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Aurora 7 Prototype – 7 Screen Laptop

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Re: Aurora 7 Prototype – 7 Screen Laptop

#161

Post by chx »

pmiller2 wrote: post #39
WesolyKubeczek wrote: post #30

The memo initially said to design a 7" screen laptop, but the " character got lost in communication. This is how this monstrosity was born.

I seem to remember about 10 years ago or so, when that kind of tiny 7-10" laptop was briefly popular. I don't know exactly how the marketing went, but I imagine it was positioned as "your on the go device for when your phone isn't enough." Or, maybe it was kind of like a "super PDA." Who knows? I hated them. Never bought one.

I have a One Mix Yoga 2S from 2018 and it's amazing for the emergency laptop purposes. BC we used to go out and I needed to carry a backpack large enough for a 14" laptop because I am on call pretty much permanently (but then again it's like I get paged twice a year, tops) and now I can just carry https://imgur.com/a/xmRmYSn

Re: Aurora 7 Prototype – 7 Screen Laptop

#162

Post by bena »

xwdv wrote: post #132
bena wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Believe it or not, a 25 pound laptop you can't bring on an airplane isn't what anyone would call portable. If that's portable, then so is any number of small PCs that could fit in a backpack.

I don’t get the outrage, a small 7L PC could weigh 25 pounds and is very portable. You might be thinking ultra-portable.

Outrage or general non-acceptance of claim.

Re: Aurora 7 Prototype – 7 Screen Laptop

#164

Post by sixstringtheory »

MikeTheGreat wrote: post #36

Ok, this is clearly a joke / fun project that metastasized / etc, and it's also clearly awesome, but I gotta ask - why 7 screens? Why not 6? Or 8? They said that they wanted to design a mobile Security Operations Center - do people doing this work normally need exactly 7 screens worth of information? I've seen pictures of "Operation Centers" which have tons of screens so it's plausible that someone would need "a lot"…

This reminded me of the hitchhiker scene in There’s Something About Mary:

Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin’ there, there’s 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?

Ted: I would go for the 7.

Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.

...

Ted: That’s right. That’s – that’s good. That’s good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you’re in trouble, huh?

[Hitchhiker convulses]

Hitchhiker: No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody’s comin’ up with 6. Who works out in 6 minutes? You won’t even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.

Ted: That – good point.

Hitchhiker: 7’s the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 dwarves. 7, man, that’s the number. 7 little chipmunks twirlin’ on a branch, eatin’ lots of sunflowers on my uncle’s ranch. You know that old children’s tale from the sea.

So, I think that clears up why they went with 7 screens.

Re: Aurora 7 Prototype – 7 Screen Laptop

#165

Post by ajarmst »

Hnaomyiph wrote: post #149
ajarmst wrote: post #134

I'm caught between a couple of possible use cases: * Perhaps this is similar to a potlatch or a peacock's tail: primarily a demonstration of social or genetic superiority. "If I can publicly waste resources on this sort of scale, imagine the sheer amount of pure nerd dominance I can summon!" * A related use: Like clothing with an excessive number of pockets and ordinary household tools inexplicably machined from heav…

That’s a very bleak worldview. If something doesn’t serve an immediate, obvious purpose, it is a waste and a drain on resources.

You understand that "doesn't serve a purpose" is literally the defining criteria for waste, right?

Re: Aurora 7 Prototype – 7 Screen Laptop

#166

Post by meowster »

joshstrange wrote: post #44
pmiller2 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seem to remember about 10 years ago or so, when that kind of tiny 7-10" laptop was briefly popular. I don't know exactly how the marketing went, but I imagine it was positioned as "your on the go device for when your phone isn't enough." Or, maybe it was kind of like a "super PDA." Who knows? I hated them. Never bought one.

I bought a Dell Mini 7 refurbished in high school to play with and it was an interesting device. I actually dusted it off just last week while talking to a coworker about how he got into iOS development on a hackintosh and I remembered that I had loaded OS X (now macOS) onto my Dell Mini. It still boots and is a trip to play with. My parents used it for a year or two to iChat video chat (this was before facetime) wit…

I was in college around that time and I was very intrigued by the Dell Mini 7. I finally ended up with an HP Mini 1000, that ended up being a great little device too. I never did anything cool with it like make a Hackintosh, I just liked the nostalgia.

Re: Aurora 7 Prototype – 7 Screen Laptop

#167

Post by eru »

pmiller2 wrote: post #39
WesolyKubeczek wrote: post #30

The memo initially said to design a 7" screen laptop, but the " character got lost in communication. This is how this monstrosity was born.

I seem to remember about 10 years ago or so, when that kind of tiny 7-10" laptop was briefly popular. I don't know exactly how the marketing went, but I imagine it was positioned as "your on the go device for when your phone isn't enough." Or, maybe it was kind of like a "super PDA." Who knows? I hated them. Never bought one.

Probably replaced by tablets with external keyboards?

Re: Aurora 7 Prototype – 7 Screen Laptop

#168

Post by eru »

ajarmst wrote: post #165
Hnaomyiph wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a very bleak worldview. If something doesn’t serve an immediate, obvious purpose, it is a waste and a drain on resources.

You understand that "doesn't serve a purpose" is literally the defining criteria for waste, right?

Hence the qualification of 'immediate, obvious' in the comment.

Re: Aurora 7 Prototype – 7 Screen Laptop

#169

Post by alanbernstein »

ajarmst wrote: post #165
Hnaomyiph wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a very bleak worldview. If something doesn’t serve an immediate, obvious purpose, it is a waste and a drain on resources.

You understand that "doesn't serve a purpose" is literally the defining criteria for waste, right?

Maybe you should think of this device as an art project?

Re: Aurora 7 Prototype – 7 Screen Laptop

#170

Post by alanbernstein »

hn_expanscape wrote: post #116
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a Razer prototype with 3 screens [1] and another that comes to mind is the two screened Thinkpad w700ds [1] https://www2.razer.com/project-valerie

We got fed-up waiting on Project Valerie... so we made our own.

Had I made that choice, I think I would have just tried to build the three horizontal screens. Is the screen layout of the Aurora 7 your ideal?

As a lone tinkerer who highly values utility and unconventionality, I think this thing is beautiful, in a horrifying way. Nice work.

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