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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Get a Grip: Apple Patents Laptop Handle

Apple was granted a recent patent, no. 7,508,662, for a handle arrangement with integrated heat pipe.

Here’s how it’s summed up in the patent application: “As portable electronic device designs become more compact, managing thermal loads in integrated circuits (e.g. processing units) becomes more challenging.

One reason for this challenge is that high powered portable devices can generate significant amounts of waste heat energy over a relatively compact area. As such, damage due to heat cycling may cause collateral damage to components in close proximity to heat generators. In conventional solutions, fans may be utilized in coordination with a heat sink to dissipate generated waste heat. In some examples, where fans are utilized to cool components, battery life may be significantly lowered.

“Although conventional methods as illustrated may be effective, as noted above, power requirements for fan usage may, in some instances significantly reduce battery life making such a solution somewhat undesirable. Furthermore, use of a fan may, in some examples, contribute to an undesirable increase in noise level. Therefore, handle arrangements with an integrated heat pipe are presented herein.”

The  iBook G3 Clamshell had a handle (removed on later models),  a quick search turned up third-party handles for newer models, too, though at about $45 you might be better off with a case.

Have you bought handles? Would you like to see them on your next laptop?

via macsimum news

About the author

nicole_martinelli

Nicole Martinelli was born in San Francisco and has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. Cultish tendencies and love for DIY increased while living on the Old Continent, where tech came late and cost more in Big Mac index terms. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek, and since 1999 on her site, Zoomata. If you're so inclined, friend her on Facebook or connect on Linked in.

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3 comments

    The Mac Portable had a handle, predating the clamshell iBook by about a decade. And before that, early Zenith laptops had handles, starting with the Z-180 (circa 1987).

    I’ve seen a few handles on laptops but don’t really prefer them as I have always used a carrying case with a shoulder strap. However looking at this my concern would be if this looks to be integrated into the bottom and would “swing” open. I would imagine it could be rather warm or even hot to the touch after using your laptop for some time. Especially if it were made from aluminum.

    I would have to reserve judgement on it’s final design, handles usually don’t mess real well with terms like “thin unibody sleek design”. Then again it is Apple, so you just never know :)

    There’s another handle on the market for all kinds of laptops. The ToteGrip handle fits around the hinges of just about any laptop. Very comfortable and convenient. The ToteGrip has nothing to do with heat sinking though :-(

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