Apple's patent reveals plans to include thinner cover hinge on 2015 12-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, but will the company's latest products hold its own against the flexible hinge already sported by Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro?
Apple's patent number 20150049275 reveals possible improvements to the upcoming MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 2015. According to Patently Apple, the company may be working on the elimination of the space required for the wiring harness or spiral-shaped circuit cable that gives bulk to hinge structures in an attempt to reduce stress.
The patent includes mounting the display timing controller integrated circuit in the base where it will be mounted on a rigid flex printed circuit. "A flexible printed circuit portion of the rigid flex printed circuit may be used to couple the rigid printed circuit portion in the lid to the thin-film transistor layer," adds the article.
Moreover, the patent also presents ideas for a double-shield-layer single-signal-line-layer flexible printed circuit running from the lid to the base. When open, the device's flexible length bends "to accommodate opening of the lid of the portable computer."
Apple's move to change the hinge and to allegedly create a 12-inch model of its MacBook Air 2015 is in line with other companies choosing to offer "thinner and lighter" products. According to Nation Multimedia, Lenovo is offering the Yoga 3 Pro as slimmer and thinner than its predecessor, Yoga 3.
Lenovo's design uses a "watchband hinge design," which uses 800 pieces of steel and aluminum. The design offers "the same degree of flexibility and flatness and pivoting on six points rather than two," giving it a 180-degree flexibility. Yoga 3 Pro also sports a smaller adapter than MacBook Air despite the touch-screen laptop having a 13.3-inch Gorilla Glass protected QHD+ IPS multi-touch screen.
According to Latino Post, Yoga 3 Pro is one of the contenders Apple's 2015 MacBook air and MacBook Pro will be coming up against. "It's a sleek hybrid with an elegant hinge that makes it easy to switch it from a laptop to a tab," says, the article.
Aside from sporting a thinner hinge, new versions of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are expected to sport control circuitry to enable voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) via cellular telephone protocols, making it seem like a step towards "cellular MacBook." Apple has also filed for a Biometrics Patent, giving more credence to the speculations that Apple's TouchID fingerprint sensor in the iPhone and iPad may be on its way to MacBooks and iMacs.
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