Fabric PC’s-Future Technology unraveled

Imagine walking to school or work with a brand-new type of laptop computer in hand. You walk casually, swinging the laptop back and forth between your arms, which is easy, since it weighs well under one pound (0.45 kg) and isn’t much thicker than a checkbook. Although it has no carrying case, you hardly blink after dropping it onto the concrete sidewalk. Instead you pick it up, dust it off, and continue on your way. When you arrive at your desk, you toss the laptop down on the table and open it up. The screen immediately unfolds, spreading out into an enormous display!

While this scenario sounds very futuristic, it actually isn’t that far from reality, thanks in part to a concept design called a Fabric PC (personal computer), produced by Fujistu, Inc. Amazingly, a Fabric PC won’t be encased within a tough metal shell like the PCs that have been around up to this point. Instead, it will be built into a tough but pliable fabric frame. Even the screen will able to bend and fold and will have a thickness and flexibility similar to a laminated sheet of paper.

Fujitsu

Basically, the laptops with which we’re all familiar consist of many individual components, each fixed within a metal frame. The entire structure opens and closes like a book. Not only does a traditional laptop’s metal frame form a rigid shell, but most of its internal components are bulky and rigid, too. The largest of these components is the screen, or display. There are several different types of modern computer displays, each built with different technologies, but most of today’s displays are inflexible, bulky and surprisingly fragile. The hard disk drive, used to store memory, is another large and rigid component of a traditional laptop. The list continues and includes many other components you’re probably familiar with, such as the CD/DVD drive and the battery.

Fujitsu
The Fabric PC is completely flexible — it even has a fabric keyboard.

How could a Fabric PC get around the need to be rigid, with multiple bulky components all fixed into a metal frame? There are at least three main components to the Fabric PC design that will allow this to happen. First of all, the computer display will be constructed from a cutting-edge technology called e-paper, allowing the display screen to be paper-thin and bendable. We’ll come back to this concept on the next page.

A second essential feature of the Fabric PC’s flexible design is that its individual components will be built into a pliable fabric-like backbone rather than a metal frame. While the components themselves will still be rigid, the device as a whole will have some flexibility if the components are spaced apart within the fabric — somewhat similar to how rigid rhinestones can be sewn into a fancy dress.

One final key to the Fabric PC’s design is straightforward — its individual components will be as small and lightweight as possible. Also, non-essential components will likely be left out. This minimalist approach to computer design has already been the trend for some of today’s laptops that are designed to be small and lightweight. For example, lighter “flash” memory has been used in place of bulkier hard disk drives. With the ability to quickly download files wirelessly, the CD/DVD drive can be left out entirely.Keep in mind that the Fabric PC is currently just a concept design and that even working prototypes have yet to be developed. One of the factors that Fabric PC development will depend upon is continued progress in e-paper technology(refer past posts to understand what this concept really is).

Future PC Technologies:

As the technologies behind the Fabric PC concept continue to develop, durable, pliable and light-weight computer-based devices will be introduced into all corners of the business and entertainment world.

To illustrate, Fujitsu has unveiled several other concept devices along with the Fabric PC, which rely on similar basic technology. One example is the “clerk browser” — a computer worn around the wrist like a large bracelet. This concept device was demonstrated as a means by which store clerks or salespeople could provide on-the-spot information to customers — although it’s easy to imagine other applications for this type of wearable computer. As with the Fabric PC, e-paper and small, lightweight components would be essential features of this type of device.

Fujitsu
The Fabric PC has a large, flexible e-paper display.

The “card viewer” is another one of Fujitsu’s concept designs that would rely on e-paper. In fact, this device can be thought of as an e-paper notepad. Because e-paper requires inputs to make changes to its display, once the display is set, it remains set, even when disconnected from its power source. The card viewer concept takes advantage of this situation by incorporating one or more sheets of e-paper displays that can be detached from the device and handed off just like a business card. The detached sheet of e-paper will continue to display the same image — just like a normal piece of paper pulled from a notepad — until reattached and updated.

There are countless other possible applications for the types of technology that Fabric PCs will employ. Just like Fabric PCs, most of these concepts will have to wait a few years until the supporting technology becomes more advanced and affordable.