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Article #621012

Computers With Interesting Form Factors

#621012
From: Quadibloc
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2018 00:12
22 lines
2661 bytes
When I first came across the Motorola MPX300 cell phone, I was very impressed by
its unusual dual-hinge design that let it open one way to be a conventional flip-
phone with a display in portrait orientation, or the other way to have the display
in landscape orientation and the buttons treated as a QWERTY keyboard instead of
cell phone dialing buttons.

https://www.mobilegazette.com/motorola-mpx.htm

Recently, the DELL Inspiron Duo came to my attention. A number of laptops have a lid that opens 360 degrees to operate in tablet mode; this one, instead, had the display turn 180 degrees in the rest of the lid that framed it, so that the tablet mode left the keyboard protected on the inside.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Inspiron-duo-Convertible-Netbook-Tablet.43896.0.html

There was the Amstrad PPC512, which was also unusual because you could power it on ordinary D-cell batteries, and because of futuristic styling which would have led to it not being out of place as a prop on the series Space: 1999 - in addition to having a screen that folded down, and a keyboard that then folded over-top of it.

http://ruscoe.org/2012/06/amstrad-ppc640/

And, of course, there was the IBM ThinkPad that had the "butterfly" keyboard.

https://gizmodo.com/5733896/the-sad-demise-ibms-awesome-fold-out-keyboard

Anyone recall other examples of products with unusual and innovative form
factors?
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Subject: Computers With Interesting Form Factors
From: Quadibloc <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca>
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