Sunday, March 7, 2004
A Notebook With Dual Displays? Yes, But Not What You're Thinking
Posted by Jason Dunn in "HARDWARE" @ 12:00 PM
"Lenovo, a subsidiary of Chinese largest computer maker Legend, is projected to market the world’s first notebook with two displays. The laptop code-named Vela will be launched sometime in Q4 2004 and will be based on Intel’s next-generation mobile platform internally called Sonoma. The innovative Vela notebook will feature 15.4” main display, just like an ordinary mobile computer, but will also come equipped with a 4.4” by 2.4” display on the front side of the case. The secondary screen will allow performing tasks typically done on PDAs, such as email checking, appointments planning and other of the same kind."
When I first read this news story, I got really excited, because I thought it was some sort of secondary display that would be attached to the main display - I've often dreamt of having small displays attached to my main monitor for multimedia playback, utilities. It turns out the display is on the front of the laptop, similar to the Flipstart. I have to question the usefulness of this - how many people will use a laptop to play MP3s when the lid is closed? I'd think that a dedicated MP3 player or PDA would be a better solution. Still, it's nice to see laptops continuing to evolve with digital media in mind.
When I first read this news story, I got really excited, because I thought it was some sort of secondary display that would be attached to the main display - I've often dreamt of having small displays attached to my main monitor for multimedia playback, utilities. It turns out the display is on the front of the laptop, similar to the Flipstart. I have to question the usefulness of this - how many people will use a laptop to play MP3s when the lid is closed? I'd think that a dedicated MP3 player or PDA would be a better solution. Still, it's nice to see laptops continuing to evolve with digital media in mind.
