Here's a wild idea- macbook Air- floats above its dock

iansilv

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 10, 2004
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OK- this was just an idea i had, no "I talked to this guy in an elevator" BS here... But here si my idea- Macbook Air has no aires- it uses induction charging, and the charging base has magnets to elevate the notebook slightly above a docking station. so it hovers, like 1/4" above, and still charges/transmits data. Sony was showing some crazy cable less tech at CES that has a range of 3 centimeters, and I just think it would be cool if it floated. I don't know... thoughts anyone?
 
I'd rather not type on a floating notebook, but that's just me.
 
I remember seeing an article on Digg about a concept bed that hovered in the air with magnets. If you've ever tried floating things in the air with magnets, you know that the polarity relationship is pretty fragile. If the floating object shifts too much, the the opposite side of the magnet starts getting attracted and the object flips over and wildly crashes into the stationary magnet. In the case of a floating bed, the bed flips over and crushes you in your sleep. Having your laptop flip over like that won't kill you, but it would probably ruin your $1500+ investment.
 
:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Air is almost certainly adobe integrated runtime sdk for the iphone/itouch
 
It adds bulk without giving any real benefits.
I cant think of a need to have a laptop floating above the desk.
It will also need walls surrounding the macbook to prevent it being magnetically ejected sideways if it clears the magnetic forces holding it in place (ie if you knock it sideways)
 
a black brushed aluminum mbp. from it's initial release i thought the intel mac should have used the pbg4 chassis. the dual heatpipe cooler used in the current mbp is far and away inadequate compared to the ceramic plate and integrated fans used in the pbg4.
 
I remember seeing an article on Digg about a concept bed that hovered in the air with magnets. If you've ever tried floating things in the air with magnets, you know that the polarity relationship is pretty fragile. If the floating object shifts too much, the the opposite side of the magnet starts getting attracted and the object flips over and wildly crashes into the stationary magnet. In the case of a floating bed, the bed flips over and crushes you in your sleep. Having your laptop flip over like that won't kill you, but it would probably ruin your $1500+ investment.

well if it were one big magnet, yes, but a few magnets (say 5, arranged like the 5 on dice) wouldn't flip over, it would just stop floating and fall an inch or so.


...but who cares really, it ain't gonna happen...
 
I may be wrong, but isnt there at least some parts of a computer that would be royally fucked by subjecting them to powerful magnets?
 
As long as its a constant magnetic field, it should be fine.
Alternating magnetic fields will induce current flow in anything that can conduct electricity.
Static fields wont.
 
I don't think he was talking about electromagnetic currents.

I take it nobody else has taken a rare earth magnet to an old hard drive before?
 
not just that, magnets can prevent fans from spinning too, fan stops working, laptop overheats, if its a sony battery in there it will blow up in your face
 
Even if they worked out protecting the laptop from the magnets, there are plenty of other things on my desk that I would like like placed near a magnet.
 
magnets would work on the SSD model...I think if you levitated a ordinary hard drive though you might be in for a rude surprise, constant field or not
 
i guess my question would be..

why would i want it to float a few inches above my desk?

because, who do you know who has a computer charging and floating a few inches above their desk.

just a cool invention.

yea and the magnets wouldnt have to be that strong to hold up 3 pounds
 
If they are going to make it truely wireless and use inductive charging, the need to completely seal the laptop.

Just imagine a hermetically sealed laptop. Use it in the bath tube, use it to take notes in your underwater basket weaving class. Dump pop in your laptop? No problem, just put it in the sink and run water over it.

They'd just have to get over the whole processor frying itself to death problem.
 
or the whole "second battery" concept that is almsot an industry unto itself for the business traveller :p
 
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