Big companies like Microsoft often employ hundreds of industrial designers to iterate on product concepts and designs but every once in a while, an enthusiastic fan comes along with a concept that just makes you think, "Why don't they hire this guy?" Emad Rahimi is one such fan and his concept for a Surface laptop is just breathtaking.
Featuring a gapped, wedge-shaped design similar to the Surface Book, the "Vision 2022" concept device also boasts a seamless touch screen that extends to the keyboard area. The design may, in fact, be technically feasible already, as Samsung and other screen makers have shown with bendable display concepts.
The extra screen could then be used in a number of innovative ways beyond just projecting a soft keyboard for typing. For example, the screen could serve as an inking surface for drawing or note taking without having to awkwardly raise your hand in the air. The concept also features the use of several widgets to the side of the keyboard region, which could be used to provide shortcuts to various functions and may even be customisable. It's basically Apple's Touch Bar, on steroids.
While the concept is certainly exquisite, it may not be entirely likely to come to fruition. For one, Microsoft has made ergonomics a major focal point in the design of its Surface line - just look at its insistence on using a stylus that feels like a normal pen - and a software keyboard is likely to be a big stumbling block. Moreover, Microsoft has already experimented with such an implementation with the Touch Keyboard with the initial Surface Pro and given the rather spectacular lack of success of that product, it's extremely unlikely Microsoft will revisit the idea.
Still, you can't help but be tempted to wonder what it would feel like to use such an ornate beauty as your main PC.
Source: Emad Rahimi via MSPoweruser
20 Comments - Add comment