The Asus Project Precog is a Pioneering Dual-Display Laptop, Due in 2019 (pcworld.com)
At Computex on Tuesday, Asus unveiled the Project Precog, a concept PC formed of two shimmering sheets of glass. PCWorld: It's a vision that appears to be real: Marcel Campos, senior director of PC and phone marketing for Asus, said the company hopes to ship Project Precog in 2019. Until then, we'll have to wonder what it will cost and what its exact features will be. Precog taps into what could be a resurgence of the two-screen design trend that briefly took hold with initiatives like Project Taichi, a dual-screen device Asus showed at Computex in 2012. Precog is much larger, though, and looks more like a traditional convertible laptop that can rotate from a clamshell through tent mode and into a tablet.
Oh right, keyboards are for content creators, touchscreens are for content consumers.
Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
Apple has already reduced their key travel to almost nothing. I'm surprised they didn't ditch the keyboard first. I'm sure this will also be painful to type on.
Or a linux box ... external blue tooth keyboard, which I already have, and there you go.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
They are plugging the "Keyboard Hole" for protection of copyrighted content.
When I first saw the summary, I was hoping there would be a second screen which slid out from behind the first (and the two sliding so that they are centred over the keyboard), allowing for a wider viewing experience. If you're on a plane or other restricted area, leave the second screen behind the first.
Personally, I find it easier to look side to side between windows on displays than up and down. I never found the dual screen Gameboy to be a great user experience (or better than what I got from a traditional console).
Oh, and if you decide to take the idea above and create a product from it - remember you saw it here first.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
WTFV - Watched The Fucking Video
Doing so, I did see the rendering of the unit on its side with a keyboard in between. Other than having to keep a separate keyboard, that's not too terrible.
However, I still like the concept of a dual screen laptop where a secondary screen can slide out behind the primary one so that the system can expand to the space available.
I guess I'm too much of the mindset that laptops are for meetings and coding requires at least two displays.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
https://www.cnet.com/products/acer-6120-dual-screen-touchbook/review/
When they are showing left page of code and right page graphics, the two screens are side-by-side and ANGLED backwards for better viewing with a non-connected keyboard in front. How do they screens not fall over?
IF the side-by-side is flat, there is no way the edge of the unit will keep it standing up.
It's an interesting looking concept. I'm certain there is a market for such a thing. I mean touch interfaces seem to be getting better and better. But it's not for me.
I worry about the durability. I generally end up with a crack on my phone within a year of owning it.
I also worry about the simple tactical feedback that comes from using a real keyboard. I feel like adopting a purely touch interface would be immensely harder on the head than adopting the Microsoft Ribbon UI.
but... if you connected a keyboard and mouse, there could be a tremendous amount of appeal. Maybe for graphic designers, 3d modelers, GIS or CAD techs? Maybe even virtual table top role playing?
Far more interesting with 3 displays : https://www.razer.com/project-...
Does it have to run while sitting in a shimmering white pool of milky liquid?
Two high-dpi screens that can display sheet music has been on the wish-list for years and years. If the price is south of $1.5KUSD, I'd buy one.
"We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
Nope nope nope, not enough nope in the Universe for this, no virtual keyboard, real keyboard only, kthxbye.
.........
How is it "pioneering", if its been done before? As pointed out in the same post, dammit.
How is Apple not here first?
They are taking a more piecemeal approach, removing the keyboard one row at a time. So far only the function keys are gone, next it will be the number keys' turn...
They also released an addon for their new gaming oriented phone thta gives it dual screens, though not sure if it's duplicated (and one screen is bigger) or actually acts like a second screen connected for things like controls or custom games.
For this concept to work well, it would need screens with very good viewing angles and a good selection of ports on the front.
Apple selected OLED for the touch bar on 2016+ MacBook "Pro"s specifically because it was expected to be viewed from a 45 degree angle. This is no different.
In vertical "book" mode, you can't use ports on the bottom, and cables plugged into the top would be in the way and/or easily used to topple the device. The ports would have to be on the sides, and best would be near the bottom corners.
And of course, it would need a built-in kickstand. None of the images I have been able to find show that the backs are anything but flat. The concepts at Computex are on acrylic stands.
It goes without saying that the touch keyboard is completely useless. But a keyboard aficionado (like me) would want to plug in his home-made mechanical keyboard anyway.
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
People keep coming up with this idea, and it keeps making no sense: you pay a premium for a second display surface that is mostly going to display an image of a keyboard but actually is much harder to type on than a real keyboard.
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/razers-project-valerie-insane-laptop-3-screens/
I'm not sure about production of it though.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
And know what you are going to do? Except sometimes it will forget some of the things you didn't do and get you in a heap of trouble?
== no thanks.
Does it show the future on one of the screens?
is a Pioneering Testicles.
This reminds me of the legendary Microsoft Courier ...
I would love to see this paired with a Surface style pen where I could read something on one side and take notes on the other. It would also work great for textbooks where having both pages visible is nice to have.