To reduce the thickness of its MacBooks, Apple has filed a patent describing a retractable keyboard.
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently granted Apple a patent. Noticed by the Patently Apple site , which tracks all the patents registered by the brand, it describes a system allowing the keyboard to be retracted when the computer is closed . With this process, the thickness of the chassis can be reduced by a few millimeters.
It must be said that whatever the manufacturer, the smoothness of laptops remains one of the priorities and all means are good to achieve it. And precisely for Apple, with the arrival of MacBook with an ARM processor architecture whose dimensions reduce the size of the motherboard, the addition of this process should further reduce the thickness of the brand’s computers. The patent describes a keyboard which sinks into the chassis when the screen is folded. These are the hinges of it which act on a magnetic system which comes to raise or lower the keyboard.
ARM and retractable keyboard for more finesse
This is not the first time that Apple has been looking for a process to further reduce the thickness of its laptops. So, five years ago, the brand had released its butterfly keyboard . With fine touches with very little stroke, it nevertheless encountered many problems , forcing the brand to backtrack for a little over a year. The smoothness of MacBook has not been affected, since the thickness of the keys and their short stroke have been maintained.
With this new process, it would indeed be possible for Apple to reduce the thickness a little, while knowing that it still needs space to accommodate this keyboard . As always, the approval of this patent by the USPTO does not mean that the brand will integrate the technology soon in its new models.