Collapsible Port Patent Filing Hints of Apple Ultraportable Notebook Coming

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A report by Apple Insider shows that Apple has filed for a patent on a collapsible port system that would help to conserve space on an ultraportable style notebook. The expectation of a widescreen ultraportable notebook from Apple has been in the rumor mill for sometime now, but the revelation of this design shows that Apple is most definitely at work on something.

Basically the patent shows pictures of a port system located on the back of a notebook in which ports could &quot;collapse&quot; when they are not in use and allow the notebook to have a slimmer overall profile. Connections such as the Ethernet RJ-45 port, commonly found integrated into most notebooks, is actually quite a large port that would be too large for a super slim notebook. The slimmest of slim notebooks that have been released in the past, such as the Sony VAIO X505, required a dongle to be inserted that then attached to an RJ-45 port adapter.

The ultra-slim Sony VAIO X505 used a dongle to accomodate for larger ports such as Ethernet (view larger image)

One problem with this design from Apple would be that it means all the ports are located on the back, something that's quite annoying in terms of accessibility to ports. Another issue is that these ports would need to involve moving parts to collapse, and that means greater potential for a port to break. The design does appear to be innovative though, and if anyone can pull off a unique hinging design and coming up with a way to make things thinner, Apple would be the company to do it. We'll find out in a few months whether this design does actually see the light of day -- rumor is for an end of year to early 2008 ultraportable release from Apple.

Read More: Apple Insider

 

 

The only excuse I see for such patents is to avoid stupid law suits .

But this claim falls flat when the patent "inventer" also claims ownership over the word "pod" and the letter "i" .

 

Is this the new Apple iPort?

 

It'll be interesting to see if Apple finally manages to introduce an ultraportable which weight wise can match its competitors.

 

I disagree, just because you have a fancy port hiding mechanism, doesn't mean you have to put ALL your ports there. If I were designing it, I would put the larger, lesser used ports there, like the RJ-45, and firewire ports, but I'd leave more commonly used, slimmer ports (like USB) on the sides for easy access.

If fact, the Apple Insider link to seems to agree with me:

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but there is no way that the purpose of this is to make laptops thinner. Prettier maybe, but not thinner. If the port is too thick for the notebook then its folded out height will be higher than the notebook and would not fold away. On a more intuitive note, incorporating the port into a fold-away drawer would require adding material around the port for the folding mechanism, making the laptop thicker. A bare port with no fancy stuff would take up less space.

For a visual, if you have a TV with a control panel that requires you to "push to open" for access to the front controls, take a look at it and imagine how you could squeeze in something higher than the height of the folding door. It's just not possible. The mechanism reduces the hight of anything you could squeeze into that space because the front panel gets in the way once it's open, reducing the effective height of the control space behind it.


Update: It's hard to tell from the poor diagrams but it's the actual port itself that will collapse, making each port smaller. Seems like more to break.

 

That's a clever little setup that I'm sure Apple fans will go gaga over.

 

Yep, just like that magnetic power cord.

 

My thoughts exactly Bruce. Good analogy.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. Maybe this is designed for the next Macbook Pro?

 

I disagree. I think it is actually designed to make fat ports fit in a thin notebook. Think Transformers , you sort of chop the port in two parts and then fold it out to have the full height required. Of course, when opened they would be thicker than the notebook. And I see no reason why they couldn't be on the side of the machine as well...

And Apple has been known to fill bogus or unused patents, so I'll only believe it when and if it comes out.