4 ms·

I'm also not quite sure what I'm looking at, but hn_expanscape seems to be serious about this, so I'll bite. hn_expanscape, what is the actual use-case for thi

I'm also not quite sure what I'm looking at, but hn_expanscape seems to be serious about this, so I'll bite. hn_expanscape, what is the actual use-case for this device? You mention day-traders, but what about tiny screens sliding out from behind larger screens swiveling out from behind yet larger screens is helpful? Why is this better than one, much larger screen (i.e. a laptop with a 24" monitor or larger)? Why is there a screen embedded next to the keyboard? Was it just another place to squeeze a screen in, or is there an actual use-case for that? And is that a tiny little screen in the upper left portion of the bezel around what I would normally call the "main" screen? What's that for? Are there digital nomad day-traders who are even interested in using a laptop in the first place? Where are they that they don't mind carrying this very heavy device around, where they have access to a power outlet to use it? What is the purpose of the battery, actually? It doesn't sound like it's meant for practical use, since it seems it would last for less than an hour in ideal circumstances. Is it sort of a mobile UPS?

hn_expanscape 6y ago
Hi Thomas, Founder here. Thanks for your questions: - The use case of this is a portable multi monitor desktop with desktop class performance. - I designed this to specifically facilitate my use case (DevOps, SecOps, SIEM, SOC/NOC stuff). I got frustrated and fedup waiting on the G Screen Spacebook and Project Valerie so one day I decided to just get on with making it myself. I am expected to respond to alerts for the many customer systems I manage so I usually have monitoring panels from Cisco, PRTG, Rapid7, Okta, Solarwinds, Vectra AI, open at the same time all day. Suffice to say this gets really stupid on a laptop with one screen especially when you sometimes have to spend whole days at customer sites or in the data center. - Due to immense interest from people in the finance and content creation industries I decided to build these to specification. - One crucial objective was that all the screens should slide out of the main chassis as this facilitates easy setup and folding down when leaving a customer site. - The screen in the keyboard allows me test touch screen apps I'm writing for linux for another project that will be revealed shortly. The palmrest screen was originally designed to also support a WACOM pen but I'm still working on that. - The tiny screen on the bezel is not connected to the GPU. It is connected to an Arduino micro controller and provides additional stats on battery life and system resource usage. - YES to my surprise there are many digital nomad types, film studios, CEOs and other execs who are very interested in our prototypes. - The battery in the Aurora 7 can be considered a mobile UPS however we are still working on that aspect. One of the big problems we have is Airplane regulations regarding the max Watt Hours for Lithium batteries... There have been a few prototypes before this one and our latest that will be revealed shortly features various improvements.
- grayfaced 6y ago
  It sounds like your use-case doesn't require battery power (at least when fully-deployed). Wouldn't it be better use a consumer laptop and focus your efforts on optimizing wall-powered monitors for packability?
- eqvinox 6y ago
  The best thing to do about the battery life is probably to make it very flexible in shutting down things, i.e. every screen one by one and so on.
anigbrowl 6y ago
I can see use cases for this in film production, event management, various kinds of security work. NGL I kinda want one to have a whole command station that fits in one box. This has nothing to do with my habit of having 3-400 open browser tabs at any given time.
- hn_expanscape 6y ago
  That's the idea!

hn_expanscape 6y ago

Hi Thomas, Founder here. Thanks for your questions: - The use case of this is a portable multi monitor desktop with desktop class performance. - I designed this to specifically facilitate my use case (DevOps, SecOps, SIEM, SOC/NOC stuff). I got frustrated and fedup waiting on the G Screen Spacebook and Project Valerie so one day I decided to just get on with making it myself. I am expected to respond to alerts for the many customer systems I manage so I usually have monitoring panels from Cisco, PRTG, Rapid7, Okta, Solarwinds, Vectra AI, open at the same time all day. Suffice to say this gets really stupid on a laptop with one screen especially when you sometimes have to spend whole days at customer sites or in the data center. - Due to immense interest from people in the finance and content creation industries I decided to build these to specification. - One crucial objective was that all the screens should slide out of the main chassis as this facilitates easy setup and folding down when leaving a customer site. - The screen in the keyboard allows me test touch screen apps I'm writing for linux for another project that will be revealed shortly. The palmrest screen was originally designed to also support a WACOM pen but I'm still working on that. - The tiny screen on the bezel is not connected to the GPU. It is connected to an Arduino micro controller and provides additional stats on battery life and system resource usage. - YES to my surprise there are many digital nomad types, film studios, CEOs and other execs who are very interested in our prototypes. - The battery in the Aurora 7 can be considered a mobile UPS however we are still working on that aspect. One of the big problems we have is Airplane regulations regarding the max Watt Hours for Lithium batteries... There have been a few prototypes before this one and our latest that will be revealed shortly features various improvements.

grayfaced 6y ago
It sounds like your use-case doesn't require battery power (at least when fully-deployed). Wouldn't it be better use a consumer laptop and focus your efforts on optimizing wall-powered monitors for packability?
eqvinox 6y ago
The best thing to do about the battery life is probably to make it very flexible in shutting down things, i.e. every screen one by one and so on.

anigbrowl 6y ago

I can see use cases for this in film production, event management, various kinds of security work. NGL I kinda want one to have a whole command station that fits in one box. This has nothing to do with my habit of having 3-400 open browser tabs at any given time.

hn_expanscape 6y ago
That's the idea!