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An Apple netbook? Macbook Mini dual-folding concept by Isamu Sanada
Japanese photographer Isamu Sanada has put out quite a few mock-ups of Apple products, and now he's taking a crack at what an Apple netbook might look like. His design? Something long and thin like we saw with the Vaio P, but with a third piece: a tray that folds out with a touchpad on it.
There's something about that touchpad tray that doesn't jive with an Apple design. It's such a small pad with a lot of wasted space. Maybe it'd look better if the whole tray itself was a touchpad? Or how about doing away with the tray altogether and just making the computer display a touchscreen? Check out the gallery below and let us know what you think.
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TechEBlog, via Gizmowatch
By feeble02 at 4:18 PM ON 01/27/09
How about making the entire tray a touchpad/ graphics tablet. That would be amazing. You would no longer need to have a second device connected. Also think about what extremely cool game concepts and user ability you could have with a pen. Although I guess for it to be both a touchpad and a tablet, there would have to be a feature switch.
By FSM at 5:37 AM ON 01/28/09
While the touchpad area, including the dead space, is slightly large, it's not much bigger than the space around my MacBook Pro's (aug08) touchpad. I always thought that the space around the touchpad was a waste of space, but the nice thing about this, is at least it goes somewhere. And the bigger the touchpad, the more difficult it becomes to type without touching it; I don't think bigger touchpads would be a good thing.
I think this is a cool idea. It's a nice space saving idea.
Making the computer screen a touchscreen? Bad idea if the touching is done with a finger. I really think 'tablet' computers with touchscreens would be a great idea, but only if the touching is done by a pen. A pen is more precise than a finger; though it would be nice to see something optimized for both. I was thinking the other day that film editing would become so much easier if it was done with a tablet and pen touchscreen interface.
By matt at 9:34 AM ON 01/28/09
the space around the trackpad is where you rest your wrists (I know bad form) when you're typing, or rest you hand when you're using the trackpad.
I do love the idea of the graphics tablet though!
By eyeore40 at 12:43 PM ON 01/29/09
I think the touchpad is ideal the size it is when your typing cause your hands can rest on either side of the pad. if the touch pad on the other side was the full width then that would be good because you wouldn't be typing. As for a pen finger enabled touchscreen that would be cool too. Would give more options, and would probably appeal to a wider audience.
By Tamoko at 8:11 AM ON 02/04/09
I really like the form factor ratio, but the fold out touch pad just doesn't jive. A graphics tablet would seem more Apple's style. I know Steve said that Apple wouldn't venture into the NetBook market, but id they did, it would be a sweet little device. I could do all my graduate work from something a bit larger than a hard back book, in dimensions... My MacBook Pro is heavy, and overkill for me to be lugging around all the time. As long as I could run Windows 7 or XP in emulation on it, I'd buy it in a shot.
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Tamoko:
I really like the form factor ratio, but the fold out touch pad just doesn't jive. A graphics tablet would seem mor...More »