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16.5-inch LCD for Notebook PC
An Anonymous reader dropped us a note saying that Samsung
has introduced a
16.5-inch LCD with a 4:3 aspect ratio for notebook PC.
The first generation of 15" laptops looked like tanks- but it really
would be smooth to have a super thin (I've been tapping on a VAIO
lately) laptop with that size screen. Maybe in a few
years.
don't forget about the European A4 standard, which is signifigantly longer (although about the same width...)
Your Brain + EEG + LEGO Robots = Brainstorms
Hmm... that wouldn't even be that hard either. Use an embeddable PC board, maybe an Aaeon PCM-5894 with a portable K6-2 233Mhz (fastest possible), with 64 or 128megs RAM. need a new graphics display board though, the on-board one is only 1024x768 @ 64K colors. Maybe there's another Little Board form factor board with a better gfx controller.
.5" thick (just a guess, could be thinner). add in the Little Board, and it's another half inch or so. with another video board, that's another inch (could be less with a board with connectors on the side). So, it'd be about 2" thick, allowing for a case. That also leaves room for such items as blueprints/paper/paints/pencils/etc. in a pocket.
Anyways, add in a hard drive, then you just need a screen. Ah, there's all those catalogs. Well, here're display kits from 9.4" to 42" in the Inside Technology catalog. 1998 version, though. I'll have to get all those companies to send me new ones, I need updated prices (getting a new computer soon, considering a wearable, otherwise dual celerons). There's a 21" plasma display. The largest TFT listed is 12.1", but I'm sure there are larger ones now. If not, use plasma, oh well.
The whole system would be really expensive, though, with that screen. Without the screen, it's under a thousand, but the screen's going to be really expensive. Then you need a power supply. The board only needs about 50W with the K6-2, with another gfx board it'd probably be more like 70W. Voltage levels are unfortunately unlisted here for the screens. Anyone else know how much a 21" plasma screen would use? or a 21" TFT?
The entire unit would be the width, etc. of the screen, which is about
As an estimate, I'd put the entire unit at 4000, assuming you can build the thing yourself. The hardest part would be the case, since that's gotta be the right size/shape and designed well to boot. But, if you're in college, then there's tons of people around, some of which will know how to make plastic cases, especially if you offer monetary
incentive.
A custom designed single board computer would do a better job, and if a company wanted to sell these, at a better price too (at least above a couple thousand units, and depending on what is removed/added). A custom screen would be just the same. Then it could be just the right size though.
Well, I've finished my off topic rant for the day. Hope someone learned something from my little foray back into my SBC catalogs. I've gotta admit, I'm really glad I asked for ALL the companies that make SBCs to send me info. That's the way to go about it if you want real info. If you don't buy something, of course, they won't send you them again, although one of them recently proved me wrong on that one. Agh, ranting again. Sorry.
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I just got a Dell Inspiron 7000 with the 15" display, and I think it's great. The machine has a couple gotchas though, all of which (I think anyway) stem from the huge screen. I have no idea how a 16.5" screen would work but I'll speak from experience about the I7K:
1. The notebook weighs 9 pounds. If you have to walk real far with this, it will kill your shoulder.
2. The physical case is huge. Frankly I like that part, because it gives the notebook a nice solid feel (not like those Sony ones which feel as flimsy as a matchbook). It still fits comfortably on a lap, but I think if it were any bigger, it would be uncomfortable.
3. The bigger the screen, the more chance you have to end up with dead pixels. I remember reading on Dell's customer service discussion board that the 15" displays on the I7K notebooks have 2.3 million transistors in them... statistically, the chances of any one of those failing is higher since there are more to 'possibly' fail. What this translates to is more possibility of having dead pixels on your screen. My notebook came with one dead pixel, and from what other people have told me it's a common thing on such big screens. Luckily if the problem gets worse, the warranty covers it.
4. Just where would the screen go? The I7K screen is actually as big as the base of the laptop, so when the lid is shut, the lid actually hangs over the edge. I'd hate to see how they can wrangle a 16.5" screen into it.
5. Think of the power consumption... the I7K has a huge battery which (according to the Linux APM meter) still holds 3 hours worth of power, as long as you're not playing Half-Life. Another inch and a half's worth of backlight could eat into your power requirements and require a bigger battery... adding more weight.
I'm sure someone will make a laptop with a 16.5" screen. It might be great for graphic artists to show things to clients, or in other situations where portability doesn't matter. But I wouldn't expect this thing to go far in the normal portable PC market, it's just *too* big.
...my desktop with a 16.5" LCD! My desktop now has a 15" CRT (14 viewable ;) so the new "laptop" display represents a huge upgrade in screen area for my desktop... I'm so cheap, however, that it'll be two or three years before I ditch this 15" tube!
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No joke about the laptop being too big! Screen real estate is nice, but I feel its real measure is the resolution. Laptop screens are very sharp and a small screen with 1600x... resolution would be wonderful. Imagine all the xterms and browser windows you could fit on such as screen. If my 12.1" laptop had better than 1200x... I would be happy with it for life. What I'm trying to say is that I don't need a honkin' big screen as I can allready see the corners of each pixel, I just want more pixels in my screen real estate!
A 16.5 inch panel pretty much defeats the point of calling it a "notebook". Doing some simple math based on a diagonal size of 16.5" and an aspect ratio of 3:4, we discover that the width of the screen *alone* is 13.2" and 9.9" high. A "notebook" is only supposed to be a hair over 8.5" X 11" right? This portable will be at the very least 10.5" X 13.5", even if they manage to slim the whole notebook down to .7-.8" high thats still a large notebook, not to mention the heft they are going to add too it trying to fit a battery large enough to power a screen that size for a long time. Man, I bet some notebook/briefcases won't even fit something that big! Thanks, but no thanks, I'll keep screens that big on my desk, get me higher res for my lap.
Spyky
>16.5" screen. It might be great for graphic
>artists to show things to clients, or in
>other situations where portability doesn't matter.
I've always wanted a computer for precisely that! Specifically, I'd like a very flat computer that could be built into an 11"x17" portfolio case. Theoretically, you could put a display approaching 20" into such a form factor -- the same viewable area as a 21" CRT.
If you could also add a pressure-sensitive stylus that would work directly on the screen, you'd have a neat machine for digital artists, some of whom would like to truck out of the studio and work on-site just like those beret-wearing guys with the charcoal pads and easels and watercolours.
This would be a great specialty item for architects and designers and so on. As long as we need to carry a big ol' case containing our comps or blueprints, it might as well have a neat computer in it too.
While it sounds big for a laptop, it sounds great for a desktop LCD display, particularly if they make enough so the price is reasonable.
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Open mind, insert foot.
Basically anything weight more than 2 pounds is NOT a laptop in my book. LCD Goggles is the future.
cy