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Insights Into the Future of the Laptop

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the small-and-fun dept.

An anonymous reader writes "ThinkPad founder Arimasa Naitoh sat down for a chat with CNET.com.au about the future of the laptop. The article includes a few concept design images, as well as details on why Lenovo believes that fuel-cell technology is poor and that Origami will never succeed as a primary device." From the article: "Although Lenovo has traditionally targeted the business crowd, it recently released the consumer-targeted Lenovo 3000 series, as 'many people want to have a ThinkPad that is not black'. Naitoh shuns the use of aluminium in laptop manufacturing, calling it 'weak', instead praising titanium (used in the construction of the 3000) for its light-weight and scratch-resistant properties. Naitoh also showed off a number of ThinkPad concept designs with innovations such as raising displays and removable keyboards. He didn't give any word on whether these would be incorporated into official ThinkPad models, but we've snagged some pictures for you anyway."

16 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. ARM powered laptop with flash by Sam+Haine+'95 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If somebody made an ARM powered laptop with solid state storage then I'd be very happy. No moving parts, silent, incredible battery life.

    1. Re:ARM powered laptop with flash by simp · · Score: 4, Informative

      It was made 10 years ago, the Psion 5MX. For it's time it was very good. The included agenda/database software is even today a good match for the modern PDAs. Unfortunately these days everybody seems to be facinated with running Windows CE on a small PDA screen and call it an improvement... I'm getting old.

    2. Re:ARM powered laptop with flash by vhogemann · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well,

      I was recently given an old Psion Revo, and I can tell you that it's quite capable of surfing the web, since you can use Opera 5 on it. Of course it has some glitches, but for reading Slashdot and searching something on Google it's ok.

      IMHO, EPOC is a much more capable OS than PalmOS or WinCE. While not rock solid, it's pretty stable and has plenty of usefull features and applications. For those who may not know, EPOC is now called Symbian... and boy, I wish Nokia offered a Symbian-enabled version of the i770!

      --
      ---- You know how some doctors have the Messiah complex - they need to save the world? You've got the "Rubik's" complex
  2. SHOCKER! by linvir · · Score: 4, Funny
    When asked about the future prospects of Microsoft's "Origami" mini-tablet design, Naitoh was sceptical. "I'll have a hard time to convince myself that Origami will be a primary device," he said.
    LENOVO LAPTOP DEVELOPER IN COMPETITOR-DISLIKING SCANDAL SHOCKER!
    1. Re:SHOCKER! by tambo · · Score: 3, Interesting
      origami is mostly software, MS is relying on partners such as lenovo to build them. MS and lenovo are not competitors per se.

      Not really.

      The UMPC (formerly known as Origami) is a hardware/software specification set by Microsoft for this new class of devices. The software specification contains exactly one requirement: Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.

      The hardware, on the other hand, has several requirements:

      • Screen: Approximately 7" LCD, with a resolution of at least 800x480
      • Weight: Approximately 1kg (2lb)
      • Integrated touch screen
      • Integrated 802.11b
      • Integrated Bluetooth
      That's it - anything with those specifications can be considered (and labeled) a UMPC.

      Now here's the important question: Who would ever consider a machine with those specifications their primary device? The minimum specification doesn't include any kind of drive, speakers, or even a keyboard. As a standalone device, the UMPC is really cripped - without a drive, how do you load software?

      But that's the point. Please, please repeat after me: THE UMPC IS NOT MEANT TO BE A PRIMARY OR STANDALONE PC. That is not its intended niche. It is a companion PC - a souped-up version of a PDA that runs all of the software you'd expect, and with a screen large enough to do actual work. (The tiny screen was the primary factor that limited the PDA to "address-book" status.)

      It irritates me to see so many tech rags criticizing the UMPC as underpowered for primary computer use. They're just not understanding its purpose. I'm an ardent supporter of the platform (and I have no attachment to Microsoft, any UMPC manufacturer, the project, etc.) - I think it will be an excellent new device, with novel computing applications.

      - David Stein

      --
      Computer over. Virus = very yes.
  3. What I want... by pr0nbot · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What I want is something small that I can plug a keyboard and monitor into for desktop use but also use on the move. Not a laptop - much smaller.

    The closest I've seen is this thing:

        http://www.dualcor.com/

    But it looks like it's not aimed at the general market, and has a corresponding "business class" price tag.

  4. Titanium - Scratch Resisitant?? by The+Mutant · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "...praising titanium (used in the construction of the 3000) for its light-weight and scratch-resistant properties..."

    So what did Apple get wrong then? My TiBook was looking pretty ragged after two years of use. By contrast, my 15" Aluminum G4 PowerBook doesn't have a scratch on it....

    --

    A message from our sponsor

    1. Re:Titanium - Scratch Resisitant?? by dbIII · · Score: 4, Informative
      If you treat the surface to make it a nitride you get a very hard surface and a nice gold colour - take a look at industrial cutting tools for an example. Titanium alloys are a bit stronger than aluminium alloys but are a pain to work with and very expensive. As for strength - the same thickness of a half decent steel is stronger than a titanium alloy but of course the titanium alloy is lighter in weight.

      Alumiumium alloys can also be fairly scratch resistant if they are anodised to give a thick hard oxide layer - probably what has been done with the alumiumium powerbook.

    2. Re:Titanium - Scratch Resisitant?? by engagebot · · Score: 4, Informative

      The problem is that not all of the TiBook was actually Ti. Only the casing of the screen is actually Ti, and the whole bottom casing is just silver-colored plastic. The white frame that goes around the edge of the machine is some other kind of metal thats painted white. All these painted surfaces scratch off and look beat up, whereas the AlBook is actuallly silver.

      --
      Han shot first.
    3. Re:Titanium - Scratch Resisitant?? by dhovis · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, it may depend on the specific alloy they use. The Ti-Powerbooks were made using CP-Ti(Commercially Pure). Frankly, that isn't a structural alloy. In fact, it has no alloying elements at all! Now the lay person would say "It's really pure, it must be really strong!". Bzzzzz....Wrong. That makes it fairly soft compared to, say Ti-6Al-4V, which is kind of the standard titanium alloy that is used for most things titanium.

      With the Al-books, Apple switched to an "aircraft grade" aluminum alloy. That can mean a lot of things, but generally, aircraft grade aluminum alloys are some of the strongest, lightest alloys on the market. It is also a lot easier to form aluminum. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the Al-books were forged, which would increase their strength. There is no way they could have forged the Ti-book parts, forging titanium is a very expensive process. Also, the Al-books were hard anodized, which leaves them with a thin, hard, adherent layer of Al2O3 on the surface. Al2O3 is also known as sapphire, so it adds to the scrach resistance, at least for superficial scraches, anyway.

      Now, I am a Ph.D. Materials Scientist, so I would be remiss if I didn't mention that scratch resistance and strength are two entirely different things. Generally, making something scratch resistant will also make it brittle. If you had to choose between your laptop scratching or shattering, I know which one I'd choose.

      That is as much insight as I can probably provide. My expertise these days is on the high temperature oxidation of Ni-based superalloys.

      --

      --
      The internet is the greatest source of biased information in the history of mankind.

  5. Pardon me, but... by writermike · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... I am having a Seinfeld moment.

    Why is it that, in nearly every printed interview, people "sit down for a chat?" Does this actually happen? Does sitting down precede chats that will be put to the printed word? What happens if the interview is almost over and the two realize they were actually standing through it? Does that mean they can't use the material committed in the upright position? Should they sit down and perform the entire interview again?

    One day, I am going to conduct an entire interview leaning against a well.

    --
    If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
  6. Re:Some good news at least by steve_l · · Score: 4, Interesting
    My Compaq nc6000 (disclaimer, I work for hp) has
    1. 1GB ram
    2. 1.8GHZ single core.
    3. 6+ hours battery life when I pull out the DVD drive and stick in the extension pack. Three hours otherwise.

    4. The more ram you have, the worse the resume from hibernate, and there is too much corporate security junk (firewall, VPN, Symantec) to take up memory and battery life. The extra battery pack is very good for conferences, as I dont need to sit glued to power cords all day long.

      The problem with long-life laptops is most people prefer performance over battery life. And with reason -most people don't go that far without a recharge. The most definitive data gathering on this topic was actually an experiment I did in 1999, logging how different people used a laptop for six months, in a paper called "the secret life of laptops"

      The conclusion we came to then was that power at home and work was unimportant, compared to the wide variation in network state. Getting consistent networking mattered much more to people.

      Now that we have near-universal, WLAN, maybe being unwired matters more. I should rerun the experiment, but first I need to finish the analysis of my ongoing experiment, that of capturing the bluetooth ID of every discoverable mobile phone that goes past my house. Embrace experimental computer science!

  7. Screens in sunlight by teh+kurisu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It would be nice if laptops used displays that could be read in sunlight. I'm working at home at the moment, it's a beautiful day outside, I have a laptop and a wireless network... the only reason I'm not working outside is because I wouldn't be able to see the screen.

  8. Re:Pivot display please by CFD339 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The wide aspect screens offer two key benfits. One of course is that movies are now shownin that aspect. The other turns out to be space. A short wide screen opens on an airplane much better than a taller one. The laptop requires significantly less room between you and the guy ahead leaning back so far you could do dental work on him.

    --
    The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
  9. On recent news ... by Spacejock · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... I'd say the future of the laptop is hot.

    --
    Hal Spacejock: Science Fiction with Nuts
  10. Laptops need Modularity. by neo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The main thing missing from the Laptop market is Modularity. He addresses this slightly by showing a model that has a detachable keyboard. What is really needed are inter-operable components that can be mixed and matched to fit both budget and requirements. For example, allowing users to choose screen size from several different screens, and let them all attach to the same connector on the motherboard. Allow different motherboard configurations. Allow for different sized keyboards, some with or without number pads, and some with or withough touch pads.

    This is clearly the next step, but Laptop creators aren't getting the hint that desktop creators learned a long time ago. Don't put it all in one machine unless that's the low end model. Let us choose which pieces we want for our laptop and have them work together seamlessly.

    Personally I want:

    Full sized keyboard
    15 inch screen
    No touchpad
    No battery
    Wireless mouse
    2-3 GHZ processor
    3 gigs RAM
    Detachable 10 gig drives

    What do you want in your laptop?