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from the what-goes-around...gets-smaller dept.
Laptop bezels are dead, and IFA killed them
In the past few years, IFA has become a laptop show. It may not be the place where companies like Apple or Microsoft show off their flashiest hardware, but when it comes to the midrange, workhorse laptops that dominate the shelves at Best Buy and desks at schools, IFA is where you'll find them. That's why it's so interesting that there's been what feels like an overnight revolution in laptop screens at this year's show: bezels are dead, and IFA killed them.
[...] These new laptops are pushing the screen-to-body ratio higher than ever: the Swift 5 is 87.6 percent screen, while the newly teased Swift 7 checks in at 92 percent. And Asus' ZenBooks feature a new ErgoLift hinge design, which is (in theory) to improve typing, but it also cleverly hides the lower bezel so that Asus can claim it's up to 95 percent screen.
Removing bezels isn't just about aesthetics. Yes, bezel-less screens look fantastic, but that's only a piece of the puzzle. The real advantages lie in the fact that, suddenly, companies can fit bigger screens into the existing form factors we have now. Take Acer's new Swift 5, which fits a 15.6-inch display into the old 14-inch form factor, resulting in what the company claims is the lightest 15-inch class laptop ever. On the flip side, we're also getting computers like Asus' 13-inch ZenBook. By killing the bezels, it's possible to shrink the entire laptop down, giving users a dramatically smaller 13-inch class laptop than ever before.
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday September 02 2018, @12:37PM (4 children)
Why? The smaller bezels have nothing to do with the quality of keyboards, other than affecting their physical size (which you could increase by going to the next size up, 14, 15.6, 17.3).
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(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday September 03 2018, @05:49AM (3 children)
To my eye, the lack of bezel is visually annoying (perhaps much as are "flat" interfaces). There's no boundary between the screen and what's around it. Needs a minimum of about 1/3 inch to be comfortable.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday September 03 2018, @07:35AM (2 children)
I'm looking at the wall behind my laptop right now. I could carefully place a piece of black cardboard on the wall.
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(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday September 03 2018, @11:29AM (1 child)
You could, and it might be perfectly feasible at your own desk, but is that convenient to haul around with you?
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday September 03 2018, @11:38AM
I keep a laptop at the desk pretty much at all times. It's pretty much just an easier to move desktop.
I don't believe in the bezel premise anyway. None of these laptops have advertised a 100% screen, 0% bezel ratio, so there should still be a small border around the content in most cases (unless they hide it all near the hinge). Even if there wasn't, I think I could adapt to it. The screen is emitting photons at you, so it should overpower the surroundings.
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