By Emmanuel Adeleke
Don’t buy that new laptop yet.
Rolltop, an all-in-one foldable laptop, tablet and multimedia screen, which is here as a game changer, might offer better value for your money and launch you into the new tech life.
The introduction of Rolltop, a flexible notebook that can be folded like a roll of paper has made it easy for users to move around with their gadget and work anywhere, making a laptop an obsolete gadget.
A German tech company, Orkin Design, had in 2009 conceptualised the Rolltop, a laptop that will come with a screen so flexible that it can actually be rolled into a sort of scroll.
The tech company said that it will use flexible Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) and touchscreen technologies to create a cylinder-shaped laptop. The lower part of the screen is used as a keyboard while the upper part becomes a 13-inch display. It can also be rolled into a tablet, or expanded to a full 17-inch monitor with a pull-out support at the back attached to the device.
The top of the cylinder is a detachable power plug. There will be a carry strap that you can use to sling the Rolltop from your shoulders that will double up as a power cord. The cylinder will also contain connectivity ports like USB ports and LAN ports along with speakers. When the Rolltop is not being used, the screen rolls up into an 11-inch tube. A catch-lock will be incorporated into the top of the cylinder to fasten the roll to itself.
After unlocking the catch, the user would roll out the Rolltop display like a mat. A stylus pen has been incorporated into the body of the panel. When rolled up, Rolltop will be 11 inches (28 cm) long and have a 3.26-inch (8.3-cm) diameter.
Orkin had disclosed that they weren’t sure of making Rolltop into a product initially, but the kind of response their concept received made them move ahead with it.
Rolltop gives users ultimate convenience of carrying and storing it even in a congested place. It features a 17” flat-screen OLED display when fully rolled out with the multi-touch facility that will offer the ease and functionality of that of an iPhone.
Also, when required, it can be folded into a 13” smart tablet pc. Aside from the touch-screen controlling, it features full fledged keyboard like conventional notebooks with which convenient typing can be performed. When folded, this compact notebook takes the size of a water carrier and can easily be hanged over the shoulder with a hanging belt.
Rolltop laptops are not a common type of laptop and are not widely available in the market. They are a concept design that has been proposed by various companies but has not yet been produced as a mass-market product.
With the advent of Rolltop, the world is likely to say goodbye to the days of laptops filling up the entire bag with numerous cables for different components.
