Acer Plots the End of Notebook Frames

It is well known that, among the many visions of future technology, there is also the idea that, eventually, buttons will be completely done away with in favor of touch input. This idea has already sparked such concepts as ASUS' dual-display laptop or the similar project PCs from MSI that were recently unveiled at CeBIT in Hanover, Germany. Acer, on the other hand, seems bent on taking this idea even further, thinking about doing away with even the laptop frame itself.

According to a report published by Digitimes, the company has come up with a concept notebook that uses a reinforced glass substrate and touchscreen input. Overall, the main goal of the design is to reduce the thickness to beyond thin levels. Basically, Acer will reportedly use a thin, Cornign glass substrate-based display and, instead of utilizing a chassis, it will print color on the back of the glass substrate itself. Also, the keyboard will do away with the buttons and rely solely on touch input.

As far-fetched as the idea is, such a laptop would be thinner and lighter than any other similarly sized mobile PC currently in existence. Of course, in such a design, the issues of screen backlighting, reliability and endurance, especially the endurance of the keyboard itself, arise. It is unknown what solutions Acer will, or has, come up with, but the report implies that such a device might actually make itself known as early as the second half of the ongoing year. What kind of performance the PC maker will be able to pack into it remains to be seen.

Besides just the benefits of added portability, using such a design should also help the hardware maker reduce material costs. Whether this will make such a model affordable to more than just high-end consumers will be revealed in due time.