On Tue, 2009-12-08 at 08:31 -0600, Aaron Konstam wrote: > How does this computer design strike you? > > > Video: Amazing Computer portable computer > http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=7H0K1k54t6A Since you ask... One thing that immediately struck me as being obviously dumb, when you consider they must have put quite a lot of thought into that, is running a cable to the centre-front of the thing. My laptop does the same thing, and it means that if you actually sit the computer on your lap, and plug headphones in, you're in grave danger of snapping the plug off. When it comes to portable computing, you need to avoid things projecting out the front and back, much more than the sides. And what does project out the sides needs to avoid the front (my USB port is right-hand-side at the front, right where you smack into it with the mouse). And what does project out needs to be recessed so that only the cable sticks out (ever seen bent USB dongles?). Wireless is all very well, until you have to contend with batteries in everything, and other adjacent wireless equipment. I have seen one or two laptops where they've had the sense to make it possible to fit the whole of a USB device into the chassis, but they're few and far between. Not to mention other stupid designs (crappy tiny little power plugs, plugs jammed far too close together, things labelled by impressing an unreadable symbol or text into black plastic, etc.). In this day of graphical interfaces, I'd like to see touch screens more widely available. But that means another redesign: You want the screen closer to you, so you're not reaching out far, nor holding your arm up in the air. The simple answer to that is to not waste space with the keyboard (most users could live without a row of function keys), nor put a trackpad in the way, either. There also needs to be thought put into a screen design that doesn't show fingerprints smeared all over what you're trying to look through. My background includes electronics engineering, and right at the top of my list is making something convenient and practical to use. So many things just aren't. -- [tim@localhost ~]$ uname -r 2.6.27.25-78.2.56.fc9.i686 Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists. -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
