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Teacher's low-tech laptop hack to display handwritten notes for online class
- bentpins 6y agoMaybe I'm missing something but how is the image so clear? CDs don't have a mirror like surface, they reflect light in unusual ways
- formerly_proven 6y agoUse a pressed CD (which are good mirrors at this angle), not a blank CD (which are tinted).
- jeffbee 6y agoI just pointed a CD at my face and it's pretty much a mirror. What unusual reflection did you expect?
- bentpins 6y agoSome rainbow diffraction I guess. It has been a long time since I've used a CD https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=cd https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=cd
- tedunangst 6y agoReal CDs don't look like clip art CDs. 90% of the images for "mirror" don't have reflections either.
- the_svd_doctor 6y agoI also don't really get it. Looks too clear and sharp for a CD reflection.
- TaylorAlexander 6y agoWell I noticed it's a CD-RW which is a peculiar device, so maybe it doesn't reflect the same as normal CDs.
- simias 6y agoThe rather shallow angle probably helps a lot. On top of that the camera probably has some form of auto white balance which will counteract the tint the CD will give to the image. Here's a quick proof of concept using a random CD and my phone's camera: https://svkt.org/~simias/up/20200914-000627_psx-cd-reflection.jpeg https://svkt.org/~simias/up/20200914-000627_psx-cd-reflectio... Note that the color of the reflection is not much different from a normal picture (visible at the bottom). For added difficulty I used an original PlayStation disc, that's dyed black: https://svkt.org/~simias/up/20200914-000836_psx-cd.jpeg https://svkt.org/~simias/up/20200914-000836_psx-cd.jpeg
- jeffbee 6y agoIt's very HN that we've been trolled into debating the irrefutable, widely-known, totally obvious fact that a CD reflects light.
- Xavdidtheshadow 6y agoEverything reflects light, but not everything reflects it clear enough to read documents through. I haven't held a CD in ages, so it it's possible that folks don't remember exactly how reflective they are. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- bentpins 6y agoDidn't mean to come across as a troll, this is how I remember CDs, with rainbow diffraction. https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=cd https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=cd
- simias 6y agoI think at such shallow angles it's the plastic surface that becomes reflective, not the metal layer with the pits and grooves. Hence the lack of diffraction (and hence why it works with my black PSX disc).
- kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- djmips 6y agoI think you probably haven't played around with CDs more than just to play them.
- superhuzza 6y agoI really like how her hack doesn't involve using another video feed, which makes it a lot more accessible to anyone with a laptop. One improvement I can see - maybe better to tape the pencil with the eraser point up, so you're less likely to accidentally stab yourself with the pencil if moving the laptop or CD?
- rriepe 6y agoWe could drastically cut costs with a nickel instead of a quarter.
- tzs 6y ago2 pennies would be cheaper. Here are US coin weights, in grams: 5.670 quarter 2.268 dime 5.000 nickel 2.500 penny
- max23_ 6y agoI have the same thought when I see the pencil tip is pointing upward instead of the other end. Probably try to lower it down enough to fit one CD.
- noisy_boy 6y agoThe pencil's orientation might be deliberate as the eraser provides additional stability due to its friction with the back of the laptop.
- Pfhreak 6y agoClever. But also tragic. The poor teachers who have been caught in the middle of all this really make me feel sad. Teaching is already a rough gig, and being forced to improvise with limited to no support from communities, schools, or governments.
- notatoad 6y agoBeing forced to improvise with limited support is a fairly normal situation for teachers tbh.
- jsjohnst 6y agoBut should it be is more the point I think GP was making?
- notatoad 6y agoNo, it obviously shouldn't. Just because I replied, doesn't mean I disagreed with the comment I was replying to.
- thomasfortes 6y agoI had to buy pens for white boards even though I was volunteering to help students prepare to university exams as a math/physics teacher, I wasn't getting a single penny and I had to pay for minimal resources because they were only available for free for the hired teachers. I have nothing but a giant respect for teachers that are usually underpaid for the giant importance that they carry on their shoulders, a good teacher can help completely change the life of their students.
- Symbiote 6y agoI know of teachers buying all sorts of stuff for school, or for specific children. Cheap sports shoes so the poor kid isn't left out after he lost his shoes but can't afford new ones, pens etc for children who lose them and don't have friends who will lend them one, tampons or sanitary towels for girls whose parents refuse to accept she's growing up. Example article on this: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nearly-1-in-10-school-staff-are-bringing-in-food-tampons-and-pens-for-children-in-need_uk_5bb499cce4b028e1fe393bd4?guccounter=1 https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nearly-1-in-10-school...
- golergka 6y agoWouldn't writing on that transfer the pressure through the notebook to the keyboard? How would you avoid random key presses?
- notatoad 6y agoYou don't, probably. As long as you don't have a chat window focused and accidentally press the enter key, you can just backspace out any accidental keypress that might happen.
- azernik 6y agoIf your notebook is nice and stiff, the pressure will be pretty evenly distributed across the whole keyboard. Keypresses should be rare with such low pressure per key.
- s0rce 6y agoLooks like a notebook. If its a reasonably thick/sturdy notebook and you don't push down extremely hard then it doesn't press the keys.
- miles 6y agoHardware solution: plastic tray over the keys. Software solution: Keyboard Cleaner http://jan.prima.de/~jan/plok/archives/48-Keyboard-Cleaner.html http://jan.prima.de/~jan/plok/archives/48-Keyboard-Cleaner.h...
- jvm_ 6y agoHardware solution: $1 plastic cutting board
- rightbyte 6y agoMy laptop has a "lock keyboard" key on fn.
- joezydeco 6y agoMy kid has an Osmo kit that did the same trick with a little mirrors that fit an iPad perfectly: https://www.playosmo.com https://www.playosmo.com
- Cactus2018 6y agoOfficial app for students\teachers https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1502489790 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1502489790
- blackrock 6y agoClever. Now someone from China needs to make a plastic mirror reflection mount device to put on top of your laptop camera.
- seraphsf 6y agoMy kids use an educational app series called Osmo, which comes with a reflector like this for iPad (1). Field of view and distortion may be an issue, but I bet a vendor could easily make something similar designed for this use case. It also looks like there are $6 clip-on mirrors (2) that would also do an admirable job, perhaps with more stability and control than the pencil-balancing trick. (1) Osmo - Base for iPad https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07JNZ4J67/ https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07JNZ4J67/ (2) Flexible 4" Clip On Mirror for Computer Monitor - Convex Desk Mirror to See People Behind You - Perfect in Any Office Cubicle Environment https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B078NB3JV2/ https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B078NB3JV2/
- Cactus2018 6y agoOfficial app support for teachers: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1502489790 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1502489790 https://www.playosmo.com/blog/introducing-osmo-projector/ https://www.playosmo.com/blog/introducing-osmo-projector/ https://twitter.com/PlayOsmo/status/1241152565083090947 https://twitter.com/PlayOsmo/status/1241152565083090947
- HumblyTossed 6y ago> but I bet a vendor could easily make something similar designed for this use case. True, but this cost the teacher zip (assuming supplies on hand) instead of $38US.
- dchuk 6y agoMy wife is a kindergarten teacher, and has been back at (virtual) teaching now for 2 weeks. Whatever your political persuasion, it’s pretty mind blowing how little the districts prepared for and invested in a virtual year. It’s not exactly like this snuck up on them, we’ve been locked down for 6 months now. You’d think they’d have decided on common software platforms, provided some training for the teachers, something. Luckily, my wife is fairly tech savvy so is hanging in there, but even just general things like how to have an effective virtual planning meeting is just not something she’s really ever had to do. So I’ve been trying to help her and her coworkers, like recording a half hour video where I just explained all the different capabilities of Zoom, and another where I explained Trello and Google slides. Just sad how the school administration’s plan boiled down to burying their head in the sand and hoping it would all go away. Really bolsters the narrative that they just don’t care about the teachers.
- seibelj 6y ago> they just don’t care about teachers I think you mean, they don’t care about students? Because that’s truly who is hurt here.
- briefcomment 6y agoIt seems like they're focused on politics, since that's what gets them paid. If school choice comes around, they'll probably change their priorities.
- dchuk 6y agoI mean, for every 20-30 kids, there’s also an adult trying to educate them. Everyone’s fucked in the situation, and all you need to do is follow the money to understand the motivations. For example, my wife has to take real time attendance on a zoom call every morning in a 30 minute window, when everything else can be asynchronous. Why? Because schools are funded by attendance of the students, and they couldn’t be bothered to think of an alternative way to handle things.
- steverb 6y ago
- Symbiote 6y agoAnother option is to use a mobile phone and whatever can work as a "tripod". I used a large clothes peg and the lamp over my dining table. There are apps that will stream the image from the phone to the computer, and in Zoom it can be added as a second video feed. That means the class can see the teacher's face as well as the paper. I tried a few apps, but I don't remember which worked, or their names, except for https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dev47apps.droidcam&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dev47apps....
- dddddaviddddd 6y agoI use this app over a USB connection. The phone (Pixel 3a) used to overheat but I picked up a USB fan which keeps it cool. Only downside is no virtual webcam driver on FreeBSD, so I boot to Windows for video chats.
- Ayesh 6y agoSome apps can stream to a browser over LAN.
- dddddaviddddd 6y agoI find the stability of the video feed is better with a wired connection. I had also tried using a USB-ethernet adapter to put the phone on the LAN for video streaming, but USB seems to be the better solution since the phone charges as well.
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoHow is a video streaming app making your phone overheat? Doesn't that phone have specialized hardware for video processing?
- dddddaviddddd 6y agoIt would be interesting to compare against just taking a very long video. Charging over USB (used for the connection) is probably a factor.
- mrfusion 6y agoWouldn’t the text be a mirror image (backwards)
- dddddaviddddd 6y agoZoom has a setting to mirror video.
- virtuous_signal 6y agoI had the same question (and tried it with my webcam app and a handheld mirror just to make sure I wasn't crazy) but I see another commenter has mentioned Zoom's feature.
- josefrichter 6y agoFascinating how the article has “how it works” explanation, despite showing the picture right above that.
- mxuribe 6y agoFor a nation that so unwisely overspends on other foolish things, and not enough nor intelligently on education, thus leaving school districts lacking in the basics - which require teachers to hack their way through classes...yes, i can imagine the author(s) might assume that such an audience might need extra help in understanding. Disclaimer: I'm an American and while i'm often proud of my country, i acknowledge how awful our collective priorities have become with education in general suffering from it...and at the risk of sounding political (apologies)...Neither of the 2 major political parties seems to have the answer. <sigh>
- armagon 6y agoI realize politics is frowned on here, and there is much I'd like to say yet won't, but do take a look at https://articlesofunity.org/ https://articlesofunity.org/.
- mxuribe 6y agoInteresting, I've never heard of this; thanks for sharing!
- srtjstjsj 6y agoFYI that website is both alienating in its rhetoric and gives no clue of how it solving the problem it alludes to. The idea that the Moderate is the new third party is novel though. But it's too early to tell if that's true, since Democrats are mostly still moderate and if the Trump Republican party collapses, the moderate wing of the Republican party might resurge.
- ClumsyPilot 6y agoWell, it is an article on education!
- dpedu 6y agoThis is such a simple hack. It's basically equivalent to the classroom transparency overhead projectors of the past. You could 3d print a similar device with a USB webcam and a proper mirror for pennies. Is there a market for this?
- bryanrasmussen 6y agoYes, there is a market for things that do this - it's the projector market, so if people don't have the money to enter the projector market they use hacks like this one - examples https://hackaday.com/2014/03/13/make-an-hd-projector-for-next-to-nothing/ https://hackaday.com/2014/03/13/make-an-hd-projector-for-nex... https://www.instructables.com/id/Convert-a-40-years-old-DIA-slide-projector-to-a-De/ https://www.instructables.com/id/Convert-a-40-years-old-DIA-... first couple of hits for me when googling "convert old olverhead projector" So market wise maybe there is a hacky way that allows you to get a cheap reasonably efficient projector thaat would make these hacks irrelevant, without naturally pushing to solve the problems of the projector market and thus pushing the product to have a projector type price. I certainly wish I could think up something that fell in that niche.
- srtjstjsj 6y agoThe market is temporarily disturbed by COVID WFH. The regular market either doesn't there it because they have blackboards/whiteboards, or they are rich/corrupt and buy overpriced overengineered things like Prometheus instead.
- analog31 6y agoIt solves two problems at once: Letting the document lay flat, and mirror-imaging the camera.
- jasoneckert 6y agoWhat I find the most striking about this hack is that by doing it, the teacher is indirectly modeling clever problem solving techniques to the class.
- Tade0 6y agoMy friend is a teacher and uses an application that turns his phone into a webcam. He puts the device on a shelf with the camera facing down.
- supernova87a 6y agoI wonder if a DVD versus a CD produces better or worse diffraction/distracting artifacts in the image? or maybe it doesn't even matter given the resolution of the camera.
- monksy 6y agoTheres got to be tons of sellers/makers in shenzhen that are either laughing or dismayed over the lack of tooling for our teachers in response to this.
- ivan_ah 6y agoAnother option (although requires more tech) is to use the camera from a mobile phone connected to the computer via USB. Requires app + USB cable + "drivers" installed on the host computer. My teacher friend recommended DroidCamX (paid) but the drivers are windows only so I wasn't able to use that. I instead tested with Iriun https://iriun.com/ https://iriun.com/ and it worked OK with my newer phone (the older phone I wanted to use had trouble with autofocus... though maybe that's because of the way I have it suspended from a desk lamp). It lags a little, but overall usable.
- tootie 6y agoCan't you also just join the Zoom/Meet/Whatev from your phone?
- ivan_ah 6y agoYes for a live call that would probably be the easiest. The USB camera use case is to send "table top" video input into OBS, mix with other sources, and record the lesson for offline async viewing (flipped classroom).
- gibolt 6y agoAmazing how creative people can be when faced with little resources and an important problem. This is one of the few pieces of content that is truly able to wow me. Now it needs to go viral for all the other teachers. Maybe a site will emerge from this where teachers can share best practices, and everyone can benefit from some of the creations.
- saeranv 6y agoShe's getting a surprisingly high-quality reflection from that CD. I would have thought a CD wouldn't have had enough specularity, or created too much distortion to achieve that kind of quality. The only downside appears to be that you have to angle the CD, in order to reflect the keyboard plane into the webcam, which means the captured image can only be viewed at an angle. It'd be nice to have some live, post-processing to fix some issues like this. You could apply a perspective transformation to rotate the image to a head-on view, and maybe increase the contrast between black and white.
- CydeWeys 6y agoIt does make you wonder why not just use a small mirror. It might be a little bit harder to suspend in place correctly depending on weight but it'll do the job perfectly.
- kumarvvr 6y agoA CD is readily available, dead cheap, unbreakable (if not actively trying to break it). Making a mirror would be a far more involved process.
- nabaraz 6y agoThat reminds me, i don't have a CD lying around.
- saeranv 6y agoHaha, I don't have access to a CD either. But assuming it's partially the webcam/video software that's correcting the exposure/contrast to eke out a decent image, other common household items could be used in it's place i.e silverware, annealed glass etc.
- CydeWeys 6y agoYou're overthinking this. Just use a compact or hand mirror. I hacked it together in a minute flat: https://i.imgur.com/OF29Ci3.jpg https://i.imgur.com/OF29Ci3.jpg
- PretzelFisch 6y agoIn our district some teachers were trying to do this until my wife reminded them they can run webex on their cell phone... Sad the district spent a lot of time and money on owl webcams to follow the presenter but nothing to cover the basic class room ops.
- logane 6y agoYou can use the same trick to make a touch screen for any laptop with a webcam! https://github.com/bijection/sistine https://github.com/bijection/sistine The mirror system isn't quite as macgyvered though :)
- fma 6y agoI happened to have a HD Webcam from years ago. I plugged that into my wife's laptop, use the default windows Webcam software...And then share screen. I rigged up a stand so she can slide papers in and out.
- f2000 6y agoMy wife is a 2d grade teacher. She brought home her lumens ladybug that she used with her Promethean board in the classroom. However, the lag was terrible, her 2012 macbook pro just couldn't handle it. Our solution was to re-purpose an old ipad along with reflector teacher https://www.airsquirrels.com/reflector/teacher https://www.airsquirrels.com/reflector/teacher ($17.99). Yeah, just in case you're curious - my wife teaches for a SF Bay Area school district where I suppose they can afford lots of stuff except a refresh of eight year old laptops.
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoThey could literally go to Apple's doorstep and ask for sponsorship; I'm sure Apple can use it in one of their saccharine marketing videos.
- peterwwillis 6y agoThis is what I think of when I think "innovation": a different perspective. Not lost in the weeds of details, but a thousand miles above them.
- monksy 6y agoI was pointed to this by Naomi Wu: This maybe something that local hacker spaces could pump out: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4588215 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4588215
- Karupan 6y agoThis is what real judaad [1] looks like! It blows my mind when people come up with such ingenious solutions, only partly because I’ve never been able to. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24459888 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24459888
- futhey 6y agoThere is a "Phone Periscope" I use, that you can buy on Amazon / eBay for a few dollars, that might be useful if you need something like this: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=phone+periscope https://www.amazon.com/s?k=phone+periscope Some have a little magnet so it can be detached and re-attached quickly. We use it to make a phone-based people counter. Recently found out that in China they're marketed as phone attachments to take pervy, upskirt photos of girls without getting caught.
- killjoywashere 6y agoReminds of the "hot pocket" Dr. Gillingham's surgical team developed in Iraq for keeping air-evac'd patients warm: wrap patient in blanket, put blanket-burrito-patient in a body bag with a hole cut out for their face. Battlefield hypothermia cases went to 0 overnight. https://www.wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(17)30097-2/pdf https://www.wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(17)30097-2/pdf
- pkphilip 6y agoThat's an absolutely brilliant hack! wow!
- psankar 6y agohttps://twitter.com/yadav_monica/status/1292047281676382210 https://twitter.com/yadav_monica/status/1292047281676382210 is another instance where a teacher from India used a smartphone and a refrigerator tray for sharing hand-written notes. I believe that this would give more clarity than the surface area of the CD.
- mirekrusin 6y agoWho said people don't use CD-ROMs?
- brazzy 6y agoI wonder how long it will take Apple to offer this as a product for $99 and come up with a clever way to make the makeshift version to stop working. Not a common enough use case for them to bother, I guess. But if it were we all know they totally would.
- ComodoHacker 6y agoNot Apple, but for accessory (esp. webcam) vendors virtual classes surge is definitely an opportunity.
- jetru 6y agoLiterally gonna do this for "System Design" interviews
- ComodoHacker 6y agoNow with it on HN front page you have to think up something different.
- baby 6y agoThat’s why I think the iPad pro has so much potential to replace laptops for a lot of people.
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoIf only they were affordable. You can get a good enough laptop for $300, an ipad pro is thrice that, more if you need the keyboard / stand to go with it.
- jwr 6y agoThe basic iPad is $329. It is a modern fast computer that has everything built-in. The only things you need to add is a keyboard and/or a stand/case. Apple hardware is no longer expensive these days — I mean, they will let you spend as much as you want and take your money, but their lineup starts quite low and provides excellent value for the money.
- knlje 6y agoI've been now teaching several remote math lessons with a standard iPad $329 and Apple Pencil $99. Basically I'm joining to a Teams meeting and sharing the entire screen, then writing stuff using the standard Notes application. Finally I share the note with the class by exporting it to the Teams application. There is a built-in feature in Teams which allows me to launch quick improvised quizzes in the chat which I find nice. I'm also able to collect assignments via Teams and check/mark them in Word using Apple Pencil. The students take a picture using their own phone camera and add it to a docx-file which is then turned in using Teams.
- bashwizard 6y agoJesus christ. Just get a cheap wacom tablet.
- jason0597 6y agoHow much money do you make? How much money do you think teachers make?
- chris-orgmenta 6y agoThis would come across as extremely tone deaf from teachers that are on low salaries, paying out of pocket already for student tools and consumables. There are quite a few posts in this thread where 'check your privilege' applies.
- nym3r0s 6y agoWhile it is mind blowing how less we've invested in modernizing education, the biggest barrier I've seen in recent times is - educating the educators. For reference, I helped set up my high school with a <insert-suite-for-education> for free and they were very happy as there were folks charging them to get it set up. But next biggest problem I saw was - teachers who have been using a blackboard all their life trying to do their best to teach with a powerpoint presentation. Problem is exacerbated when you throw in more variables like - flaky internet connection, inconsistencies in UI all across, hardware failures, zoombombing and a certain lack of features. Now do this in India - where the student:teacher ratio is absolutely crazy. Really goes to show how we should get the fundamentals right.
- HumblyTossed 6y ago> Really goes to show how we should get the fundamentals right. We did for a long time then everyone said that computers had to be used.
- ajuc 6y agoYou can also connect your phone to your laptop through usb or wifi and use it as a camera positioning it however you like.
- nicexe 6y agoSure, this works, but a cheap USB webcam would have been a far better solution than writing on top of your keyboard
- ivvve 6y agoWhat makes it a better solution? Albeit a bit "life hack"-y, this is something that requires no technical skill or support, and is easily assembled from household items, so very little outlay. I don't think I'd concede that webcams are a better solution, when thinking as an underfunded body such as a school district who may have to provide support for potentially thousands of these webcams to work for all their teachers. Furthermore, I don't think this is something that we should hold the individual teacher responsible for: teaching is already a full time job, and workers should not have to buy their own equipment to do their job with, something that already happens too much in that field. I did also think the writing on the keyboard might prove problematic, but also the teacher could theoretically remove the notepad and place it back if they wished. It's a relatively "open" technique.
- mft_ 6y ago...plus a totally new structure to suspend the webcam the correct distance above the desk. Plus the hassle of switching video feeds constantly. Reminds me a little of this: https://youtu.be/FmMzlehzU8c https://youtu.be/FmMzlehzU8c (You’re off buying extruded aluminium rods to make the structure, while she’s... teaching her class.)
- bronzecarnage 6y agoThis is classic jugaad. Well done, and to great effect!
- kettleweek 6y agoThis is similar to the solution I found for showing hands and face in a piano lesson. I spent a long time trying to get two cameras working. First by composing the video streams with ffmpeg or gstreamer and then by screen sharing a application which showed a second video. But in all cases the synchronisation was really bad. Then I realised a mirror composes two images really well :) Later I used transparent perspex with lighting (peppers ghost) as the mirror so the laptop screen on the piano is visible. It is described here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Qp8iHre9o&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Qp8iHre9o&t=1s
- xixixao 6y agoWell done! (both on the setup and the instructional video)
- steverb 6y agoThis is super useful. I have a daughter who is a piano performance major and I spent ages getting a working two camera set up for her. I wish I had seen this then (or better thought of it myself). I expect her university will end up going fully remote again next semester, so we will no doubt be putting this to use.
- einpoklum 6y agoThis is quite impressive, but - to nitpick a bit - doesn't this setup get messed up by the keyboard being pressed due to pressure on the writing pad, and the focus going to some other window, or menu, or something?
- bjarneh 6y ago> A pencil (a pen should also work fine) That's a detailed explanation :-)
- nix23 6y agoPresented by Disney and Apple ;) But from where do they have those round mirrors i ask? What is it?
- ChrisMarshallNY 6y agoI like the hack. Kudos to that teacher. Reminds me of the “space pen” urban myth. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-n...
- phreack 6y agoI applaud the inventive of being able to solve a problem with the tools and knowledge at hand but I must say it hit me like a blow to see that one key component to a low tech hack was a MacBook, one of the most expensive laptops out there. My teachers all have laptops with cameras that don't reach even half of that kind of crispness of image sadly.
- dade_ 6y agoCool, but they could have just spent less money on a Windows laptop with a stylus and touch screen. I use my stylus extensively at work, but many employers still have their users on machines without them. Such a shame. I don’t understand why Apple keeps holding back the Mac platform, but I finally had to give up. I love my iPad for what it is great at, but gave up on Mac eight years ago. This reminds me of the black and white Mac Classics with tiny screens in school, when everyone had colour PCs that cost less.
- eddhead 6y agoShe should have just got a Surface device, or a million other laptop SKUs with pen support that are cheaper than the MacBook she's using.
- dddbbb 6y agoThat model Macbook is 4-8 years old. This is a pretty useless and condescending comment.
- amai 6y agoBetter wait until Apple Mirror is available which does the same, but in a beautiful aluminium finish and just costs $99.