[ # ] iTablet, Macbook with dual sided trackpads

/* Posted March 17th, 2008 at 11:10am */
/* Filed under Apple, Mac Mini */

While dual sided trackpad on a new phones is interesting, Apple sees much wider applications for the whole idea.

One of them is Apple Tablet.

Just take the standard laptop form factor, put all the electronics behind the display panel, and make all the bottom part into a transparent dual sided trackpad. And youâ€™ve got yourself an iTab.

In a closed position, it becomes a standard slate tablet computer, with a multi-touch touchscreen.
Open it to up-to 160 degree angle, and it becomes a normal laptop computer. The bottom side becomes the control device, with multi-touch trackpad and/or keyboard functions. Add polarized light symbols and/or that multi-touch keyboard technologies, that Apple has been developing for a while now, and overall experience might be richer then on todayâ€™s Macbook.
Then, if the tablet is open form more then 160 degrees, sharing mode can be enabled. The picture on display rotates 180 degrees, towards the person(s) you are making the presentation for, and you control the process via trackpad on your side. Or split screen mode can be enabled, so both you and the presentee see the same picture.

And, of course, the same dual sided transparent trackpad technology can be applied to your standard Macbook computer. Why? Think Sideshow, just simpler to make and use, cheaper and more capable.

When your computer is open, itâ€™s just another multi-touch trackpad. Close it, and the trackpad becomes a small external display (just like Vista Sideshow), with full multi-touch capabilities.

You can check your e-mails, control iTunes music player, receive weather alerts and quite a few other things.

And, as patent application says, when OLED displays become mainstream, they will allow only a small part of the display that is visible through the trackpad to be active.

Now think about wide trackpads that are on Macbook Proâ€™s already. Make the dual sided transparent trackpads a little bigger in size - something like current iPod Touch. Think about laptop battery. Touchscreen. MacbookAirâ€¦

Currently both your iPod and Macbook gives you several hours of music, video playback and net browsing on one charge.

But put a dual-sided transparent trackpad on a Macbook Air, and you got yourself an ultimate travel device. Thin, light and, with only part of the OLED display beneath trackpad active, it can work for days, when needed, on one charge.

taken from: http://www.unwiredview.com/2008/03/17/iphone-20-iphone-30-or-iphone-nano-a-clamshellflip-phone/