
Intel, Lenovo spread foldable computer fever at CES - lelf
https://techxplore.com/news/2020-01-intel-lenovo-foldable-fever-ces.html
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dangus
I would have been extremely negative on this Lenovo machine if it didn’t have
the keyboard docking solution that it does have. I have to admit that it’s
clever and practical.

What the machine needs is a way for the fully folded out display to stand
itself up at a comfortable viewing angle.

One thing I’m concerned about is the hardware-first mentality that OEMs have
taken to foldable designs. The whole experience needs to make its advantages
and use case more plainly obvious. To that end, you can tell by the demo video
that Windows isn’t customized nearly enough to make this a pleasant
experience.

Windows still isn’t a touch experience that I’ve seen anyone use in the wild
because the bulk of its utility is with legacy style Windows applications that
demand precise cursor movement and keyboard shortcuts. Every single person
I’ve seen using a Surface Pro at coffee shops has been using it in “laptop
mode.”

To this end, this device should be answering the question of “Why should I buy
this over a cheaper XPS 13 or MacBook Air that fits in my backpack just fine?”
With this computer’s minuscule keyboard and touchpad along with a digital
drawing experience that can’t be any good I’m just not sure who this product
is meant to appeal to.

Products like this ask the question “What hardware can we build?” But the
correct question is “How do we make something that people will love to use and
want to own?”

Foldable devices are in danger of being the 3D or curved TV of the 2020s. I
think the most likely outcome will be us sitting here in five years wondering
why anyone thought that foldable devices were a good idea.

~~~
swebs
>You can tell by the demo video that a Windows isn’t customized nearly enough
to make this a pleasant experience.

A really cool demo would have been to show off this laptop form factor by
using Linux with a tiling window manager such as i3wm. Having it automatically
split or rearrange panes when a fold is detected would be really cool.
Unfortunately, Lenovo seems to be quite a bit behind the likes of Dell,
System76, Pureism, etc in creating developer editions (read: shipped with
Linux).

~~~
dangus
Absolutely! When I saw the operating system making zero changes to the lock
screen as it was unfolded, zero changes when the keyboard was placed on top of
the magnetic mount, that’s when I knew the product was dead in the water.

------
dang
Related:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21989049](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21989049)

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swebs
Eh, I'm having a hard time finding what advantage this would actually give
you.

~~~
lallysingh
In cramped quarters, a regular 12"ish laptop. When you have extra desk space,
it's a desktop with a 17" display.

~~~
lm28469
Now you have to ask yourself how many times in your life you had this exact
problem. And if you did have this problem how big of a deal is it for your
quality of life.

It's a solution looking for a problem, at least in that form / the consumer
market.

~~~
michaelt
Theoretically? Every time you hear someone talking about how they dock their
laptop, you're hearing someone say they want a bigger screen than they're
willing to carry.

Of course, a fold-out screen isn't a panacea: A 17" laptop isn't just heavy
because of the big screen, but also because of the big battery to light up
that screen. And of course there's the issue of reliability.

~~~
Goronmon
I dock my laptop because I want a large screen (17" is tiny from a desktop
perspective), a secondary screen, and a decent keyboard to type on.

These foldable devices don't solve any of these problems.

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frereubu
I can’t help but think, when I read things like this, that laptops are already
foldable. I don’t get why people want the _screen_ to be foldable too. I
haven’t seen a use case that’s gelled for me, but perhaps I’m just missing the
point and it’s just about technojoy.

~~~
Someone1234
More screen real estate.

For example you could have a laptop screens that opens horizontally, a
normally positioned keyboard, and almost double your usable screen real estate
on the road. Akin to this: [https://odditymall.com/slidenjoy-laptop-
slides](https://odditymall.com/slidenjoy-laptop-slides)

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diftraku
Finally they came up with the interactive book from the Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy (the one from the 2005 movie).

Only thing missing is the LCARS-esque interface to Wikipedia and custom case
with the book cover look to it.

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simias
I could definitely use that, you have a small laptop you can easily carry
around (assuming that the magnetic keyboard thingy is actually half decent)
and then when I'm somewhere with a little more room I can unfold it into a
large monitor and use a proper keyboard.

That seems like a good compromise.

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mapcars
Interesting I think it requires a lot of software changes to support such
screen layouts and changes (in case of physical keyboard)

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hajile
I think a separate roll-up display would be nicer. Pull out a tube, unroll
your 34" ultra-widescreen display and work.

~~~
criddell
I want an actual foldable display. These seem like they are merely bendable.

Think back to the time when people actually bought paper maps and newspapers.
You would take the map, find the area of interest, then fold it up so that you
could see what you needed.

Obviously a display can show anything anywhere, but the idea of being able to
take a large display and fold it to the perfect size for the circumstances
would be pretty neat.

~~~
orev
I just don’t see how bendable or foldable displays are in any way durable.
Bending like this is one thing, but truly folding something damages it. Even
simple paper starts to fall apart after a few times folding and unfolding.
There’s no way a complex display device would be able to survive 1000s of
cycles.

~~~
criddell
Make it out of some type of fabrics. They stand up much better to folding than
paper or plastic.

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bromonkey
I'm over here just wanting a laptop that isn't so thin it feels like it's
going to snap in half every time I pick it up and has a battery that lets it
run for more than 5 hours. Maybe one day the future will bless us with
computers that are portable _and_ usable.

~~~
selectodude
That definitely exists. My laptop is an inch thick and lasts ten hours with a
quad core CPU and a high resolution screen.

~~~
kjeetgill
Don't leave us hanging! What laptop do you have?

~~~
selectodude
It’s a 15” MacBook Pro.

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chadlavi
Why would I ever want a laptop with a software keyboard?

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netsharc
15 years ago flexible displays were probably fantasy. Now there are consumer
products (Edit: ah, the laptops are concepts, but Samsung and Motorola have
phones!) using them. We do really live in the future...

~~~
psv1
Flexible and foldable products are so underwhelming. At this point they seem
like something being developed just for the sake of demonstrating that it's
possible. If the goal is to make attractive products, they're failing
spectacularly.

~~~
Jonnax
The first generation iPhone was a bit clunky, a Nokia N95 could do so much
more...

~~~
psv1
> The first generation iPhone was a bit clunky

No crowd has gasped at a foldable display the way people gasped when Jobs used
his finger to scroll in the first iPhone keynote.

