New Touch Macbook and iMac?

Zac · **Posted:** August 24th, 2010, 8:06 pm

I'm part of another website that keeps every up to date on the world of Apple and well this popped up.
There are already patents claimed by Apple about their new products. Think they'll actually make them?

Touch Screen Macbook

Quote:

Now that Apple's marquee products - the iPhone and iPad - have gotten such praise for their high-quality IPS touchscreens, it looks like the company is looking at incorporating such displays on the MacBook line as well. Jack Purcher at Patently Mac looked at recently-revealed Apple patents for their IPS technology, and noted clear references to touchscreen-equipped MacBooks. With Apple putting such emphasis on touch with the new Magic Touchpad and magic Mouse, it makes sense that touchscreens would be the next logical step. And given that multi-touch is such an integral part of iOS, one commentator wonders if future MacBooks could also run a form of Apple's mobile operating system.

The patent that Purcher highlights relates to "increasing light transmittance in LCD pixels," but the hidden gem he found is a clear reference to touchscreen application. Talking about an "input structure" ith a touch-sensitive mechanism," the patent goes on to detail how "the user may select or interact with displayed interface elements via the touch sensitive mechanism" that would "allow a user to navigate the displayed interface by touching the display," which is a clear a description of multitouch in patent-ese as you're going to find. The patent also clearly indicates that the device using this technology could be "a MacBook, MacBook Pro and/or MacBook Air."

How you'd actually use a touchscreen Mac is a different matter. There's nothing inherently better about using a touchscreen rather than a touchpad or mouse to control a regular computer graphical interface like Mac OS X. In many cases, it'll be more awkward to touch the screen rather than use the built-in touchpad of the MacBook. John Brownlee over at Cult of Mac looks at this news and wonders if it means that Apple intends to build iOS support into Mac OS X. He talks about a "Dashboard-style" integration, which presumably means a separate mode where iOS apps would pop up like Dashboard widgets, and you'd use the touchscreen rather than the mouse in that mode.

Obviously, just because Apple mentions a technology in a particular patent, it doesn't mean we'll see it in a product soon, if ever. However, given all the resources Apple is putting into the mobile, multi-touch side of the house with iOS, the likelihood is that we'll see the two sides merge, and a MacBook - located right between an iPad and an iMac - is the place you'd expect that merging to happen.

Source: Cult of Mac

Touch Screen iMac

Quote:

A patent filed by Apple with the World Intellectual Property Organization shows an iMac with a tilting display that can transform on the fly from a standard desktop computer running Mac OS X to something very much like an iPad running iOS. The patent was discovered by Patently Apple, who also revealed the touchscreen MacBook patent profiled here yesterday. Put together, the two patents are a pretty strong indication that Apple is seriously looking at unifying Mac OS X and iOS and has figured out how to do it.

Patently Apple's Jack Purcher is pretty fired up about the discovery of this patent, which he called the "Mother Lode of all information concerning the iMac Touch." And it's certainly true that this would be a pretty cool computer. When it's upright like an iMac, it would run Mac OS X using the keyboard and mouse for control, and when it's laid flat, the system switches to iOS and the monitor becomes a touchscreen. The patent describes the ability to set at what angle the switchover happens: "An accelerometer in the display could sense the force of gravity along an axis, and the measured force could be used to determine an angle of the display with respect to the ground (i.e. the plane perpendicular to the direction of the force of gravity). A transition between input modes could be performed when the vertical angle (tilt) of the display crosses a predetermined angle." The computer could also use a rotation sensor mounted in the adjustable stand or a touch sensor located where you would grab the display to tilt it.

The patent also describes how this technology would be used in a laptop, with the display rotating and laying flat against the keyboard in a way that's reminiscent of convertible tablet/netbooks like the Telsda. The part of the patent that talks about the capability of "operating a peripheral device coupled to the host device" seems to pretty clearly refer to slaving your iPhone to the computer, with functions like "answering a telephone call, placing a telephone call, terminating a telephone call, changing the volume or audio settings, storing information related to telephone communications such as addresses, frequently dialed numbers, received calls, missed calls," and on and on. This means you'll basically have your iOS and Mac OS X worlds completely unified on your desktop.

This information comes with the same caveat as yesterday's patent news: just because Apple has taken out a patent on something doesn't mean there will actually ever be a product based on it. However, this thing sure looks like something Apple would do, it would probably sell like hot cakes, and it looks like it could be built with all off-the-shelf technology Apple's already got. The application was filed a year ago, and to be honest, I'll be more than a little surprised if it doesn't get made into a product rather soon.

Source: AppleInsider

Discuss, Comment.

Adbot · **Posted:** August 24th, 2010, 8:06 pm

Shane · **Posted:** August 24th, 2010, 8:56 pm

Eventually. We first saw patent applications for the Magic Trackpad last year. Taking that into consideration we're probably no more than a year out on something like this. On the other hand it could be Apple being proactive and just registering a patent because they can and don't want anyone else making something like this. There have been other patents filed that have not made it to the consumer stage yet.

A combined interface as seen in the second image you posted might be the way to go to an alternate type of interface. The problem I see with that diagram is that the screen display surface is too high to be ergonomically effective if you're sitting at a desk. It would make more sense to me if there was a touch display in front of you (as you have now, only with touch) and an auxiliary display in the current keyboard position to make touching the interface easier (see the science stations on the set of the Enterprise D). Once again on the other hand this form factor would work for a table top display, maybe Apple's version of Surface? A way this might be accomplished is by using the auxiliary display for data input and file operations (save/close/print/etc.) The main display would then be used for data display and manipulating objects as one of the other patent images not posted here showed. I think if it could be made ergonomically proper such a computer would be excellent for designers (print, web, cad, whatever) and media professionals once the software is tuned.

The iPhone was the first phone to use multi-touch on a capacitive display changing many user interface ideas about mobile devices. It hasn't happened yet for the desktop computer since most people are going to be reluctant to giving up their keyboard and mouse and no company is willing to take a risk on a product people won't buy. As I said at the end of January when the iPad came out any new technology has to have a lost entry cost and be easy/intuitive to use, assuming the company makes it to market.

The touch based laptop seems like a step backward from the iPad since we've had tablet based laptops for the last decade. The tablet form factor isn't all that popular with the mainstream market. I would definitely prefer mobile touch computing to focus on an iPad style device rather than a laptop.

All in all the keyboard and mouse are ancient. We need something better. It's not voice because talking to your computer all day would get tedious, that would only be good for short queries. Air based gestures would also get tiring, but once again they have their place as well (Kinect, map uis, 3D visualisations, etc.)

Pfkninenines · Global Moderator 12/4/08

Sitting down and using a touch screen seems odd to me. For some applications, fine, but for the majority of people I can't see every day things that would require a full time touch screen. Something that requires design would benefit greatly, but the majority of people won't use it nearly as much as it should be used for. I'd hope that it's not a require option, and is an optional feature, as I have a feeling the majority of people who order the desktop/laptop touch screen devices will be not using the screen for the majority of their computing.

Seems that the most useful use for touch screens are in the handheld / tablet market. Larger implementations, unless sitting isn't involved, doesn't seem appealing. The fatigue in arms will outweigh any minor benefits, though I do believe something like a multi-touch trackpad / palm rest would be very useful.

Duke Juker · RSBandB Donor since 07/01/2010

I think that Apple will make the move eventually, although when is somewhat debatable imo. For one thing, I'm not a major techy and don't pay attention to a lot of this stuff, but from a practical business mind, it seems like the direction they would have to go in. Staying ahead or keeping up with your competitors is important and Apple will most likely have to go into this type of technology and make it at least available for there users. It might not sell a lot or at all, but the fact that it is there is what matters and shows that Apple is still worth investing in or going back to for getting computers.

Southrend · **Posted:** August 26th, 2010, 2:30 am

I don't know. I really like to keep my monitors away from me. When I sit upright in my chair and I stretch my arm I can't touch my screen. I think using a touchscreen would be a real strain to my muscles. I prefer a sensitive mouse.