Discussions

One basic product design concept is “form follows function”. What this means is that when designing products manufacturers must think first on usability and then on the design itself. Unfortunately sometimes people forget about this basic concept, leading to beautiful products that are hard to use or simply can’t be used at all. In some cases this is done on purpose (just think about the concept cars manufacturers develop and display on auto shows or, going a little bit further, some design competitions or shows).

Combining a stylish design with great functionality is an art and only a few companies are successful on this. Apple is probably the first name that pops on our head when we think about stylish technology. People really into stylish computer parts are probably familiar with the Russia-based Art Lebedev Studio, which is another good example of great design with greater functionality.

Users today certainly want more than a rectangular bulky box as a laptop computer: different colors, different materials and different shapes.

If money wasn’t an issue, I certainly would like to see a laptop with an aluminum enclosure. This would probably give a stylish and futuristic look to a portable computer with the side effect of a better heat dissipation. A colored aluminum case wouldn’t be bad at all.

A laptop with exaggeratedly rounded corners? Maybe. But I personally don’t want to see a laptop that looks like a flying saucer or a VW hubcap.

There are certainly several ways that laptop design could be changed to improve usability. One big arena is ergonomics. The first thing comes in my mind is the keyboard without a wrist support. For me and all other writers out there this would probably be the single best enhancement to laptop keyboards. Another idea I have is a laptop with a mechanism where you can move the screen up to the same line of your eyes, which is the correct place for the video monitor to be. It would like an Inspector Gadget device, but it would surely prevent neck and shoulder stress for people operating a laptop on a table.

By the way, one big change in America that would help ergonomics and improve the quality of life of all business travelers would be if the people that design hotel rooms took some classes on basic ergonomics. I wonder why in all hotel rooms in the States the tables supposedly designed for laptop operation are too tall (the correct height for working is to have the table on the line of your elbows when you are sit), have glass top (which makes our optical mice useless) and the chairs are too low for the table (making our elbows to be too high and thus our neck and shoulders be killing us after just a couple of hours working), not to mention that all hotel rooms are ill-lit because none of them feature lights on the ceiling.

Surely I am biased towards the things that most annoy me and you probably have a different take on what could be changed in laptop design to make your life easier or even more out-of-the-box ideas. Please share your ideas with us!