Apple has some new patents about a new MacBook with a detachable display. So it will be a computer with a detachable monitor, and not as all the competitors do, a tablet with a detachable keyboard. There is a bid difference.
As Apple & Cider writes:
”In this machine the brains of the operation would be in the keyboard base including a primary wireless processor and a detachable monitor would connect via a second wireless processor to all of the other necessary internals located in the keyboard base. Theoretically this would make the machine just as powerful even when the monitor is detached”.
So the display will be connected wirelessly to the keyboard base. That’s pretty cool. So it’s basically just a display and battery. The rest: CPU, RAM and software is still in the keyboard base. So the OS and apps are actually running on the keyboard base and are ”streamed” to the detachable display.
I could actually see this in a coming generation of the 12-inch Macbook. That would mean that Apple will have two options in the same device category: 12.9-inch iPad Pro that is a tablet running iOS with a detachable keyboard, and a 12-inch Macbook running OS X with a detachable display.
And such device would probably use Apple’s Smart Connector1 system that they have used on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. There is also a rumor that we will see a 5.8-inch iPhone Pro with a Smart Connector.
It would be really cool to hold a super thin display that runs OS X and are connected to a really powerful computer base, while sitting comfortably in the sofa, or laying down in bed. And because it uses the processor, RAM and more from the computer base, it wouldn’t need much battery on board, so it could be incredibly thin and light.
I would buy such a device in an instant.
Via Your next MacBook May Have a Detachable Display
Here is an old video about another Apple patent that shows Touchscreen support:
- The Smart Connector transfers both data and power between device and the accessory. ↩︎