When "Think Different" goes bad...

[Smilin]

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/appl...stem-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/




Yes, flip your laptop upside down to change the CD. Why on earth? Why not make the keyboard lift up or something?

 

[So]

It's terrifying that such ideas get patents these days. It's a patent for taking a classic diskman and turning it upside down.

 

[lobbyone]

In a few years you'll be seeing college students flipping their laptops to change CDs/DVDs, like they do swinging around their ipods now.

 

[KeithTalent]

This would be cool, if you had a backpack that could hold your laptop, with a hole where the optical drive opens, then you could use it as a backpack CD player and have the people walking behind you change the CDs for you...wait, no, that's just stupid like this whole idea.

KT

 

[tatteredpotato]

It's probably just an idea they patent so nobody else can and then hold it against them.

 

[Smilin]

ROFL Keith.

 

[motorbikeking1]

just think what will happen to the hard drive if you keep flipping the laptop around.

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: BlameCanada
It's probably just an idea they patent so nobody else can and then hold it against them.

Probably, still makes you wonder if they would ever implement it... And if it is implemented really poorly yet still has the undying love of the fanboys

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: BlameCanada
It's probably just an idea they patent so nobody else can and then hold it against them.

I don't see any other reason why they'd patent this. Apple likes to keep things intuitive and user friendly.

 

[stogez]

Its just a patent. Most patents never see the light of day. What makes you think this will? Have you seen the iPod or the iPhone? Someone at Apple was probably just bored.

 

[oynaz]

Originally posted by: BlameCanada
It's probably just an idea they patent so nobody else can and then hold it against them.

Stange, as you cannot patent ideas alone. That patent should not have been approved.

 

[Aluvus]

Originally posted by: oynaz

Originally posted by: BlameCanada
It's probably just an idea they patent so nobody else can and then hold it against them.

Stange, as you cannot patent ideas alone. That patent should not have been approved.

A working prototype is not generally a requirement of a patent, nor is actually bringing a product to market. There is typically an exception for anything that the USPTO believes to be a perpetual motion machine.

 

[Auric]

Okay, I can't be arsed to read the patent application but conspicuously absent from the drawing is even the suggestion of disc securing mechanism on the door, such as a spindle clamp. The spindle itself could have one but anything beyond simply inserting the disc and closing and locking the door would be fiddly for users (though of course it already is being on the underside).

In any case, the entire tray and door area would need to be uber rigid to prevent deforming even the slightest and thus pressuring the disc and worst case causing contact with the optical pickup. That negates any cost savings and maybe weight versus a traditional drive. Sure, the goal of slimness may remain but at a great cost in useability so is rather cancelled out.

I'm sure there must be more to it than what appears at a glance but it's still hard to imagine it being practical.

 

[WackyDan]

Well.. this is nothing new at all. It just the opposite of what panasonic did with one of their toughbooks.

Panasonic had the spindle under the palmrest and the palmrest was the door to the spindle. So when the lid was closed, it also protected the optical drive as well. I thought it was brilliant, and it did essentially the same thing Apple is shooting for.... reduced the thickness of the machine just a tad.

Oh... and that was three years ago. Apple isn't as smart as you think they are..... .Just good copycats from time to time as well.