HP has released a patent detailing ideas for its latest take on a foldable laptop, as spotted by MSPoweruser. According to the diagrams in the document, the device would close like a many of the conventional best laptops, and then the sides of the extra-wide display would fold around the bottom of the PC.
When closed, the device would be about the size of a normal laptop, just a little thicker. The diagrams are drawn for clarity, however, and don’t reflect how thick the product would actually be.
This design approaches the extra-large display from a completely different angle than the HP Spectre Foldable, which needed to be detached from the base and rotated to act as wide display. HP got a lot of things right with the Spectre Foldable — but it was ultimately too expensive to become a mainstream product.
With its continued foldable experiments, HP seems to be hoping to reach the right balance between usable and affordable at some point — and perhaps this wraparound laptop will be the one. The patent mostly goes into the special hinges and spring mechanisms the laptop would use, as well as the specific ways it would fold and stay in place.
I don’t know how long it will take to get the foldable laptop right, but I’m personally glad that companies like HP are continuing to work toward this goal. Every time I switch from working on my ultra-wide monitor to my MacBook Air, the difference in screen size is heartbreaking. Plus, it would be fun to see cafes full of people working on 20-something-inch displays.
