Laptops Arena

The Solar Laptop PC from the Next-Gen PC Design Competition wasn’t a winner nor a finalist but the concept is pretty …let’s say useful. It comes from Nikola Knezevic and represents a concept idea of a green portable computer that powers from the sunlight only, via a solar cell panel. The solar powered laptop uses photovoltaic cells which convert the solar energy into electricity.


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From this description it’s clear that you won’t be able to use it indoors but only outside in the daylight, and this together with the form factor makes us think it just isn’t very practical.
Though it would be fun and healthy to use this laptop in your garden, but I just can’t see myself writing news in the forest.
The designer said that “So far every laptop was designed for office environment which is a bit absurd since they are all made for portable use.” Interesting point of view!



Let’s see what the functionalities of the solar powered laptop are! First we have a useful GPS module for orientation, Internet access, handsfree phone calls, and one-button access for police or rescuing emergencies. I can imagine: “Help! Wolfs!”



The nice aspects of this design concept include light weight, durable construction, foldable/detachable solar panel, recyclable materials like biodegradable polymers, and easy disassembly.

Here is another PC concept designed by M J Baum, representing a computer with a core component featuring multiple user-personalized interfaces accessible via Wi-Fi technology, remotely and simultaneously.



Mind Apart from Body’s main unit measures 350 x 70 x 200 mm, while the arm wearable terminal measures 150 x 100 x 100 mm. There is also a booklet-like terminal of 200 x 200 x 12 mm and a gyro-ball of 80 mm in diameter. These are the 3 components of this portable PC concept, and all have built-in rechargeable batteries.



The core component features an administrator access panel, a LED projector and a fingerprint reader.



Baum conceived the ball for 3D gaming purposes and the arm wearable terminal for the work on the field where you can’t carry a notebook with. The latter gives access to different updates right from your arm.

The images in this article represent a cool PC concept from the Next-Gen PC Design Competition 07-08, which didn’t pass the final stage but is interesting enough to be accepted among the other participants.



<-234x60 Half Banner - left->It is a circular computer measuring 2.65 inches in diameter with 1.38 inches deep, called be.go and designed by Raul Egido Val.



Be.go is a customizable eco-friendly portable PC created with ergonomics in mind and easiness of use.
Anyone could use be.go thanks to its touch-sensitive friendly interface and adaptable menus for music playing, gaming, email, picture management, skin customization and lots of other stuff.



It looks good on your desk as a decorative tech piece standing on its detachable base, displaying the hour in large character format on the OLED screen.

MyTube is a concept designed by William Branch who was accepted at the Next-Gen PC Design Competition for the creation representing a portable computer looking like a Thermos and opening like one, by dragging up the tube’s center.
The designer wanted to show something that’s easy to carry like clipped on your belt or using a wrist strap. It is small so you could also put it into a bag.

When you arrive at work or school you can connect it to some monitor and keyboard and benefit from its functionalities including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, card slot, fingerprint reader, 2 HDDs for boot and one that’s user configurable.
The user could configure MyTube with direct access to set passions via a button placed at one end of the PC, and these favorites include email, blogs, PayPal account and others. MyTube also supports multiple user configurations for favorite functionalities like instant access to email accounts or social networking profiles, all these saving a significant amount of time spent usually with logins.



The portable desktop computer measures 12 x 4.5 inches (length and diameter) with its own 6 x inch display and the 8 x 4 inch keyboard.
William Branch thinks in the manufacturing process of this computer and includes flexible conductive sheets for the motherboard, with the alternative of segmenting a conventional board into sections and forming an arched hexagon. This would make the components to be inserted more close to the others compared to standard ones.

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In the mean time you may read about the finalists and winners of the competition on Techpin.com.