Future or reality: a Mac and a keyboard in one
Apple is working on the future and comes with a Mac and keyboard in one device.
The Mac mini is a mini PC with a compact design and impressive features. This gets even better when Apple’s Magic Keyboard is integrated into it. Steve Jobs made a big point that the tiny Mac mini was a BYODKM, aka Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard and Mouse. Now it seems Apple is aiming to reduce that even further, to when you only need to bring your own screen.
Mac and keyboard
Apple recently filed a patent to do this. This request shows a “Computer in an input device”. The patent application is for a full Mac the size of a keyboard. And would also be a keyboard. It would be bigger than a current Apple Magic Keyboard, but maybe not by that much. The device would be a bit thicker.
“Strong demand for portable computing devices that also deliver high performance,” says the patent application, “has led to miniaturization and downsizing of the once bulky computing components used to power and drive the devices.”
Application
Therefore, Apple states that “further fine-tuning of case designs, shapes and configurations to provide additional or enhanced device functionality” is possible and desirable. This is roughly the scope of the application. A notable reference is to making such a device even more portable. For example, Apple says the “computing device can be folded around an axis”.
This device configuration allows a user to carry a single computing device, Apple says, “that can provide a desktop computing experience in any location with one or more computer monitors.”
