A keyboard case that makes your iPad look a lot like the MacBook Air.

http://www.thebrydge.com/

by bane • 14 years ago

87 94 14 years ago

rizwan• 14 years ago

That neon bright light that shines when it's on is about the only thing that seems distracting from the design.

Would be curious to see real world photos of it, because that light has the potential to cheapen the rest of the design (i'm thinking of lights like this: http://www.chelseadeals.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=27&...)

drucken• 14 years ago

Hmm, very good point.

It can be startling how incredbly annoying such bright (almost always blue) LEDs can be. Especially being charged nearby while you sleep or if you are watching a movie/screen from a distance.

kefs• 14 years ago

Here is a very related article about the amount of thought and detail that apple puts into their system lighting.

http://floodmagazine.com/2010/10/14/apples-attention-to-deta...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1634471

Yarnage• 14 years ago

That looks pretty neat! I'm always a little wary about the keyboard scratching the screen but overall it's nifty.

I just hope it becomes a real product after the kickstarter stuff is over.

ionforce• 14 years ago

Gosh darnit, only works with iPad 2 and iPad 3.

latch• 14 years ago

I guess I'll ask the obvious [to me] question. Why not just buy an Air?

evoxed2• 14 years ago

I thought the obvious question was, "is this a joke?"... and then I saw the kickstarter page.

keeperofdakeys3• 14 years ago

Having seen people use the Asus Transformer, they really like the fact that they can have both a tablet and small laptop in the same device. Of course the OS limitations of a tablet usually mean you can't use it for some serious work like typing (although that isn't too much of an issue with some web apps these days).

krakensden• 14 years ago

I've got a Transformer at work, and it's a really nice device in a lot of ways. The UI is much snappier than standard desktop operating systems, and the build quality is head and shoulders above the netbooks you can buy at, say, Best Buy that seem to already be crumbling when you get them home. But it's worth noting that it's suprisingly heavy and the weight is poorly balanced, because they need all that super thick glass over the screen. Furthermore, after you use it for awhile, you don't ever really want to touch the screen, because it's faster to type or use the trackpad.

Hopefully there is some third way where we can get a snappy OS, vague nods towards physical quality, and a netbook that doesn't feel like an accident waiting to happen every time you pick it up.

Auguste• 14 years ago

For me, the Transformer Prime is not so much a tablet as a netbook with Ice Cream Sandwich and ridiculous battery life.

I generally have no interest in tablets because of the OS limitations you mentioned, but the well-designed keyboard that ships with the Transformer made the deal for me. Like the Brydge, it has a solid hinge, and it also has a second battery that charges the Transformer as needed, providing an extra 10 or so hours of battery life (for a maximum of 18).

barumrho• 14 years ago

I think battery life is a big factor. (I don't personally own an Air, so I am assuming that Airs don't actually achieve specified battery life: 5~7 hours.)

prophetjohn• 14 years ago

I have a 13" MBP with a 2.5 Ghz core i5, which is advertised at 7 hours. Doing simple stuff, I routinely get 6 hours. If I'm streaming high quality video (MLB.tv is all I have to report from) that gets cut in half.

initself• 14 years ago

No touchscreen on the Air.

flomo• 14 years ago

Because $1000 for the entry-level Air still puts into the luxury-goods category relative to everything else on Best Buy's PC aisle.

iPad+Keyboard is probably a compelling alternative to a crappy lowend laptop for say students with light word-processing needs, but otherwise spend most of their time on web, social networking, and games.

GuiA2• 14 years ago

Yup, my roommates are all med students and 99% of their class related needs are covered by iPad + bluetooth keyboard (they all got a keyboard case). (they still use a laptop because they have a bunch of medical software that doesn't exist on iOS)

Stanford med school actually "gives" (this verb seems out of place considering the tuition) every incoming student an iPad.

ChrisNorstrom2• 14 years ago

This is just further proof that people don't really want an iPad, they want a laptop with a better designed and easier OS. Computers run our lives, yet there's only 2 major operating systems for consumers to choose from. Making them duopolies of the most important technological advancement in history. Mac and PC (and a bit of linux but we're talking consumers here, not sysadmins). And this lack of competition, I think, has really stagnated the OS user's experience.

Can you believe it's 2012 and operating systems still don't come with an manual or a guide?! So of course people are flocking to iPads. They're powerful yet brain dead simple. Which empowers people rather than making them feel incompetent or stressing them out.

I think Steve Jobs made a mistake. Maybe the iPad should have come with a keyboard and competed with the laptops.

alanfalcon2• 14 years ago

If this sells 13M units, then it will be proof of something, but as it is it's just a product design.

jQueryIsAwesome• 14 years ago

There seems to be a lot of people interested in this and they just started two days ago

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/552506690/brydge-ipad-do...

reneherse2• 14 years ago

Much more than a mere design, if you watch the video it appears to be a fully operational prototype.

Impressively, it was designed, engineered, and machined all in-house by a three person team, of which two members had a prior successful hardware project on Kickstarter. The project appears to be the very opposite of vaporware.

ChrisClark• 14 years ago

I completely agree but want to point out that you should have said, "Can you believe it's 2012 and operating systems don't come with a manual or guide anymore?"

I remember Windows coming with a pretty thick manual explaining how to use it. Either way your point still stands, the OS has changed so little they don't feel like explaining it anymore. But it's not user friendly enough for other people.

kijin• 14 years ago

What? No, we don't need operating systems that come with manuals. The last manual I got with a software package ended up a doorstop pretty quickly. What we need is an operating system that doesn't need a manual because it's so intuitive and well-designed.

TazeTSchnitzel• 14 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyuuqsGoXys

DavidAbrams8• 14 years ago

Which is what the Mac once claimed to be, but Apple relies on unmarked, multi-fingered "gestures" and two-handed hotkeys. Yeah, it's a clinic of hypocrisy from the company that claimed two-button mice were "too complicated." Then it comes out with one inept, piece-of-shit mouse after another, culminating in a "multi-touch" mouse that you're somehow supposed to hold in place while swiping horizontally with multiple fingers.

keeperofdakeys3• 14 years ago

I don't think you mean intuitive, I think you mean discoverable and consistent. One good example is using only symbols to convey meaning, like the new gmail interface. I've not met one person who found it 'intuitive', or even able to easily figure out the functions without hovering to reveal the text. This is because symbols are good for visual searches and being a unique 'landmark', but not for conveying meaning.

dkarl• 14 years ago

What do you mean computers still don't come with a manual? Used to be nobody used a computer without a book. This is progress.

leif• 14 years ago

When I got an iphone a couple months back, it came with a much more extensive manual than I expected.

mbreese2• 14 years ago

Ever since the first iPad there have been cases that have added a keyboard. But, I don't think that most people that have an iPad have an external keyboard for it. So this may be evidence that some people want a small laptop with a simple OS.

But given that Apple has sold more than 60 million iPads without keyboards makes me think that the current design is working just fine for most people.

DavidAbrams8• 14 years ago

Well, one might have reached the same conclusion about the millions upon millions of shitty cell phones that were sold right up through 2005. Cell phones with abysmal UIs, retarded ergnomics, and no working sync software.

Sales figures don't prove something is good (or bad).

nsmartt• 14 years ago

People want a laptop with a detachable keyboard and simplicity. With a keyboard (especially one as nice as this), the iPad achieves that goal.

The iPad remains a toy because it is missing one major thing: power.

That's one thing that Windows 8 has going for it. It's got the might of Windows but works on a tablet. That's the right idea, but Windows 8 will be installed on tablets with no keyboard, laptops whose keyboard can't be removed, and desktops.

What we need is the simplicity of the iPad, the benefit of a keyboard, the option to remove the keyboard when we need to, and the power of an OS like Windows, OS X, or Linux. They also need the computing power of a laptop or desktop.

I'm thinking the desktop will be replaced by a dock that lends power to the new generation of tablet, or that mice, monitors and larger keyboards will be available to connect to them. The latter lacks simplicity, so a dock sounds much more feasible. Just plug in and go to work, rather than connecting a handful of different cords.

nl• 14 years ago

Asus Transformer Prime.

Casc2• 14 years ago

We want portability and uniformity.

Similar, familiar, comfortable look and feel across platforms.

The same fundamental data, applications, and generic controls at our disposal despite the medium.

A phone that can plug into a dock, and signal "dock mode" where it accepts slightly different control inputs by way of keyboard & mouse, displays on an external monitor, and possibly offers additional functionality now that it's plugged into a power source - unlock cores, activate dedicated GPU inside the unit, etc.

I believe Microsoft was operating on a similar notion in Windows 8. The way I see it, as your use case changes, the OS would adapt, capabilities change (IOS turns into Snow Leopard when docked).

Oh, I guess when I said "we", I meant "me".

DavidAbrams8• 14 years ago

"Similar, familiar, comfortable look and feel across platforms."

Then you'd better get rid of the keyboard on the computer.

rimantas• 14 years ago

  > This is just further proof that people don't really want
  > an iPad

I want iPad specifically because it has no keyboard—for me intend use (mostly reading and browsing) it adds very little, but makes the device inconvenient to use. And I prefer to do my racing in portrait mode. If I want to type more, bluetooth keyboard and a stand is more than enough.

tjogin4• 14 years ago

So people really want things like laptops with touch screens and laptops with detachable keyboards, despite those things selling really poorly.. And people dont want the iPad, despite it selling like hotcakes, thats your conclusion?

If the iPad is a mistake, it's a mistake to the tune of 67 million units over two years, and that's limited by manufacturing, not demand. Or you are wrong.

polshaw2• 14 years ago

>So people really want things like laptops with touch screens and laptops with detachable keyboards, despite those things selling really poorly

YES.

They sell poorly because they are crap and expensive. Exactly like tablets were before the iPad.

Give me something like the transformer prime, with an a15 and an android + desktop linux combo for a reasonable price and i'll be all over that.

This dock (+retina ipad) has brought me closer to wanting the ipad than ever before.

ZeroGravitas• 14 years ago

As someone on the lookout to buy an ARM based netbook or web tablet for a while before the iPad existed, I'd say the chip lock-in was another monopoly that the iPad escaped but gets less attention than it should.

Every time I read a headline about how much money Apple are making, I reflect on how much pent up demand there was for years, held back by the Wintel (and IE) monopolies.

DavidAbrams8• 14 years ago

"Chip lock-in"? What do you mean?

wavephorm• 14 years ago

  This is just further proof that people don't really 
  want an iPad, they want a laptop

It's not really about hardware. I think what people really want is to escape the desktop operating system paradigm.

When someone buys an iPad they are escaping the hangover of using Microsoft Windows for two decades. You'll find most iPad owners love their tablet precisely because there is no concept of files and folders, and drivers, and a long bootup process, and hard drives, and defrag utilities, and spyware, and virus protection... None of that stuff really improve users' experience.

Ordinary people just want to get onto the internet, play some games, and read facebook. Whether the hardware that lets them do this in an easy way is a tablet, or a laptop form factor is irrelevant.

tehayj• 14 years ago

Everyone I know complains most about having no file system, but I agree the average mom who looks at her recipe app won't miss it.

seanica• 14 years ago

>> When someone buys an iPad they are escaping the hangover of using Microsoft Windows for two decades. ... form factor is irrelevant

Form factor is incredibly relevant.

For me it's not about escaping from vendor X, or operating system Y, it's about what the form-factor allows me to do.

It about having the freedom to chose where I want to sit and _the_posture_ I want to adopt when reading stuff on the internet.

Laptops/netbooks got us half-way there (no longer force to sit in a certain location). Their short-coming was you're forced to adopt a certain posture, or put something hard under it so it doesn't overheat (or burn you).

However, the ability of a well designed tablet to open another 'ergonomic dimension' does not guarantee that the tablet can maintain all the other ergonomics of other form-factors.

Some users realize this and think the fix is to make the new device 'morph' into that other form factor. I suspect that some team of people will realize that it can be achieved some other way that is simpler and sexier and make a mint from their idea. It will involve a revolution in input device hardware (and acceptance of that hardware) to get there though.

mark_integerdsv• 14 years ago

>This is just further proof that people don't really want an iPad, they want a laptop with a better designed and easier OS.

Too black and white. Imagine more.

MBP on the bottom, lid snaps off and is an iPad. Compatible applications sync on event: snap off/on between the iPad and the MBP.

So basically it's the Asus tablet and base station affair (or this Brydge thingamabob) but instead of just speakers/keyboard/battery you have the works in the base station and you can plug in a monitor and use it separately from the iPad/screen assembly.

It's not that people want this or that, it's that they want it all.

DavidAbrams8• 14 years ago

The Mac IS a PC. If you mean Windows, say Windows.

ChrisNorstrom2• 14 years ago

Can you upgrade your mac's processor and motherboard to whatever you want the way you can with a PC? It goes beyond just an operating system. I like to think of PCs as Personalizable Computers.

jodosha• 14 years ago

This is smaller than a MacBook Air and it's a neat solution. Indeed, I think that at the upcoming WWDC we will see something really similar released by Apple.

notatoad• 14 years ago

a little like a macbook air, and a lot like an asus transformer.

bane• 14 years ago

Without the extra battery, places to plug things in, and with a battery sucking bluetooth connection.

Still, it looks well designed and Apple-y in form and function.

sopooneo• 14 years ago

I feel like the iPad is right near the border of an unstable equilibrium between simple and useful. And this things just bumps it to the other side.

saddino• 14 years ago

If XCode ran on an iPad, then I'd be sold. As it is, it's the only reason I need to carry around my MacBook Air.

GuiA2• 14 years ago

iSSH + a bluetooth keyboard + your linux server of choice (I use EC2) makes backend coding on the iPad feasible, and quite comfortably so.

terhechte• 14 years ago

Also, VIM is almost the perfect editor on the iPad with an external keyboard because one never needs the mouse and everything can be done with keystrokes. There's even native vim on for iPad on the App store (though iSSH has much better keyboard meta keys support)

gurkendoktor• 14 years ago

I think Apple is still wiser than this project for advertising their keyboard in portrait mode. The camera is less weird to use, you can have a slightly less insane posture and the things that need a keyboard (Pages, some Safari stuff) usually benefit from portrait orientation. I would much rather have an MBA with a square screen. :(

talentdeficit• 14 years ago

serious question, do people not realize you can use the wireless apple keyboard with the ipad? it pairs with bluetooth and it's fairly small of it's own accord. it's also much cheaper than most of these 'laptop' accessories

pirateking• 14 years ago

This. The Apple wireless keyboard solution adds no baggage to the iPad itself, is very portable, and the compact height of the keyboard allows stacking the keyboard and iPad vertically on your lap or flat surface (meaning touch gestures don't require holding your arm up).

Personally, I use the virtual keyboard exclusively. I find it a nice change of pace. Somewhat similar to how the thought process seems to change when writing with paper and pencil, compared to hammering away at a physical keyboard.

atarian• 14 years ago

Looks more like the Macbook Pro. Black screen bevel and thick keyboard body.

rogerbinns• 14 years ago

The "no cables" claim seemed a little far fetched and after digging through all the pages you'll find that the keyboard has an integrated battery which has to be charged via a micro usb cable.

So you'll need one cable to charge the iPad and another different one for this device. In their shoes I'd try to make it possible to also have the iPad in portrait orientation so that the keyboard can access the dock connector and then have a dock connector on the keyboard for charging and passthrough charging/data.

recoiledsnake• 14 years ago

The hardware is good, but the software will be limiting since it can't run OS X apps. Such a case would be good for the upcoming Windows 8 x86 tablets, which would allow you to run Eclipse or VS or any IDE that runs on Windows.

twiceaday• 14 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen#Gorilla_arm

alan_cx• 14 years ago

That sort of formalises something I have wondered about for a while. With a normal PC, both screen and keyboard are where they need to be for comfortable use of both. Putting both together in a touch screen is, IMHO, often too uncomfortable for prolonged use.

ricksta• 14 years ago

a quick comparison of the iPad and a apple wireless keyboard shows that the brydge is squashed closer together, which won't be very good for blind typing.

Tichy• 14 years ago

Now all I need is a jump to conclusions mat and my setup is perfect.

tluyben2• 14 years ago

This idea is rather trivial and there are a few of these announced already for years. What annoys me is that you cannot buy them; they are just ideas. At least de Prime actually is in the shops so I'll stick with that.

nico_h2• 14 years ago

Apparently you can buy at least one model now: http://www.thefancy.com/sales/2273/ipad-notebookcase

The prime is something much different from an ipad with a semipermantely attached keyboard. It's more of a slow laptop with a detachable screen that can be used as an ok tablet, as opposed to a nice tablet with a heavy bluetooth keyboard case.

frogtown• 14 years ago

Since I got my Macbook Air 11", I have regularly called it an iPad Pro. "Why not just get an iPad," people ask. Well, this is my travel system for hacking.

nico_h2• 14 years ago

You could also already buy a full case that transform your iPad 2 into a MacBook Pro for $88 :

http://www.thefancy.com/sales/2273/ipad-notebookcase

rshm• 14 years ago

Aren't all major manufacturers except Apple struggling to get access to a aluminium lathes.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110803PD222.html

DavidAbrams8• 14 years ago

Yes, and after you cobble this asinine frankendevice together, you have something with no proper I/O. Crippled Bluetooth. No user-accessible file system. No way for third-party apps to sync data with companion apps on the computer (without some hokey wireless or Internet-based workaround).

It's incredible how this ridiculous gimmickry is playing out in 2012. Downright juvenile.

mattmanser• 14 years ago

Um, a lot of that stuff most people don't use? Juvenile?

Why get angry about people liking their iPad but wanting a keyboard? Looks pretty cool to me. Like a laptop with a detachable keyboard.

DavidAbrams8• 14 years ago

No, that's the point: That's what it is NOT. No straightforward way to get files or information on or off the device. That's not a suitable computer.

It's a design dictated by Apple's fear and refusal to learn from the failure of DRM. More hypocrisy.

chj• 14 years ago

iOS bluetooth keyboard API support is purely crap. No ESC/CTRL/Function Keys. Otherwise this could be a good idea.

Another thing is the file system is locked up so completely, that is not in any way could be used for professional purpose, for example, writing code. It is still a casual device.

All these limitations are imposed by Apple themselves. Too bad, they really had the potential to rule the world.

padobson• 14 years ago

Tablets are read-only. People are buying this because they love consuming info on their tablet, but they can't create it. I'm typing this on my transformer prime right now and I'd be done already if i just booted up my laptop.

Still, this is just a gimmick for early adopters. I bought my mother-in-law a bluetooth keyboard for her iPad. She doesn't use it. Not because she doesnt want to or has no reason to, but because she can't get through the bluetooth sync process.

To know if there should be a keyboard for the iPad, just ask one question: Does Apple make a keyboard for the iPad?

The first time these early adopters sit down with their new monstrosity and have to reach out across the keyboard to use their fingers to select text or copy paste or browse to a different app or website, they're going to realize why this is a bad idea.

Now if Apple wanted to include a pointer in iOS that could be used with a mouse (or trackpad built into this keyboard), then this starts to make sense. Until then, ppl buying this are just trying to fit a square peg into a round hole using money as lube.

Hovertruck• 14 years ago

Doesn't this look more like a Pro than an Air?

pabloPXL• 14 years ago

Apple suing in 3, 2, 1...

A keyboard case that makes your iPad look a lot like the MacBook Air.

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