The Grid Compass

The design of the notebook has changed little since its inception over twenty years ago. Arguably the first laptop, the Grid Compass which was designed in 1979, shares many similarities with the notebooks of today. Both systems feature fold-down screens which hide and protect the keyboard and system. Both systems can be used on a lap but prefer to be parked on a desk. Both systems even feature batteries for mobile use. The design of the modern laptop is certainly proven, but is it best?

This question has been debated for almost as long as the laptop has been around. Occasionally, companies have tried to tweak, modify, and sometimes even drastically change the concept of how a notebook should be built. As the market today shows, the vast majority of these design changes have been met with little success. Store shelves still find themselves stocked with Compass-esque looking laptops.

A startup company based in Taiwan hopes to change this by forcing us to rethink the concept of a notebook. Going by the name of PaceBlade, their solution, the PaceBook, is touted as a 3-in-1 computer. As a result of a radical new design, the PaceBook is able to act as a notebook, LCD desktop, and tablet PC all in one. PaceBlade is hoping to succeed where others have failed. Will the PaceBook design take off and become the design of the future? Let's take an in-depth look at what could be the next generation of laptops and see if the PaceBook has the goods necessary to survive in the cutthroat portable computer market.