E Ink has developed a brand new touchpad for laptops that includes the identical digital paper expertise present in e-readers. It’s not the primary firm to take a look at the ever-growing measurement of laptop computer touchpads and see the potential of extra performance, however as a substitute of serving as a second smaller display screen for the pc’s OS, E Ink is positioning its touchpad as a devoted dwelling for AI functions and assistants.
A mockup picture shared by the corporate encompasses a laptop computer with a touchpad upgraded with a shade E Ink display screen just like what’s in use by units just like the Amazon Kindle Colorsoft. As a substitute of it being an extension of a laptop computer’s principal display screen, E Ink envisions its new touchpad as being a separate place the place AI-generated textual content summaries might seem beneath your arms whereas engaged on a doc, or you possibly can keep a continuing dialog with an AI chatbot with out having to juggle desktop home windows.
E Ink’s show expertise solely consumes energy when it’s being up to date. That’s an enormous profit given the upper calls for of AI instruments on a laptop computer’s battery life.
Just like Apple’s now discontinued Contact Bar, E Ink additionally says the touchpad show might present fast entry to steadily used shortcuts, show notifications or the climate, or present momentary playback controls with out having to sacrifice a laptop computer keyboard’s row of operate keys. It might additionally assist scale back battery anxiousness, as a result of in contrast to LCD or OLED panels, E Ink’s show expertise solely consumes energy when it’s being up to date. That’s an enormous profit given the upper calls for of AI instruments on a laptop computer’s battery life.
What’s not at present recognized are extra in-depth technical specs. Apart from the touchpad probably utilizing shade e-paper shows, E Ink hasn’t revealed if it’ll adapt considered one of its present panels, or if it’s developed a wholly new one with elevated resolutions. As we speak’s announcement particularly references compatibility with Intel-based AI PCs, however E Ink didn’t go into particulars about whether or not the touchpad show can be powered by a laptop computer’s major OS, or if it could characteristic its personal. The corporate additionally didn’t present a timeline for when these touchpads may begin exhibiting up in laptops or which {hardware} makers could also be .
