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People keep posting these variations of "use case", "what problem does this solve", etc but the answer to all such confusion(?) is simple: more screen is places to see more/do more/get more done. Try switching from an expansive desktop or laptop screen with something like a Pages file TO an iPhone screen and carry on your work with the same Pages file. You should immediately feel "cramped" and less productive. As screens shrink, there has to be more scrolling/flipping or similar vs. doing the same on a bigger screen. Larger screens are bigger canvases on which to do/see/watch/work.

All these efforts in various forms- fold/roll/projector/virtual-spatial- are all trying to deliver a MOBILE screen(s) without having to fatten up a physical form too much and/or add lots of weight. Here's a rumor of an 18"-20" MB. It's likely going to be HEAVIER than any other MB and obviously it's going to be bigger/thicker... for only a few more inches of screen. There will probably NEVER be a 27" MB or a 34" or a 40" or an 80". Why? Because in physical forms, the "mobile" part gets onerous with too much size or weight. A desire for "even bigger" is always there... but the difficult problem is how to deliver it AND retain the easy mobility.

So everyone is experimenting with fold/roll/projector/virtual in search of a way to give a market that wants greater MOBILE productivity a way to have their "big screen" cake and eat it too.

On a personal note: I had a little window of time where my main workhorse- iMac 27"- finally conked, so I had to step down to 16" MB to keep my work train rolling. That was relatively miserable, as the productivity drop from that loss of screen space was very noticeable. It's one thing to roll with a laptop for temporary travel situations. It's another when one accustomed to a bigger screen is trying to use it daily as main machine. Since I was going separates, I ordered my replacement monitor while waiting on a BTO desktop Mac Studio to arrive. The monitor is a 40" ultra-wide ('https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-ultrasharp-40-curved-thunderbolt-hub-monitor-u4025qw/apd/210-bmdp/monitors-monitor-accessories'). Why did I choose that? Much more screen R.E. is space to see/do/watch more. Once I could hook the "temp" MB to that screen, productivity spiked again.

In that moment, I gained tremendous appreciation for even the ONE SINGLE USE (virtual screen of any size) in a product like Vpro. One little bundle of tech could let me bring an even bigger screen on the road and have it available anywhere I want to do laptop things... even in cramped airline seats while flying. This "smaller" 40" ultra-wide would not be able to hit the road nearly as easily.

Now I could NEVER go back to an iMac 27", 30", 32" 16:10/16:9 screen even if Apple offered to give me one. So- for me anyway- it's very easy to see why companies are experimenting with folds/rolls/projector/virtual screen computing tech. And anyone asking why can easily answer their own question by trying to work on any productive task starting on a bigger screen and then switching to a small one and seeing their own productivity drop.

While I think the virtual screen approach is probably the very best way to go here (as that option is always the same fixed weight & size for ANY size screen), it's good to see companies experimenting in search of other ways to deliver more screen R.E. too, for those who prefer physical forms even if they come with added size & weight. Bring it all on!

The phone looks like a Google Pixel

People keep posting these variations of "use case", "what problem does this solve", etc but the answer to all such confusion(?) is simple: more screen is places to see more/do more/get more done. Try switching from an expansive desktop or laptop screen with something like a Pages file TO an iPhone screen and carry on your work with the same Pages file. You should immediately feel "cramped" and less productive. As screens shrink, there has to be more scrolling/flipping or similar vs. doing the same on a bigger screen. Larger screens are bigger canvases on which to do/see/watch/work.

All these efforts in various forms- fold/roll/projector/virtual-spatial- are all trying to deliver a MOBILE screen(s) without having to fatten up a physical form too much and/or add lots of weight. Here's a rumor of an 18"-20" MB. It's likely going to be HEAVIER than any other MB and obviously it's going to be bigger/thicker... for only a few more inches of screen. There will probably NEVER be a 27" MB or a 34" or a 40" or an 80". Why? Because in physical forms, the "mobile" part gets onerous with too much size or weight. A desire for "even bigger" is always there... but the difficult problem is how to deliver it AND retain the easy mobility.

So everyone is experimenting with fold/roll/projector/virtual in search of a way to give a market that wants greater MOBILE productivity a way to have their "big screen" cake and eat it too.

On a personal note: I had a little window of time where my main workhorse- iMac 27"- finally conked, so I had to step down to 16" MB to keep my work train rolling. That was relatively miserable, as the productivity drop from that loss of screen space was very noticeable. It's one thing to roll with a laptop for temporary travel situations. It's another when one accustomed to a bigger screen is trying to use it daily as main machine. Since I was going separates, I ordered my replacement monitor while waiting on a BTO desktop Mac Studio to arrive. The monitor is a 40" ultra-wide ('https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-ultrasharp-40-curved-thunderbolt-hub-monitor-u4025qw/apd/210-bmdp/monitors-monitor-accessories'). Why did I choose that? Much more screen R.E. is space to see/do/watch more. Once I could hook the "temp" MB to that screen, productivity spiked again.

In that moment, I gained tremendous appreciation for even the ONE SINGLE USE (virtual screen of any size) in a product like Vpro. One little bundle of tech could let me bring an even bigger screen on the road and have it available anywhere I want to do laptop things... even in cramped airline seats while flying. This "smaller" 40" ultra-wide would not be able to hit the road nearly as easily.

Now I could NEVER go back to an iMac 27", 30", 32" 16:10/16:9 screen even if Apple offered to give me one. So- for me anyway- it's very easy to see why companies are experimenting with folds/rolls/projector/virtual screen computing tech. And anyone asking why can easily answer their own question by trying to work on any productive task starting on a bigger screen and then switching to a small one and seeing their own productivity drop.

While I think the virtual screen approach is probably the very best way to go here (as that option is always the same fixed weight & size for ANY size screen), it's good to see companies experimenting in search of other ways to deliver more screen R.E. too, for those who prefer physical forms even if they come with added size & weight. Bring it all on!

This is spot on. Using my 16mbp without external displays feels so limiting and is something just for on the go usage. For a time I used my 16"mb with a 27" external display and have since switched to 2 external displays as the 16" felt so limiting.

The "foldable screen" MacBook is one of those things where I'm not sure if I should be excited for it or just mystified at why this is a thing. 😅