Dual-headed Laptops

Baloo Ursidae writes "ABC News is reporting that some little upstart in PA is making dual headed laptops. Orient it like a book, you have two portrait-oriented touch sensitive monitors. Orient it like a laptop, and one of the monitors becomes a soft keyboard. Not cheap, however, they start at $4,000." That is absolutely nuts. More power to 'em!

Comments

Been there, done that...

[dinivin]

Repost

Dinivin

Re:Been there, done that...

[telstar]

"Repost"

• Yeah, but it's one post for each screen just in case your eyes were looking at the other side.

So if you're running Windows...

[revividus]

and your keyboard freezes, how do you press CTRL-ALT-DEL?

Re:So if you're running Windows...

[Little Brother]

Can't just turn it upside down and shake it? That's how I reboot my "Laptop"

Tablet PC Alternative?

[path_man]

Well, despite the negative comments at the head of the Slashdot article, I think that this is actually a good thing. Let more tablet PC alternatives enter the market so we can really test the usability factor of !!!OMG!!! different ways in which we use computers.

I don't think there are many ./'ers who don't agree that market forces are how we weed out what is really good and what really stinks. If the company manufacturing these happens to stumble onto a new idea that changes the way in which we compute, they'll succeed fiscally, and hopefully shift (for the better) the way we use laptops and mobile computers. If, on the other hand, this turns out to be another lead-balloon idea based on the notion that "a fool and his money are soon parted" that will play out as well.

I, for one, am excited to see different form factors for mobile platforms. I admit I'm a compute gadget fan, but that's the only way we can improve the status quo.

Re:Tablet PC Alternative?

[Blondie-Wan]

I agree with most of your post, except (ironically) for the part where you specifically say what you think /.'ers might agree with:

I don't think there are many ./'ers who don't agree that market forces are how we weed out what is really good and what really stinks.

I think most /.'ers would agree market forces haven't been much good at weeding out what stinks from what what's good when it comes to OSes, actually, among other things (or is Windows really soooo much "better" than Linux, Mac OS, Be, etc.?).

Re:Tablet PC Alternative?

[lenski]

As far as market penetration goes, then Windows can be a better choice. Market penetration is a very powerful argument when choosing a platform for development of a product.

Based on some fairly long-term observation, I conclude however, that any broad marketplace is subject to all sorts of manipulations, and the current marketplace of Desktop Operating Environments is no exception.

For example: Win2k is a relatively stable platform (being neither dramatically inferior nor dramatically superior as a technical solution to developers' and users' needs). As an example of a dominant platform, it's a reasonable solution. But it's being forced out of the marketplace, supplanted by WinXP: A platform that errs on the side of benefits for its provider than its customer (in my opinion).

There are other platforms that offer much more control to their collective user communities and developer communities, and are arguably technically superior to the dominant platform. But they are "also-rans", largely due to the marketplace manipulations of Microsoft.

On Windows: Usability is OK (though nothing to write home about), hardware compatibility is is good (due largely to its >90% marketplace presence) and software compatibility sucks rotten eggs through a skinny straw (I ***HATE*** having to set up a Windows system, with endless subtle incompatibilities all over the place, unless you're talking about a *pure* Microsoft environment).

Re:Tablet PC Alternative?

[Twirlip of the Mists]

I think most /.'ers would agree market forces haven't been much good at weeding out what stinks from what what's good when it comes to OSes, actually, among other things (or is Windows really soooo much "better" than Linux, Mac OS, Be, etc.?).

The problem is that the open market has a different idea of what's good and what's bad than you do. In the most basic terms, the market's idea of what's good is defined by what people want to buy. If people want to buy it, it's good, and if they don't, it's bad. If more people want to buy X rather than Y, then X is better than Y.

If you want to get into the question of why more people want Windows than Linux or whatever, that's a whole other conversation.

Dirty screen?

[Lally Singh]

One of the two screens are going to get very dirty after being used as a keyboard for a while.

Re:Dirty screen?

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the two screens are going to get very dirty after being used as a keyboard for a while.

Semen stains are usually pretty easy to wipe away. Just get them early after ejaculating. A good alcohol based monitor wipe after tidying up with a tissue should keep the keyboard/monitor jizz free for your enjoyment.

Re:Dirty screen?

[RLiegh]

If you smoke, or live in some place dusty (such as arizona) and use your laptop for any extended period of time, that's a problem already.

I don't think this would make that much of a difference?

Or were you going for +1 funny?

estari.com

[emptybody]

Here is the requisite link to the company making these: Estari.

I would have liked to see a lot more info on their site. Not much for documentation of other pictures.

gimmick time

[Cylix]

Guess we went through the lifetime of laptops being new and fresh! Now it is time to upsize, kingsize, something else size your laptop with dual displays.

If you thought you weren't going to use it before, chances are you aren't going to use it now, but better hurry and get one while supplies last!

Hopefully, the trend will continue onward, and it will bring down the cost of realistic laptop gimmicks.

I need onboard GPS!

Re:gimmick time

[Cylix]

Er, let me rephrase.

I need affordable onboard GPS!

No, no, no...

[RighteousFunby]

There are two uses for this thing. Only one isn't boring.

a) office apps
b) PORN!!!!

Yup, two pornos at once. Make watching porn like reading one of those crappy books on Harry Potter!

Actually, I wish I hadn't just associated Harry Potter with porn, the mental image will make me kill people some day. (runs into forest to plot murders, then comes back after reading this and realising (if the floon is right) planets will do it for him).

I don't know why I just said all that. Neh.

More information...

[necr0m]

...here.

In a related story...

[hkon]

We're proud to report that A bunch of geeks are running a website with dual-posted stories. Not cheap, however, subscriptions start at $5 for 1000 pages. Coincidentally, this has also been reported as "absolutely nuts", but we've received no reports of anyone wishing more power to the editors of this site.

Mobile phones

[MrWorf]

All we need now is for the cellphone companies to catch on. Replacing the keyboard on the phone with a touchscreen would allow for better input (where the "keyboard" would change depending on what the application needs). And if designed into one of those clamshell phones, the risk of damaging it would be minimal.

So, instead of adding an extra display on the outside, place it on the inside (hey, maybe we even can have three screens? Scaaary ;-) )

Re:Mobile phones

[mattACK]

Like this, this, or this (for the truly brave). Speaking from experience, the context sensitive screens are cool, but the lack of tactile feedback is unfortunate.

Re:Mobile phones

[quick_dry_3]

the tactile feedback from a touch screen is awful to non-existant. When you dial a phone with a keypad, you don't really have to pay much attention to what you're pressin because you can locate your finger by feel, touch screens don't do that, you have to actually look at it to know where your finger is in relation to teh keys, and to verify its actually registered the keypress.

This is one of the reasons the Sony-ERicsson P800 has a flip keypad that partially covers the touch screen - you get full touch screen for when you want it, and a keypad for when you'd want that as well. best of both worlds.

Man...

[AnonymousCowheart]

Man, I could go for some dual head, on my laptop! (mod me down, that was lame, but i couldnt resist)

soft keyboard

[b1t r0t]

Orient it like a laptop, and one of the monitors becomes a soft keyboard.

Wow! A keyboard with all of the feel of the famous Atari 400 keyboard!

Interesting but...

[Billy the Mountain]

if you are after screen area, why waste a lot of it displaying a virtual keyboard? This laptop might be a good candidate for those projection keyboards. I bet you could set up the keyboard so that it's repositionable (or use mirrors) so that you can use it while in "dual-portrait" or "dual-landscape" And (not sure if this is feasible) if you are wanting to eliminate the whole touch-screen concept how about a projection mouse pad as well?

BTM

Easy

[TheMidget]

These 3 step-instructions should help you:

1. open window
2. throw
3. close window

Should solve any problem...

Battery Power

[grasshoppah]

It seems like this would also reduce your batter life by 2x! Two backlights is much more taxing than one. Perhaps this one'll be the first large roll out of OLEDS also:)

Only two heads?

[Tuxinatorium]

My Cerberus laptop has three!

Keyboard feel and sound

[TheToasterBoy]

What about tactility? I would definitively miss the tactility of a mechanical keyboard... I've used touchscreen style keboard before (on kiosks, embedded systems, etc.) and found it difficult to adjust to...

Incremental not revolutionary

[tintruder]

While I think a working one of these devices would be pretty "cool" to own, and it would certainly be a conversation piece, it still lacks any huge increase in usability.

Handwriting recognition is still slower and requires more QA editing than keyboard typing.

Touchscreen keyboards are marginal at best.

Not all applications are or can be made "pen aware" just because the PC itself is. If you need an example, try chnging your iPaq or Jornada to Landscape mode and watch how certain functions become lost and irrecoverable off the screen.

This solution certainly provides a different and interesting way of getting information OUT of the laptop, but it does so at a sacrifice to the means and ease of getting it IN.

Until there are new and functional means of accessing the user interface such as effective and accurate speech recognition or 3D gesturing ala "Minority Report", these gizmos just don't offer enough outside of a very few niche applications to qualify as revolutionary.

Article mentions LCDs as the cost factor

[adzoox]

How could it be that 13" LCD panels are the cost factor. If companies can sell 14.1" LCDs for $149 now and laptop makers can sell Tablet PC 13"-15" for $1400 total, then what is making this $4000?

I do think this is a novel concept. Several of the posts/replies to this article are mentioning they would miss the mechanical keyboard. I believe this would be best suited for an external USB keyboard and "onscreen touch keyboard" when necessary or travelling.

I think this would be a boom for audio & photo/video professionals. Toolbars on one screen, preview/waveforms on the other, plus onscreen tracing/editting/erasing. If you are a photo/ad pro then you you haven't had value until have tried a Cintiq from Wacom. They are VERY expensive but VERY worth it!

Keyboard

[Haloows]

With this design you could possibly implement a swivel for the dual displays and place a keyboard/mouse combo on the back of one of the LCD monitors...allowing for dual screens, or the more familiar "standard laptop" feel. The problem of screen damage could be easily remeded by a simple cover or raised platform around the displays. To prevent the keyboard from causing unwanted operation, it could be made quite thin so that it would have a low clearance compared with the surronding body (The laptop casing). Or the keyboard could be just disabled when the screen is swiveled, I for one wouldn't really care if the buttons became scratched. This would allow for the most functionality (much faster typing compared to a touchscreen) and perhaps could have solved numerous design problems. As for the potential problem of low battery life with the dual LCDs, solar panels could be embedded into the screens themselves, providing a boosted battery life. Or if technically possible for the manufacturer, a French or even Mexican designed fusion reactor could be...

Not the same type screen

[Psykechan]

These are touch screen LCDs. Here is a 15" desktop model for the low price of $597. Imagine the costs of making it portable, then doubling it.

Re:Another Laptop w/2 Monitors

[laxian]

Oops:

Already available, I believe:
Flip-Pad Voyager from Xentex