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Mike Elgan's picture
Mike Elgan

The World Is My Office

Laptop keyboard parts to reveal a second screen

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- A laptop that will ship this year, according to the maker, features a keyboard that parts like the Red Sea to reveal a second screen. While split, the keyboard still functions. Is the world ready for this laptop design?

It's called the Ergonomic Dual Screen Split Keyboard Notebook Portable Personal Computer Executive and, according to the Ergonomic Keyboards site, it goes on sale this year to OEMs. The patents are for sale, too.

No, these aren't going to take over the market. But I've reported before on the coming age of dual-screen laptops, where the keyboard of a clamshell laptop will be replaced by another touch-screen. The problem with this vision is that people may hesitate to give up their physical keyboards.

Will the industry start experimenting with "missing link" or "transitional" laptop form factors where the systems have both two screens and a physical keyboard? If so, this idea is interesting.

What do you think? Would you want a laptop like this?

(Thanks to technabob)

What People Are Saying

KEYBOARD Averatec

This is the greatest post I have come across so far.I am really pleased to post my comment on this blog.

NOT LIKEIN IT

IM SURE THEY COULD THINK OF SOMTHIN MORE BETTER THEN THIS. AS LONG AS IM NOT FORCED IN FUTURE TO BUY IT THIS WAY ..JUST LIKE WIDESCREEN ...THEY SHOULD SHOOT THE BASTARD WHO INVENTED WIDESCREEN . I DONT LIKE BEING FORCED TO BUY MOVIES AND LCD SCREED THAT ARE WIDESCREEN ..I WANT A CHOICE

Your a complete and utter

Your a complete and utter moron. Your not forced to do anything. You can buy all the movies your buying for wide screen, in full screen. Look a little harder.

And as far as shooting the guy? Wide screen is superior. The movie is made in wide screen. It allows more to be captured in the shot.

James Cameron's new movie Avatar went so far as to your 3 Cameras in places a Wide screen HD camera wouldn't fit so it'd look like it should.

So...learn what your talking about, before you start rambling.

HEY BUDDDY

I DNOT KNOOW WHO YOU ARE BUT I LIKE THE WAY YOU EXPERESSE YOUYRSLEF

Split Screen lapTop

Well. it really depends on who they are targeting as the major buyers of this style laptop. I as a (PC) music producer use a dual monitor setup in my home studio and with this configuration when I go out of town or I'm inspired say 3/4 am I can just sit up in my bed plug in my headphones and go to work ,having the split screen allows me to have the same functions as I do in my studio on my laptop one word...... .A.W.E.S.O.M.E.!!! I can't wait 'til it hits the stores online or off and hope it's affordably priced

Split keyboard laptop

I'd be very interested in this if the two halves of the keyboard can also rotate and angle like the ergonomic keyboards available from, for example, Goldtouch. One of the things that has stalled me from getting a laptop is that I only use keyboards like the Goldtouch or Microsoft Elite Natural on my desktops at home and work. I find using the standard flat keyboard awkward at best, and physically painful when I have those rare occasions of needing to work on one for an extended period. The second screen is superfluous to me, though I would probably use it for parking windows that I'm not accessing frequently but want to keep visible on the desktop.

There will ALWAYS be someone to buy...

Graphic Designers - this would be great - menus on the smaller internal screen while the work goes on up above. I manage a network and do tech support and have 4 screens on my desktop, hate my laptop because I have to layer the windows. I don't particularly know that THIS permutation would be all that great with the split keyboard, but perhaps fold out monitors would be groovy. And no matter WHAT they make, someone will buy one, maybe not millions, but someone will.

The world is absolutely not

The world is absolutely not ready for something like this. Speaking from a technician point of view I have a lot of customer who have difficulties making just one mouse / monitor / keyboard work together. More isn't better.

I think that for certain

I think that for certain people it could be useful - being able to drag certain items of your desktop or menus of programs to the second screen to free up the main screen is one positive thing I see with this design.

Laptop keyboard parts to reveal a second screen

Do we really need a computer that forces us to do 2 things at once? Don't we all work too many hours already?????