15” Dual Screen Acer Laptop

J

John_Keck

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 3, 2010
Messages
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A new dual-screen Acer laptop has shown up in pictures. One screen acts as a usual display does, and the second as a keyboard/trackpad. The laptop isn’t expected until the end of next year, so specs are unknown. Pretty neat idea, but I can’t imagine it being that practical and enjoyable to use.
 
If you're going to just use the second screen as keyboard/trackpad...why not just HAVE a keyboard and trackpad? What's the point?
 
arnemetis said:
If you're going to just use the second screen as keyboard/trackpad...why not just HAVE a keyboard and trackpad? What's the point?
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you CAN use it as something else too. maybe sit the thing on its side and watch a movie spanned across both screens? idk, its hard to say how this would actually be useful, but its cool tech and i cant wait to see what people invent to take advantage of it.
 
'cause you can combine it with MS's dream technology that we saw a couple days ago for some fairly unique possibilities.

Come on, guys, think outside the box. A completely reconfigurable control surface separate from your viewing surface. Just need people to take advantage of the possibilities.

BB
 
While I completely support limiting the number of moving parts on a laptop, I think this is taken in the wrong direction.
 
My typo sense is tingling, I don't see how this would work, as you have no tactile feedback as to where your home keys are, or for that fact if your even on a key. The only way I could even see this working, is if the touch screen tracks your fingers and adjusts the position of the keyboard on the screen per key stroke, that said even then this just seems lame, as Acer isn't exactly known for it's touch screen technology.
 
About 2 years too late. Why buy a 15" nintendo ds when tablets would be far superior in this situation?

Watch spanned movies with like a 2-5" gap? Yea right.

Control possibilities? Sure, but not with a laptops processing power behind it. More suited to a desktop.
 
I'll be interested to see how well this thing is received and what it is actually capable of
 
Now assuming it has usb ports, if you can use it as dual screens using external key/mouse it might be useful. I know we all have different uses for a laptop. I often use mine as more of a portable work station. I setup somewhere and stay put for hours at a time. I do occasionally use it to just check email but that is honestly kinda rare.

Think setting it up on edge using two screens so that they are taller then wide. That could be useful for document editing and reading email on the other screen etc.
 
they need to make a small, cheap version of this for an e-book reader that would still feel like a book. I would buy that in a heartbeat.
 
interesting to say the least...but why not just get a tablet?
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Two screens side by side is absolutely perfect for reading and taking notes at the same time. If only it had an active digitizer I would be all over it.
 
Surface laptop. Folks don't knock this till you try it, this work VERY well on the Libretto W100. Now the Libretto is much lighter but if this size keyboard has haptic like the W100, typing on this will be pretty nice.

And as for the Surface thing, remember the Surface gaming demo a few days ago, virtual interfaces, doesn't just have to be a keyboard.

Going to have to buy this thing.
 
This is what I thought Apple would do when they first released the iPhone. Bringing dual touchscreens to a Macbook seemed like the next step to me. Call Apple what you will, but their large cash balance shows they aren't stupid. I have no doubt that Apple tested it thoroughly and came to the conclusion that most people prefer tactile response in their keyboards.

But we have already known that for decades. Many of the keyboards in the Worst Keyboards Of All Time had keyboards with no tactile response. Note particularly the Atari 400 - released in 1979. Non-tactile keyboards died 30 years ago, and they should stay dead.
 
heatlesssun said:
Surface laptop. Folks don't knock this till you try it, this work VERY well on the Libretto W100. Now the Libretto is much lighter but if this size keyboard has haptic like the W100, typing on this will be pretty nice.
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I can't imagine typing efficiently on this. Natural positioning is one thing, but I think users really will lean towards physical over virtual keyboards, when feel and feedback are factored in.
And as for the Surface thing, remember the Surface gaming demo a few days ago, virtual interfaces, doesn't just have to be a keyboard.
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Touch gaming assumes the user's eyes are on the place of interaction, tho. Users won't be second-guessing themselves like they would on a virtual keyboard. In the case of typing, heir eyes are on the graphical destinations of their input, rather than the input device itself.
 
evilsofa said:
Non-tactile keyboards died 30 years ago, and they should stay dead.
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Until three weeks I would have agreed with you but I say it again, this concept works FAR better than I would have thought. In the last three weeks I've typed more on the W100 keyboard than I have all other touch screen keyboard devices I've had combined, and I've have used them so a lot longer than most even around here.

If haptic can be implemented on the device it will be good for typing for most people, touch typists won't like it but for the average typist it'll work well.

Plus remember that bottom screen is a screen, it doesn't have to be a keyboard, it can be used like the W100 to create a large display. It's actually nice to do this:
DSCN1705.JPG


And as little as the W100 the dual screen setup makes working on multiple documents as snap. There's a future for this form factor. But I would love to see it with a convertible screen with a digital pen, that would be really awesome, even better if one of the screens could be detached for a pure slate. That would be the coolest device ever.
 
Hmm two touch displays...hmm well they should have waited to see if Apple did it first and then try and make it better afterward :D
 
Gees, all the negative comments. If it was Apple releasing this exact same product it would be all over the news and people would be queuing up already.
 
IronChef75 said:
Gees, all the negative comments. If it was Apple releasing this exact same product it would be all over the news and people would be queuing up already.
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Just ignorance. I've talked to a dozen W100 owners and they've all been impressed with the device. But I really didn't get it until I used it, it is just different from my expectations but in a good way.

Why all the Apple talk? Toshiba bought this concept to market Apple's got nothing like it and won't touch it until others do the hard work of proving the concept. Apple never does stuff that isn't pretty safe or complex to make for the most part, maybe the Air.
 
heatlesssun said:
Apple never does stuff that isn't pretty safe or complex to make for the most part, maybe the Air.
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So you believe that the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod, Mac OS X, the original Mac and the original Apple were all pretty safe and uncomplicated? I know that HardOCP has a lot of Apple haters, but that's just revisionist.
 
evilsofa said:
So you believe that the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod, Mac OS X, the original Mac and the original Apple were all pretty safe and uncomplicated? I know that HardOCP has a lot of Apple haters, but that's just revisionist.
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The iPad wasn't the first touch slate. The iPhone wasn't the first smart phone. The iPod wasn't the first mp3 player. I had all of these devices YEARS before Apple made them. Mac OS X is a derivative of BSD. The original Mac, thank Xerox for much of the R&D for that. Sure they added some great UI but no they didn't take the risk of being first or original on anything that you mentioned. You did however miss something that Apple did that actually was pretty original, the Newton, I had one of those.

I'm not hating on Apple I'm simply pointing out the facts.
 
It also reminds me of a huge Nintendo DS.

And personally, I like having a tactical feedback on my keyboard. If anything, they should expand the trackpad to the entire width of the keyboard and replace the wrist rest area with the touchscreen. Oh well, at least with this, you can connect an external keyboard to it.
 
heatlesssun said:
The iPad wasn't the first touch slate. The iPhone wasn't the first smart phone. The iPod wasn't the first mp3 player. I had all of these devices YEARS before Apple made them. Mac OS X is a derivative of BSD. The original Mac, thank Xerox for much of the R&D for that. Sure they added some great UI but no they didn't take the risk of being first or original on anything that you mentioned. You did however miss something that Apple did that actually was pretty original, the Newton, I had one of those.

I'm not hating on Apple I'm simply pointing out the facts.
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Pwned lol.
 
This could be cool for the 2 or so spills I see a week. Instead of destroying the keyboard and maybe mobo it would just be a simple wipe down. Although I see a busted screen almost every day so i guess you're trading one problem for another.
 
A good haptic implementation on a device this size would be a perfectly fine keyboard for a lot of average typists. And since it's all virtual the keyboard and mouse can be setup anyway one would want. I'd love to see them put a LOT of customization capability into the keyboard and track pad.
 
an interesting concept, whether people now like or not is just personal preference... the biggest problem I see here is battery life, now having to power 2 displays is going to make this thing a huge battery hog.
 
heatlesssun said:
The iPad wasn't the first touch slate. The iPhone wasn't the first smart phone. The iPod wasn't the first mp3 player. I had all of these devices YEARS before Apple made them. Mac OS X is a derivative of BSD. The original Mac, thank Xerox for much of the R&D for that. Sure they added some great UI but no they didn't take the risk of being first or original on anything that you mentioned. You did however miss something that Apple did that actually was pretty original, the Newton, I had one of those.

I'm not hating on Apple I'm simply pointing out the facts.
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Yes you are correct, and while I'm not an Apple fanboy nor do I own any Apple products (though I have owned multiple iPhones), I will say that they are great and looking at what others are doing or are going to do - and perfecting it.
 
I think it looks great. There is a lot of potential for things with a setup like this, plus the ability to add a keyboard via USB. I'd personally rather have the large dual touch setup, I wouldn't be writing a novel on something like this.
 
Hop-Scotch said:
I wouldn't be writing a novel on something like this.
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I wrote a ten page review of the W100 on the W100 and I was impressed by how well that worked. and actually writing something like a novel, where you'd want to get an idea down before it was lost but not write the whole thing at once is exactly what this would be good for.

The problem however with typing on the Libretto isn't the touch screen, it's the size of the touch screen. Add good haptic to a screen this size and I'll say it again, it'll work fine for most people for even large jobs.
 
I'm not saying it can't be done, just that if people are going to sit down to write, for a job/living, this probably won't be their choice, and I don't see it being marketed towards them. I was just trying to respond to a lot of anti-touchscreen typing comments.
 
No this won't replace a keyboard for high speed typing but it can certainly replace a keyboard for average typists and that second screen has tons more capability than a keyboard. That bottom screen would be AWESOME with a pen digitizer in it for example. Ever since I saw the W100 I've been thinking a lot about this form factor in a larger size and there's just so much potential here to use computers in far more productive and interesting was than currently. Looking down while writing and up to review separate content, uber productive for note taking.
 
thebaest said:
an interesting concept, whether people now like or not is just personal preference... the biggest problem I see here is battery life, now having to power 2 displays is going to make this thing a huge battery hog.
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Yes this is a problem as it does hurt the W100's battery life a lot but this device being much bigger doesn't necessarily have to be thought of as a mobile device. Even plugged in this form factor does things that you can't do a with a forward facing only screens, Surface laptop.
 
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