News - Darfon's Maglev keyboard to help slim future notebooks

[HEXUS]

A super-thin keyboard prototype was demonstrated by Darfon at Computex.

Read more.

[Tabbykatze]

Would never buy it, same way I have trouble with low profile keyboards and touch screen keyboards, my fingers need to feel the keys for touch typing.

[SUMMONER]

I would love to see an Android phone with a slide out keyboard with this.

Mind you, this tech is probably still far too thick for a sliding keyboard.

[Jerakl]

I think this will be interesting and I am anxious to see this. Mainly because I have to buy a laptop next year for my schools BYOD

[Lanky123]

Before I got my first laptop I remember being worried the low-profile/low-travel keys would be hard to type on, but now I find most other keyboards cumbersome and clunky. Hopefully this will be similar, the ability to customise the resistance is definitely interesting. Cost might be a worry, especially as Darfon don't seem to have mentioned that bit...

I wonder if it would be possible to have an ultra-ultra-thin maglev keyboard with keys in the 'down' position when a laptop is shut, which then raises/levitates the keys up to a normal travel height when the lid is lifted and the keyboard powered up...or is that the whole idea of this in the first place?

[Corky34]

How much of the batteries would something like this drain ? isn't powering 100+ electromagnets going to chew into the run time from each charge.

[shaithis]

I would love to see an Android phone with a slide out keyboard with this.

Check out the Tactus keyboard..IMO, the future of keyboards in a touchscreen world.

[Brian224]

How much of the batteries would something like this drain ? isn't powering 100+ electromagnets going to chew into the run time from each charge.

I suppose they could use permanent magnets and only use coils to adjust the force or to give tactile feedback only on the key you pressed. I wonder if they plan to use Hall-effect transducers to measure the change in magnetic field strength as each key is pressed?

[MrRockliffe]

The keyboard on the MBPr is rubbish, and so are MX Blues. I can't touch type on either. Best keyboard I've used is on a HP G62. Even the older MBP keyboards were better. I'm fine sacrificing a few mm for a better, no, much better typing experience.

[Xlucine]

I guess you won't be using a spinning rust disk on a superthin laptop anyway, so you might get away with magnets next to your machine

[Spiralking]

I wonder if it would be possible to have an ultra-ultra-thin maglev keyboard with keys in the 'down' position when a laptop is shut, which then raises/levitates the keys up to a normal travel height when the lid is lifted and the keyboard powered up...or is that the whole idea of this in the first place?

Excellent idea... I love low profile keys - I want a laptop style keyboard for main computer as i can type faster... hopefully they keys will have some 'clickyness' to them.

[CompanionCube]

ooohhh, i love slim keyboards, and fancy new tech.
also if the keys do stop levitating when shut down, than that means they could do fancy power-on keyboard animations

[eugenius]

This product is stupid because thin keyboards with no travel are stupid.

But the technology has merit. Imagine a keyboard with a custom tactile feedback curve.

[Ttaskmaster]

I would love to see an Android phone with a slide out keyboard with this.

What's wrong with the HTC Desire Z?
I'm stuck using Andy 2.3 because this was the last decent phone with a proper keyboard!!