. editors to edit?

Re:Slashdot - where ads are free...

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Seriously, I appreciate that this is /., where editors fall for even the most obvious of hoaxes but would it be asking too much if someone was to tone down the number of free ads/informercials we see disguised as genuine news stories? This isn't even a shipping product yet! It's still in development!"

How can it be a free ad if it's still in development? Wouldn't that be called news at that point? heh

I mean seriously, who cares if it's a free ad? If it's cool and it's interesting, let us worry about whether or not we want to buy one.

Keyboards no longer come as standard?

[GC]

It's strange to see that manufacturers now believe that you don't need a keyboard on your notebook PCs.

Does it feature a remote keyboard?
Am I expected to carry around a USB keyboard?
Does this thing have super-standard, alien quality speech recognition?

It's fine to see a blonde sitting at a desk playing with a stylus, but the mojority of work still requires a keyboard these days.

Re:Keyboards no longer come as standard?

[nounderscores]

I guess that if you rotate the device 90 degrees, so one screen is lying flat on the table, you could have the "onscreen" keyboard be where you would expect a normal laptop keyboard to be.

Or if you were an artist, you could have a colour picker where you would expect an oil pallet to be.

Imagine being able to switch from querty to devorak at a software toggle, *and have all the little letters on the keyboard change automatically!* yay

or not. maybe the best use of rotating the thing 90 degrees would be to pop up custom arcade controllers on demand, or startrek style "follow my finger" sliding bar controls.

Re:Keyboards no longer come as standard?

[Urchlay]

Yeah, all that sounds 1337 and all, but have you ever actually tried to use such things to do more than casual websurfing or similar?

Even if you make the bottom screen touch-sensitive so you can `type' on it, it would be a pain in the ass (and the fingers) to type even so much as this short /. post on.

Besides, as other posters point out, what's the point in having dual displays, if one of them is just going to be used to display a fake keyboard or arcade controls or whatever?

(BTW, speaking as one who plays emulated arcade games on a PC, I need buttons I can bang on when playing Galaga or Gyruss, just like in the arcade. What sort of LCD panel could take that abuse?)

This thing looks like a misguided attempt to impose a familiar metaphor (2 pages side-by-side like a regular paper book) on a new medium, where it doesn't fit at all. I can't see any benefit at all in using this even as a book reader that displays 2 pages.

On the other hand, having 2 displays *and* a keyboard can be amazingly useful. I bet if you were willing to learn to use a Twiddler (one-handed chording keyboard) this thing would be usable. Unfortunately, the Twiddler only comes in one size, and some of us have big hands...

Re:Keyboards no longer come as standard?

[Suidae]

I wonder how important tactile feedback is for the user? It seems very important to most of us, but we've been typing that way for years or decades. Would someone who never learned a standard keyboard think that an lcd keyboard with no tactile feedback was as easy to use as a regular keyboard?

Re:Keyboards no longer come as standard?

[Elwood P Dowd]

I've never seen a touchscreen that could detect multiple simultaneous touches in a reconfigurable manner.

So, sure, you could have an onscreen keyboard. But you couldn't hold the shift key while you pressed another key. And you couldn't rest your fingers anywhere on the screen. There are touchscreen keyboards, but they divide up the surface into a million individual touchscreens, and none of those touchscreens can move.

You know the touchscreen scrollwheels on some PC laptops? Those are implemented in hardware. If I understand correctly, there can be no shareware app that does that for a generic touchpad.

So yes, I like your idea. I just don't think this thing could do it.

Re:Keyboards no longer come as standard?

[5KVGhost]

But an onscreen touch keyboard would really suck for real typing. Seems a pity to have a system with this potential saddled with a "keyboard" worse than an old Sinclair ZX-81 or Atari 400.

Not cool...

[slashuzer]

I don't think it is wise to buy ANY LCD product right now. The industry is poised for terrific leaps in term of better resolution and lower switch times for LCD displays. The LCD display we'll be getting a year from now will be far superior to anyhing commercially available. I know I am putting of my purchase :).

Secondly, this is ah-ok as far as concept demonstration is concerned...but you don't need dual displa to read in book format. THe most common readers like Adobe Acrobat reader already have options to sort pages as continous-facing. So you can read in book format comfortably on a single display as well. Just one more year....sigh/me can't wait!

Re:Mobile web developers

[Kajakske]

It's easy when you have to show a (pre) design to a client. However, normal portables do that too, so no reason to buy this yet.

But ANY portable comes in handy for a webdesigner, believe me. You don't want to show your website developed for 800x600 screens on some clients computer which can only handle 640x480, been there, done that.

Spec sheet

[Alien54]

Estari Inc., 1800 PaxtonStreet, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17104-2826
Phone: 717-233-1518Toll Free: 800-430-1518 Fax: 717-233-2774
www.estari.com - www.dualscreen.com- info@estari.com - Estari, Inc. 10/2002

Specifications subject to change without notice.

Dual Touch-Screenswith On-Screen KeyboardUltra Low Voltage Mobile Intel Pentium III Processor 800 MHz or Higher
Windows XP -Windows 2000
30GB Hard Disk DriveLow Profile
40GB Hard Disk DriveLow Profile
Dual XGA Color TFT Active Matrix Display (1024 x 768) 13.3" or 15" both busines and pro models
Audio ControllerAC 97 SoundBlaster Emulation Supported
Memory 256MB Expandable to 1GB
Estari FileScout Professional Document Management Software
Estari FileScout Publisher Document Management Software
(includes 1000 noroyalty publishes)
Mini PCI Type IIISlot for Wireless, Bluetooth and other uses 1 ea.- 2 ea.Pro models
Smart Card Slot -Pro models
IEEE 1394 Port Pro models
Type I or Type II PCMCIA Slots 1 ea.
USB Ports 3 ea.
Quad Multifunction Programmable Input Control Buttons 2 ea
RJ11/45 Port 1 ea.
Stereo Speakers and Headphone Jack / Line-In / Microphone 1 ea
Light Weight Smart Lithium Polymer Battery 2 ea.
Compact Flash 1 ea
Internal CD/CDRW/DVD(Fits into 2nd battery slot) optional, - included with Pro models
External Battery Charger optional
External CD-ROM Drive optional
External Combination DVD/CD-RW Drive optional
Wireless Keyboard optional
Docking Station/Stand optional
Travel Carrying Case optional

Re:Spec sheet

[perlyking]

I think this (at as shown least in form shown on the site) is vapourware. It must have extra batteries, combined with the extra screen the weight of it wouldnt make it very pleasant to hold in a book like manner.
There is no way that woman is holding it up from one corner with one hand. If she is her hand must be hurting by now.
I think, as mentioned in this thread this kind of thing will come into its own with new display technology. Personally I want a Global as featured in the now craptacular Earth Final Conflict.

It runs the "other" Phoenix web browser

[yerricde]

According to this press release, the dual-screen computer uses Phoenix FirstBIOS, which includes a web browser that competes against a web browser based on the Mozilla code.

Re:Mobile web developers

[Mignon]

your website developed for 800x600 screens

Granted I don't design web pages (I'm a programmer), but am I the only one here who thinks this is just wrong to design for a particular screen resolution?

Dual screen? Feh. Let's see dual-proc.

[TellarHK]

That's going to be the next big thing, I'd think. Once we have fuel cell laptops hitting the street, I think we'll be able to see enough juice being pumped into the machines so they'll have enough power to make dual processor laptops a reality.

I'd almost bet that Apple will be the first company to put dual processors in a mainstream laptop like the Powerbook. That would be one way to combat the megahertz myth (and reality) with the kind of flair that only Apple can do.

Re:Dual screen? Feh. Let's see dual-proc.

[gl4ss]

what you benefit from dual cpu's?
it's not that you buy laptops for heavy duty math.

as far as speed goes laptops are quick enough(when compared to desktop). but user interaction is still a pain sometimes(input/output).

Re:Dual screen? Feh. Let's see dual-proc.

[glwtta]

um lets see...

dual cpus in a laptop == somewhat faster in some applications

yeah, they will take the world by storm

Re:Dual screen? Feh. Let's see dual-proc.

[Kunta Kinte]

what you benefit from dual cpu's? it's not that you buy laptops for heavy duty math.

This depends entirely on how one uses their laptop.

My laptop has been by workstation for years now. I just ordered a new 1.3GHz to replace my 333MHz. Use it to surf, compile, read email, etc.

Not because it's a laptop does it mean that you have to take it everywhere. Just means that you can when really necessary.

Having a dual-proc laptop would be nice. Just as having a dual-proc regular workstation would be cool.

That's probably not going to happen though, not unless you can turn one proc on and off on the fly to save battery.

Re:Mobile web developers

[Kajakske]

Sure, ... But you have to set a minimum, which in my case is 800x600 (99% of the internet users are either on it or above it :p).
You just can't get any content on 640x480. It still worked on his PC, no doubt, but he saw like only the menu + very little content, for more he had to scroll down enourmously.

But yeah, bigger resulotions will just show more without scrolling, I will never make sites fixed on 800px width (unless the client wants it :p).

How Cool.

[FuzzyDaddy]

Many uses for computers have not had widespread use because of issues of form factors.

I want to do my AutoCAD drawings at a desk, sitting up, with a cup of coffee. I want to read a book on sitting back in a comfortable chair. I want to watch TV sitting WAY back on my couch. When doing designs, I like to have a full screen of the design software, and a pad of paper for notes and hand sketches.

Whether the input device issues (where's the damn keyboard?) are worked out or not on this thing, I can't tell. But to have two independent desktops on one device seems really useful.

Geeks tend to denigrate "form factor" type issues, because there is often no substantial underlying technical difficulty. Giving someone much credit for making a rounded computer case seems silly given the enormous expertise that many other people put into making the guts. But these things can be important, and can affect usability. Because my computer is not butt-ugly (yes, I have a candy-colored iMac), I (and my wife) don't mind putting it in a very public area. This makes it far more convenient to access casually during the day.

Which isn't to say I would get a crappy but attractive computer (no Mac flames please, that's beside the point) - but even seemingly dumb things can have an important effect on the way people use computers.

I like it

[zogger]

--very interesting idea and having it be like a normal dead trees book in "form" is a great use of human ergonomics. Like how many books do we use that fold up besides playboy centerfolds? I know there's some, but basically this "looks good". Remains to be seen if it performs and how it compares price wise. It would also be nice to have an option of a "no loaded OS" version so that people can choose what they want. I Don't understand the detractors on the thread a lot, this is a niche product same as hundreds of other gadgets out there. To me "more choices" is a good thing.

Essential for tablets?

[BFaucet]

I think a two screened tablet would be much more successful than single paneled tablets. People like to be able to look at two pages at once. When comparing documents, looking at one page and writing on the other, skimming the two pages. Geeks that are used to computer screens may be just fine with single panels, but the general public tends to like things as they are right now. I think this'll actually be an important step in getting the public to accept tablets.

Spec sheet is missing ...

[HerringFlavoredFowl]

I don't see a price or Windows XP Tablet addition on the spec. sheet. Looks like it's only available with windows XP Pro. I would be interested if it came with tablet edition.

College textbooks

[genkael]

Imagine having one of these for your college textbooks. Download the book from the university, make no trips to the bookstore, and only have to carry 1 thing to class. Heck, you could even network these in class and submit tests electronically. Ah, to go back to college...

Re:Mobile web developers

[zbuffered]

What pisses me off even more than pages developed for any size at all, is those idiot's pages that decide for you that you want to see them full screen

That used to piss me off too, but then I fixed it.

Re:smoke and flames

[HerringFlavoredFowl]

You really think it was the kid and not the uncle that posted? Smells like someone in Estari's marketing department ...

Apple is toast

[leandrod]

Without licensing Mac OS X they always get late or not at all to this kind of nice stuff, be it a breakthrough or just a niche product.

It is so late in the game now, with they holding only 3% of the market, that possibly their only chance now would be to release Mac OS X as free software (all of it, not only Darwin) and charge only for custom development, proprietary licensing and reference system design.

Re:Mobile web developers

[Mignon]

99% of the internet users are either on it or above it

I guess it sucks when the client is in that other 1%, eh? My favorite in a related category would have to be the Netscape 4.77 preferences dialog, which was bigger than 640x480, or at least so big that the buttons hung below the visible area, and not resizable.

/.'ed - Google to the rescue

[ziegast]

For those who can't get to the site and are too lazy to lookup Google...

Images

Article

-ez

Karma: Whore (mostly through your posting article begging for positive modding)

iBook

[SHEENmaster]

my 4.9 lb iBook generates no perceptable heat.

Re:iBook

[Anonvmous Coward]

"my 4.9 lb iBook generates no perceptable heat."

Hardly conclusive. Mac users have no sense!

Re:iBook

[Toraz Chryx]

I've been using an 800Mhz 12.1" iBook a fair bit the last few weeks, and the only thing in the case that generates any appreciable quantity of heat is the harddisk (there is a noticable hotspot above/below it's position inside the case.)

this @#$@#$ing sucks.

[SHEENmaster]

It is a tablet and most certainly not a laptop. "a keyboard appears on either screen for traditional entry" defeats the whole advantage of a laptop; fast data entry on the go. Imagine writing a few hundred thousand lines of code on one of these puppies!

ermm

[malakai]

Seriously, I appreciate that this is /., where editors fall for even the most obvious of hoaxes but would it be asking too much if someone was to tone down the number of free ads/informercials we see disguised as genuine news stories? This isn't even a shipping product yet! It's still in development!

The fact it isn't even shipping yet, and is still in development, is what makes this a more intresting than usual Slashdot article.

If it was proven technology and had been shipping for a year, then your comments would be justified.

-malakai

Re:Mobile web developers

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Granted I don't design web pages (I'm a programmer), but am I the only one here who thinks this is just wrong to design for a particular screen resolution?"

As a programmer, you should understand the value of making sure the user doesn't have to jump through too many hoops. If your user has to scroll around the page to get at the info he/she wants, then you've introduced a UI problem.

Yawn

[mwdib]

I'm sure he and his uncle are quite excited.

Dual screen tablets, laptops, and even desktops with swiveling lcd dual monitors were all over Comdex this year.

Old news.

Looked at several, including Estari, and was less impressed than I expected to be -- less utility than one would think except for some specialized functions.

"Cool" from the tech standpoint - but how useful?

[King_TJ]

Maybe one of these dual-screen notebooks is "just the thing" for somebody out there -- but it doesn't strike me as very functional at all.

For quite a while now, most decent notebooks allow a dual-display mode where you can use both the LCD display on the notebook, and an external monitor simultaneously. If you need extra screen real-estate for a presentation, it seems like it would usually be given where it's not that tough to set up/plug in a spare monitor.

If I was someone who really needed a large display screen more than the extra portability, but still had to have a notebook - I'd rather have a larger single display screen. For one thing, you'd think this would be more cost-effective than having two seperate backlit panels with all the duplication of electronics. For another, I never cared for trying to view a single image spread across seperate displays. You have to learn to ignore the physical borders splitting it in half - and that sucks, IMHO.

Sure, if you're reading a virtual book with left and right displays simulating "pages", it might be more natural - but I suspect people aren't buying these with that as their primary use. Everyone I know using dual-displays is working with CAD design and wants their diagrams drawn across both displays as though it was a single, large one.

Re:Playing games does not _make_ people smarter

[Surak]

To see a bigger image of this thing, click this here.

this is slashdot

[SHEENmaster]

fine.

Imagine a beowulf cluser of programming puppies.

Re:Mobile web developers

[Mignon]

If your user has to scroll around the page ... then you've introduced a UI problem

That's exactly what I'm talking about - I can't stand web pages that make assumptions about the browser window width and have a horizontal scroll bar - often at all but very large window sizes (didn't this come up again and again in the discussion of the Top Ten Web-Design Mistakes of 2002 article?)

To me, one of the great things about HTML is that it's a markup language, not a layout language. Hence, browswers will automatically word-wrap basic HTML. However, I appreciate the problem of web designers who are saddled with this legacy when they're trying to implement layout on top of a language that doesn't really support it except through brutish hacks like 1x1 invisible images and fixed-width tables.

A zen coan...

[TheConfusedOne]

What is the sound of two LCD's sucking on a single battery?

Seriously, the LCD is the biggest battery hog there is in a laptop. Doubling that guy, backlight and all, will just absolutely blow.

(Look at all the current tablet reviews - interesting device wish the batteries lasted longer...)

I bought my mac because of Ellen Feiss

[SHEENmaster]

but I swear that it stays in Linux and only reboots for watching DVDs(would have to reboot unidescsi to watch DVDs on combo drive anyways) and playing games.

Re:I bought my mac because of Ellen Feiss

[Anonvmous Coward]

"but I swear that it stays in Linux and only reboots for watching DVDs(would have to reboot unidescsi to watch DVDs on combo drive anyways) and playing games."

Heh calm down. Actually Apple laptops are quite attractive. I think most PC users would agree that Apple laptops have features they are quite envious of, myself included. Unfortunately, thanks to Apple's 'Switch' campaign, I feel like my purchase of a Mac would make people think I'm too stupid to operate a PC.

Re:Mobile web developers

[Anonvmous Coward]

" I can't stand web pages that make assumptions about the browser window width and have a horizontal scroll bar..."

As a web designer, one of the things I liked about Flash was that it was rescalable. It even did an anti-aliasing pass if your computer was fast enough. I had hopes that people would design their sites with it so that they could choose their formatting, but it'd work in any sized window.

Pity they felt they needed to add intros to their site with it instead.

Ah .... flash web pages.. Yuk

[nurb432]

Guess I wont be visiting them again, might have been a cool product I wanted to buy, but they didn't offer a non crap - errr flash - version of the pages.

Great move, alienate potential customers. Time to move on.

Pics

[loconet]

Ok, since these are all we really care about :)

Here and Here

Merry Xmas .

Re:Dual out no worky in 2k?

[glesga_kiss]

Am I really going to have to run XP to get this working, or will the drivers support two monitors on 2k?

Possibly. I had the problem with an IBM Thinkpad and I looked into it a little. Most of the information I found on the web suggested that it was because of a limitation in 2000 Pro, that only affected laptop style displays, and not just IBM machines. I successfully tried split screen under 98SE and XP on the same system.

You machine may be an exception though. If not, just use XP and revert back to the classic desktop. It's just 2000 Pro with a few extra things in it anyway. ;-)

just explain to them

[SHEENmaster]

That you can either have a fat dude in a butterfly suit or Ellen Feiss and a penguin. Then they'll know who's the dumb one.

Re:Dual Head Pron

[SoupIsGoodFood_42]

Now you'll be shaking two heads...