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450

Produce a laptop that can be used on a lap

450 points posted to New Product Ideas, Laptops by oligarch 06/24/08

Laptops have grown to be unuseable comfortably on a lap due to heat, screen position and keyboard ergonomics. I would like to retain the power of current offerings to handle video, computation and average games, but to be light and easily useable without a tray/cooler and to still have a good screen size (say 15" or so).
As power efficiency gains are always used up by more powerful processors and more complex software I do not expect power consumption to be massively less than today's average Inspiron or Latitude, so the cooling system needs to be redesigned so the base is insulated from the lap and cooling air is directed away from the body.
The screen should be mounted securely but it should be possible to raise the viewing height using some sort of cantilever mechanism. Alternatively it could be dismounted to place on a coffee table and again elevated using the same mechanism and communicate with a wireless or other means.
One possible design could use a touch screen in the base replacing the need for a keyboard. allowing use with or without the other screen.
It could be sold wth or without the demountable screen and could also be used with a much larger separate wireless monitor and /ro wireless media server.

desertguy
09/13/08		 One thing Dell has just done is with its new line of laptops Latitude is move the battery to rear of the machine. All my ThinkPads laptops are like this and they have a tendency to flip backwards due to the weight now being in the rear when on your lap or on a stand. I have had laptops almost get away from me due this battery design when I moved the wrong way when using them. I like my laptops with the batteries placed at the center rear or front as in done in the D630. I also believe the battery will stay cooler because heat tends to raise toward the front of the laptop because many times its used angled up. I hope Dell will return to the original design for laptops 14 inch on down for better stability.
 
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