Core77

An iPad-like Desk I'd Kill For

By Rain Noe - June 19, 2012

in Object Culture | UX

All this talk of Microsoft and Apple can make you wonder what would happen if the two companies ever teamed up. They never will, of course; their philosophies are too different. But earlier this year MacLife magazine wistfully showed some concept renderings, by illustrator Adam Benton, of what looked like Microsoft's Surface technology wrapped in an Apple-like package, driven by Apple software.

How awesome would it be to have an entire desk that was a touchscreen? I myself don't know if I could go paperless, but if I could, I would love to be able to clear all of my desktop clutter with the push of a button, and bring it all back up when I needed it. It would also be able to flip through a virtual stack of documents, like in iBooks, while the software kept the pages neatly aligned. And I don't think I'd ever get tired of sliding virtual photos, calendars, interface devices and the like around that huge surface. Not to mention, if this thing was watertight, I'd never again have to worry about spilling coffee.

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Philip Cassel

12 years ago

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This is not that new- think back to the executive desk in the original "Tron" movie. Was it 1978?
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Mark

12 years ago

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Great idea in theory, but imagine all the shoulder / neck injuries from constantly extending arms across the surface.

Aesthetically and conceptually brilliant, ergonomically lousy.

But it IS cool!
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Gabriel Mathews

12 years ago

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Agree with all of the above. This belongs over on design milk with the aspiration stuff. C77 used to be all about substance. What the heck happened?
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M4RK

12 years ago

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I think HEAT is the biggest problem... try putting your hand against your screen right now and then imagine having to rest above it for an entire work day....
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jondoe

12 years ago

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needs to be wider. the screen is much too big for the small table.
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moronicjoker

12 years ago

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Wow! An enourmous, cool looking, futuristic interface... let's clutter it with ten year old mac hardware.
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8mismo

12 years ago

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Not to be a negative Nancy, but when I see this I don't think "oh cool! The Apple brand of modernism teamed with that Minority Report software." I think "Yeah, that desk is so sleek they decided not to close off the back, so your stylus and coffee mug are sure to get knocked off with regular frequency."
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dave

12 years ago

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you'd go insane from the grease marks your skin would leave on it in about five minutes, and you'd need to polish the surface so frequently you'd never actually get anything done. glass desktops are a menace.
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