Two Videos of E-Lead's Noahpad in Action

Engadget has a couple of great videos depicting the new 'Noahpad' laptop offering from E-Lead. This laptop offers a new kind of touchpad that is integrated with the keyboard. An interesting idea to be sure, but I doubt I could ever get used to typing on something this strange.

Comments

Add this to the Top 10 Worst Keyboards of all time

[HockeyPuck]

Add this one to the heap... http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/10/1316255

Re:They call that a keyboard?

[CastrTroy]

I have a couple optical trackballs, and they do get a little cruddy. It doesn't so much affect the tracking as it affects how smoothly they roll. I only have to clean mine about once a week. It only takes 2 minutes. I think it's a small price to pay. I like that the trackball is always in the right spot on my desk, and that I don't have to devote a lot of deskspace to it. I also like that I can constantly keep on "moving" without having to pick the thing up and readjust the position of it all the time with like regular mice. This is actually quite and advantage in FPS games.

Not if you rewrite the keyboard driver

[MickLinux]

Let me assume you're right, regarding this keyboard.

I'm not sure you are.

Quite simply, since the keyboard is also a touchpad, there is no need for you to actually depress the button to record a keystroke. A simple touch will do it. The depressing of the keypad is good for other functions, such as:

    (1) Mouse button. No different than a mouse.
    (2) Function keys/shift. Hit your key lightly, and it's a key. Hit it and depress, and it's a function key.

    I imagine that you could even select a function key with one hand, temporarily redirecting the other hand to an alternate usage. For example, select "c" on the bottom row, and you immediately put the other hand into greek (or hebrew, or math) characters. Select "Z" on the bottom row, and the other hand is shifted. Select "B" on the bottom row, and the other hand is mouse.

    For a greater extension, imagine that you have the same four "function" keys across the bottom of either keyboard. Then you essentially have four full keyboards of functions.

    In other words, even if this laptop were in Windows and completely unusable, it would be great to get this little gadget into Linux, and rewrite the interface.

    Now, my only other concerns are (1) uploading/downloading ease (does it have USB for a USB drive?) (2) expandable usability (printers, cams, etc: USB would be fine) (3) Power concerns (how long does the battery last? Does the battery feature pyrotechnic surprises?) (4) Durability.