Earlier this year at CES ASUS presented a variety of prototype laptops for the media's consideration. These are designed for efficiency, in some cases utilizing changeable outer skins of materials like paper and in all cases centered around forward thinking outer design approaches. (see a video of those here) They came off as very interesting and not surprisingly, pretty futuristic in a "well, maybe some day" kind of way. That last point makes it all that more surprising that according to a post by Engadget today, ASUS is not only moving ahead with one of these designs, but plans to ship it by the third quarter of '09. The model in question is the 'Fold/Unfold' AIRO laptop. The AIRO is designed around a keyboard that not only sits at a slight angle and is open at right and left ends, but glides towards and away from the user as it is either opened or closed. The angled and open-ended design allows the unit to dispense with a cooling fan, relying instead on convection cooling, which limits inner components' heat exposure extending their lifespan, while the sliding action of the keyboard allows for a more ergonomic layout and more space on the keyboard and touch pad. The very thin and pretty fragile looking units that have been displayed are doubtless prototypes, and there has been no announcements about components, additional features or price, so this baby is far from cooked yet, but with Q3 not that far away, we may be hearing more about this soon. Let design is a little hard to put into words, so check out the video below:
3.08.2009
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