Being one of the world's leading contract makers of laptops, Compal not only produces notebooks for large brands but also proposes various design concepts that may be eventually commercialized by one of its customers. This year Compal proposed a laptop design with three displays.
As reported by Liliputing, Compal's Airttach is a 13-inch laptop that may be equipped with proprietary custom-built displays that can be seamlessly attached to the sides of the primary screen to create one large screen featuring a 48:9 aspect ratio. The side displays use proprietary power and signal interconnects (or maybe even a combination of wired and wireless technologies, based on some of the renders demonstrated by Compal), so the end user will not have to use any external cables. Meanwhile, the additional monitors have their own kickstands.
(Image credit: Compal)
Compal's renders demonstrate screens with curved edges to eliminate borders and make the stretched three-piece screen look like one. Technologically, curved edges are only possible with AMOLED/OLED types of panels, so it will be a rather expensive product if the concept becomes a commercial product with curved edges.
(Image credit: Compal)
Since the Airttach design currently exists only on pictures, Compal didn't disclose any of its actual specifications or characteristics, such as resolution and weight. Meanwhile, the company demonstrates a folio that can house the new units, so at least the Airttach is meant to be suitable for traveling.
(Image credit: Compal)
Expanscape's Aurora 7 mobile PC with seven displays made quite a lot of publicity recently, but this is a custom-built design for very specific markets. In contrast, Compal's Airttach is supposed to be a commercially-manufacturable device that is sold at retail outlets. To some degree, the Airttach resembles Razer's Project Valerie introduced at CES 2017, but Compal's device looks somewhat more elegant but somewhat less flexible (literally).
Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.
