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By AaronBurns
#11105
I think it is about time to stop making our electronics in stiff plastic. We could make all the components fit in the right places and make our casings see-through and flexible for futuristic and multi-use and multi-purpose reasons. The main reason would simply be to be able to bend them in half to fit in a backpack.

Reward: A new computer of this type - make that one of the first hundred off the line!
By thatpersonthatiam
#12743
a rating of <50%. come on. this idea has merit. especially with all the research into intelligent polymers and OLED visual systems. it's a decent idea and definitely deserves more research.
By AaronBurns
#12746
That's what my research came up with and we need not have a single piece of metal within the structures of plastics since, we also have options for high speed Fiber Optics taking place inside the device of the wires and the drives and batteries that could all be engineered to the vast array of plastics and have all DVD, CD's, and CD-ROMS all be read by a laser either passing too a dip of clear plastics and read the same as a slightly altered version of the media provided we cover the back with light obsorbing plastic and that way a make duplicate forms of all the media transposed directly onto the opposite side of the laser that passes directly through the discs.
By the way, you are an excellent person for contributing to this project.
Also, this type of device would be totally water proof and usable under water!
I want a clear PC, HP, Triple Celeron, 100 Gig Hard Drive and with a slight tint of ske, blue. Oh, did I mention I wanted it to be a laptop WiFi from Moterla and RW-DVD Player with a Plasma screen!
By NickH
#13090
Wouldn't work.
Circutry could not be flexible and must keep a consistant speed and shape.
Drives could not be made flexible. Magnets in the hard drive would have to remain in a constant spot, it would be impossible to automate with precision on a flexible hard drive.
It would not allow any media drives, you would have to redesign the cd and dvd.
Would not allow for any inputs.
No USB connections, as they require properly sized, non-changing bays.
more than likely any flexible plastic would get too hot with the circuitry causing fires or just melting.
If you bent a fan or you touched the heatsink to the plastic your computer would fry.
there would be absolutely no way to make a flexible monitor, unless it was very very poor quality.
the way in which the circuitry is designed would not function as it was supposed to ( the north bridge could touch the south bridge ).
performance would be abnormally slow.
risk of permanent bends.

plus they already have computers for bookbags - laptops... they bend!
By aena
#13101
The closest thing I can think of now that exists is the flexible or rollable LCD.
By Regtracker
#13477
Only thing i could see coming close would be "bio-chemical tech" but that is years away and cost prohibitive.Sad that tech is made to break(not bend) and be replaced(disposable) and metted out piecemeal for (sustainable profit margins) and not for the betterment of progress.
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By swimmer
#13487
The idea is totaly possible . some parts like the hard drive could be left unflexible , for the safety of the data .
And in few years you will have a 100Gb sd card , so it will replace the hardisk ... for the fan , it cam be replaced by likid nitrogen cooler , wich only requires a hard ( not flexible ) miniature pump .
By L.Malone
#14441
It looks like this is another example of multiple inventions required to solve one main problem.
First, shorting would be a problem, but could be overcome with special insulating (flexible) fabrics.
Second, overheating could be overcome by using highly efficient chips that do not generate the kind of heat todays chips do. Finally there are people today making wearable computers using conductive and non conductive threads sewn together to form circuits. If these threads could be miniaturized say down to the molecular level then completely flexible computers could become reality.

Also I was reading an article about nanotubes being used in logic gates the other day. If this could be done practically then I believe that everything from flash memory (the obvious replacement for hard drives) to flexible screens could be created and folded up without any damage. Just don't drop them in the paper shredder! :-b

If computer networks become advanced enough then most items like hard drives and optical drives (CD/DVD's) would not be required as they could have access to these items by locating them and accessing via a server on a network, much in the same way that the small computers you sometimes see in librarys that essentially keep all software and hardware on the server and access it via a network connection.

Looks like you have a great idea, that will no doubt become reality someday!
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By Michael D. Grissom
#14443
Like Swimmer and Malone stated, nano technology will change everything.

In about 5 years nano will create t*byte cpu chips hidden in glasses that sub as translucent display screens with invisible keyboards beneath and following your fingertips or speech recognition. All but the nano chips have already been accomplished and are available to buy. Nothing will need to be folded.

After this lasers will send the images directly into your eye --> also already done (USAF 2006). After that nano technology will put everything in a contact lens powered by the heat from your eye with audio blue toothed (or the like) to your ears.

The near future is going to be absolutely NANOMAZING!!!
By tamnan
#20378
NickH is right if the magnets got too close to the drive-as it definitly would-it would wipe the computer clean.
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