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Hardware

Dual-headed Laptops 108

Posted by CmdrTaco from the now-thats-different dept.
Baloo Ursidae writes "ABC News is reporting that some little upstart in PA is making dual headed laptops. Orient it like a book, you have two portrait-oriented touch sensitive monitors. Orient it like a laptop, and one of the monitors becomes a soft keyboard. Not cheap, however, they start at $4,000." That is absolutely nuts. More power to 'em!
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Dual-headed Laptops More

Dual-headed Laptops

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  • Been there, done that... (Score:5, Informative)

    by dinivin ( 444905 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @11:35AM (#5523574)
    Repost [slashdot.org]

    Dinivin
  • and your keyboard freezes, how do you press CTRL-ALT-DEL?

  • Tablet PC Alternative? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by path_man ( 610677 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @11:41AM (#5523591)

    Well, despite the negative comments at the head of the Slashdot article, I think that this is actually a good thing. Let more tablet PC alternatives enter the market so we can really test the usability factor of !!!OMG!!! different ways in which we use computers.

    I don't think there are many ./'ers who don't agree that market forces are how we weed out what is really good and what really stinks. If the company manufacturing these happens to stumble onto a new idea that changes the way in which we compute, they'll succeed fiscally, and hopefully shift (for the better) the way we use laptops and mobile computers. If, on the other hand, this turns out to be another lead-balloon idea based on the notion that "a fool and his money are soon parted" that will play out as well.

    I, for one, am excited to see different form factors for mobile platforms. I admit I'm a compute gadget fan, but that's the only way we can improve the status quo.

    • Re:Tablet PC Alternative? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Blondie-Wan ( 559212 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @12:19PM (#5523705) Homepage
      I agree with most of your post, except (ironically) for the part where you specifically say what you think /.'ers might agree with:

      I don't think there are many ./'ers who don't agree that market forces are how we weed out what is really good and what really stinks.

      I think most /.'ers would agree market forces haven't been much good at weeding out what stinks from what what's good when it comes to OSes, actually, among other things (or is Windows really soooo much "better" than Linux, Mac OS, Be, etc.?).

      • Yup.

        As far as the combination of price, usability, hardware compatability and software compatability goes, Windows is far, far better than any of those.
        • As far as market penetration goes, then Windows can be a better choice. Market penetration is a very powerful argument when choosing a platform for development of a product.

          Based on some fairly long-term observation, I conclude however, that any broad marketplace is subject to all sorts of manipulations, and the current marketplace of Desktop Operating Environments is no exception.

          For example: Win2k is a relatively stable platform (being neither dramatically inferior nor dramatically superior as a technic

      • That's a bad analogy, I think, because Microsoft exploits its current monopoly position to prevent people from moving away from Windows. A more reasonable question would be whether Windows was better than Mac Classic, and that's a more debatable point. The fact that Windows ran on commodity hardware did give it the edge, IMHO.

        Anyway, in this case, there should be no reason for any company to try to supress anyone else's approach. We'll just buy what works best, and the companies will copy the most succe

      • Ah, but you're missing path_man's point.
        He's probably right about those horrible ./'ers.

        Most /.'ers probably, as I, agree with you.
      • I think most /.'ers would agree market forces haven't been much good at weeding out what stinks from what what's good when it comes to OSes, actually, among other things (or is Windows really soooo much "better" than Linux, Mac OS, Be, etc.?).

        The problem is that the open market has a different idea of what's good and what's bad than you do. In the most basic terms, the market's idea of what's good is defined by what people want to buy. If people want to buy it, it's good, and if they don't, it's bad. If m
        • You should definitely read this article, The Economics of the Microsoft case [stanford.edu], by Tim Bresnahan, who was chief economist (?) for the DOJ during the trial.

        • I just glanced at the above PDF, and it gives the same idea I was about to give, but in a different way...

          'Open Market' assumes marketing does not form purchasing: only end-customer desire, as founded in the product's inherent 'worth' does.

          Convenient contrivance, to monatarist religions, but bogus.

          Sun Tsu: whom forms the meanings-known, forms destiny.

          Moderns can't be incapable of cluing-in to what an utterly brilliant Chinese .. published .. ~2.4 millenia ago...

          Marketing, propaganda, brainwashing,

  • Dirty screen? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lally Singh ( 3427 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @11:44AM (#5523603) Journal
    One of the two screens are going to get very dirty after being used as a keyboard for a while.

    • Re:Dirty screen? (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      One of the two screens are going to get very dirty after being used as a keyboard for a while.

      Semen stains are usually pretty easy to wipe away. Just get them early after ejaculating. A good alcohol based monitor wipe after tidying up with a tissue should keep the keyboard/monitor jizz free for your enjoyment.

    • Re:Dirty screen? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by RLiegh ( 247921 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @12:05PM (#5523663) Homepage Journal
      If you smoke, or live in some place dusty (such as arizona) and use your laptop for any extended period of time, that's a problem already.

      I don't think this would make that much of a difference?

      Or were you going for +1 funny?
      • I would think that a virtual keyboard would do better in a dusty environment--no keys to foul up.

        On a touchscreen, put down one of those peel-away screen protectors like on PDAs. It gets dirty, just peel it off and put down a new one.

  • estari.com (Score:4, Insightful)

    by emptybody ( 12341 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @11:44AM (#5523604) Homepage Journal
    Here is the requisite link to the company making these: Estari [estari.com].

    I would have liked to see a lot more info on their site. Not much for documentation of other pictures.

  • gimmick time (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Cylix ( 55374 )
    Guess we went through the lifetime of laptops being new and fresh! Now it is time to upsize, kingsize, something else size your laptop with dual displays.

    If you thought you weren't going to use it before, chances are you aren't going to use it now, but better hurry and get one while supplies last!

    Hopefully, the trend will continue onward, and it will bring down the cost of realistic laptop gimmicks.

    I need onboard GPS!

  • No, no, no... (Score:5, Funny)

    by RighteousFunby ( 649763 ) <joe&vjoebaldwin,co,uk> on Sunday March 16, 2003 @11:48AM (#5523615) Homepage
    There are two uses for this thing. Only one isn't boring.

    a) office apps
    b) PORN!!!!

    Yup, two pornos at once. Make watching porn like reading one of those crappy books on Harry Potter!

    Actually, I wish I hadn't just associated Harry Potter with porn, the mental image will make me kill people some day. (runs into forest to plot murders, then comes back after reading this [poleshiftprepare.com] and realising (if the floon is right) planets will do it for him).

    I don't know why I just said all that. Neh.

  • More information... (Score:2, Informative)

    by necr0m ( 449388 )
    ...here [dualscreen.com].

  • In a related story... (Score:3, Funny)

    by hkon ( 46756 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @12:01PM (#5523655) Homepage
    We're proud to report that A bunch of geeks [slashdot.org] are running a website with dual-posted stories [slashdot.org]. Not cheap, however, subscriptions start at $5 for 1000 pages. Coincidentally, this has also been reported as "absolutely nuts", but we've received no reports of anyone wishing more power to the editors of this site.

  • Mobile phones (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MrWorf ( 216691 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @12:04PM (#5523661) Homepage
    All we need now is for the cellphone companies to catch on. Replacing the keyboard on the phone with a touchscreen would allow for better input (where the "keyboard" would change depending on what the application needs). And if designed into one of those clamshell phones, the risk of damaging it would be minimal.

    So, instead of adding an extra display on the outside, place it on the inside (hey, maybe we even can have three screens? Scaaary ;-) )
    • There is a sony ericcson phone that has the whole surface as a touch screen - it has a flip over button panel that just pokes the touchscreen if you want to use buttons...

      this is available in the UK at the moment, about £200 or ~ US$300

      see here. [sonyericsson.com]

    • Re:Mobile phones (Score:3, Informative)

      by mattACK ( 90482 )
      Like this [handspring.com], this [t-mobile.com], or this [handspring.com] (for the truly brave). Speaking from experience, the context sensitive screens are cool, but the lack of tactile feedback is unfortunate.
      • They are missing the point. I own a SonyEricsson P800 and while it's a good phone, it is bulky at times. I'd like something like a Samsung clamshell phone (you know, where you open the phone to see the display) where the keyboard has been replaced with an additional screen (touchsensitive). It would have lots of uses (better input for email/surf/etc, being able to see ones own camera image when doing video conference (yeah, I know, not really viable right now, but it's a thought :) )).

        Feedback is problem t

    • Re:Mobile phones (Score:3, Insightful)

      by quick_dry_3 ( 112334 )
      the tactile feedback from a touch screen is awful to non-existant. When you dial a phone with a keypad, you don't really have to pay much attention to what you're pressin because you can locate your finger by feel, touch screens don't do that, you have to actually look at it to know where your finger is in relation to teh keys, and to verify its actually registered the keypress.

      This is one of the reasons the Sony-ERicsson P800 has a flip keypad that partially covers the touch screen - you get full touch sc
    • Not exactly what you are asking for, but very close, I believe: Sony Ericsson P800 [sonyericsson.com].

  • Man... (Score:5, Funny)

    by AnonymousCowheart ( 646429 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @12:05PM (#5523664)
    Man, I could go for some dual head, on my laptop! (mod me down, that was lame, but i couldnt resist)
  • I think that there could be some really cool uses for these!! If i had the money I'd go buy one!!!

  • soft keyboard (Score:4, Informative)

    by b1t r0t ( 216468 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @12:22PM (#5523731)
    Orient it like a laptop, and one of the monitors becomes a soft keyboard.

    Wow! A keyboard with all of the feel of the famous Atari 400 [old-computers.com] keyboard!

    • Tell me about it. I had an Atari 400 AND a Sinclair ZX81. Touchscreen and membrane keyboards suck because of no tactile feedback. The dumbest use of one yet had to be the 80's Buicks with the touchscreen monitor interface. Yes, I want to look down from the road to see which button I'm pressing to set the heater.

      Now if someone could make a touchscreen with raised buttons like maybe using a pin grid, that would be cool.

  • Interesting but... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Billy the Mountain ( 225541 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @12:24PM (#5523743) Journal
    if you are after screen area, why waste a lot of it displaying a virtual keyboard? This laptop might be a good candidate for those projection keyboards. I bet you could set up the keyboard so that it's repositionable (or use mirrors) so that you can use it while in "dual-portrait" or "dual-landscape" And (not sure if this is feasible) if you are wanting to eliminate the whole touch-screen concept how about a projection mouse pad as well?

    BTM

  • Battery Power (Score:3, Insightful)

    by grasshoppah ( 319839 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @12:33PM (#5523789)
    It seems like this would also reduce your batter life by 2x! Two backlights is much more taxing than one. Perhaps this one'll be the first large roll out of OLEDS also:)
  • I thought that dual head ment 2 keyboards and dual eye ment 2 monitors. Am I wrong?

  • Only two heads? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Tuxinatorium ( 463682 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @12:50PM (#5523875) Homepage
    My Cerberus laptop has three!
  • Just like the post said..."More power to 'em"
    Gosh I hope they get that power, they're sure to need it in those laptops :-)
  • What about tactility? I would definitively miss the tactility of a mechanical keyboard... I've used touchscreen style keboard before (on kiosks, embedded systems, etc.) and found it difficult to adjust to...

  • Incremental not revolutionary (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tintruder ( 578375 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:07PM (#5523941)
    While I think a working one of these devices would be pretty "cool" to own, and it would certainly be a conversation piece, it still lacks any huge increase in usability.

    Handwriting recognition is still slower and requires more QA editing than keyboard typing.

    Touchscreen keyboards are marginal at best.

    Not all applications are or can be made "pen aware" just because the PC itself is. If you need an example, try chnging your iPaq or Jornada to Landscape mode and watch how certain functions become lost and irrecoverable off the screen.

    This solution certainly provides a different and interesting way of getting information OUT of the laptop, but it does so at a sacrifice to the means and ease of getting it IN.

    Until there are new and functional means of accessing the user interface such as effective and accurate speech recognition or 3D gesturing ala "Minority Report", these gizmos just don't offer enough outside of a very few niche applications to qualify as revolutionary.

    • I agree - Handwriting recognition (table pc) is about as useable as a horse when you have a car. There seems to be a historical trend of moving away from handwriting.

      Printingpress > Telegraph > Typewriter > Telephone > Fax > Email > Voice Recognition...

      Then back to handwriting? I think the next step will be to free up one's hands (voice). The other day I was in a situation where I had to jot something down and only had some paper and a pen. A few words into my note I realized that I
  • I think this thing's pretty cool except for the fact that it would use a touchscreen keyboard in landscape mode. That would be terrible. I don't see any reason that the second panel couldn't have a normal mechanical keyboard on its backside, though.
  • Am I the ony one noticing that there is no mouse on this thing ? Come on really touch screens have there uses but no one really wants to use one for actual work.

  • Article mentions LCDs as the cost factor (Score:4, Interesting)

    by adzoox ( 615327 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:31PM (#5524055) Journal
    How could it be that 13" LCD panels are the cost factor. If companies can sell 14.1" LCDs for $149 now and laptop makers can sell Tablet PC 13"-15" for $1400 total, then what is making this $4000?

    I do think this is a novel concept. Several of the posts/replies to this article are mentioning they would miss the mechanical keyboard. I believe this would be best suited for an external USB keyboard and "onscreen touch keyboard" when necessary or travelling.

    I think this would be a boom for audio & photo/video professionals. Toolbars on one screen, preview/waveforms on the other, plus onscreen tracing/editting/erasing. If you are a photo/ad pro then you you haven't had value until have tried a Cintiq [aliaswavefront.com] from Wacom. They are VERY expensive but VERY worth it!

    • How could it be that 13" LCD panels are the cost factor. If companies can sell 14.1" LCDs for $149 now and laptop makers can sell Tablet PC 13"-15" for $1400 total, then what is making this $4000?

      The answer is, of course, VOLUME! The other's commercials are much louder than Estari's.

      • I would slightly disagree .. MANY Tiawanese companies will OEM panels for very little difference from big customers. If I wanted 100 14.1" iBook screens from Quanta they would sell them to me for $118 each (with the right wholesalers/manufacturer creditials) They charge Apple, if I'm not mistaken $104 each. Both are OEM from Samsung which charges Quanta $90. Quanta adds some electronics and assembling.

        Volume discounts are a factor with startups being able to price competively, but not much. Bang & Ol

    • These are touch screen LCDs. Here [touchstuff.com] is a 15" desktop model for the low price of $597. Imagine the costs of making it portable, then doubling it.
  • Having read this tasty quote:

    "Users can move "windows" of computer information -- say, a Web page -- between the two screens or stretch them across the displays as if they were one screen."

    I found myself oddly depressed on behalf of the empire [microsoft.com] that even after almost 20 years [microsoft.com] of Windows releases, mainstream press still can't refer to "a window" without explaining this esoteric concept. Ouch.

  • Anyone remember Penny's computer book?

    I wonder if this one can unlock doors, remotely drive cars, and perform facial recognition to reveal MAD agents?

  • When are we going to have lightweight head mounted displays for personal use? No backlighting to worry about, lower power consumption, gigantic resolution, and the best form factor of any laptop - 0. Match it with a pair of data gloves to make a virtual keyboard, and you've got the smallest, most portable keyboard around. How big can these monitors get before we start having to lug around generators on our backs to power the damn things?
  • I bet one could have some 3D fun with one.

  • Keyboard (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Haloows ( 657827 )
    With this design you could possibly implement a swivel for the dual displays and place a keyboard/mouse combo on the back of one of the LCD monitors...allowing for dual screens, or the more familiar "standard laptop" feel. The problem of screen damage could be easily remeded by a simple cover or raised platform around the displays. To prevent the keyboard from causing unwanted operation, it could be made quite thin so that it would have a low clearance compared with the surronding body (The laptop casing)
  • I absolutly love having dual screens at work, and think that having it on a laptop is a Good Thing. But really... wasting an entire (expensive) screen for a "soft" keyboard?

    Several points for coolness, but minus a few million for stupidity.

  • Dual headed X11 running Enlightenment with the nifty LCARS ETheme. Assuming both screens are touchsensative, and hopefully someone writing an LCARSesque qwerty applet for E, I think they'd really be on to something in looks, or at least the headturning factor. Laptops are cool, but the entire Star Trek look (which most phones have no gotten) hasn't quite made it to them yet. This thing is really REALLY cool.
  • Already available, I believe: Flip-Pad Voyager from Xentex http://www.xentex.com/home.html

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