LXR - Why a screenless laptop?

Let's step back and talk a little bit.

Greetings, INNOvators!

This week, we wanted to take a little break from these design iterations and step back to talk a little about LXR.

Among the various feedback we had on the project, there have often been questions about the display.

Why doesn't LXR have a screen?

Well… We simply assume that we already have enough around us.

Whether it's our TV(s), our monitor(s), our phone(s), most of us already have plenty of ready-to-use display solutions.

Furthermore, on laptops, screens are often the most expensive and fragile part, and no matter what we do, it's never large enough. Even when we are working with a traditional laptop (about 67% of daily internet users, which represent 5Billion people), we often plugin an external monitor.

So why not removing this expensive part, and let people use the display solution that they prefer? So that we can focus on building a powerful yet compact & affordable computing solution?

You can see this choice a as a part of our Modular Design strategy.

With LXR, screen is contextual. Screen is an interchangeable module.

A module that you potentially already have, and thus don’t have to pay for it.

Why focusing on AR Glasses?

Since the inception of LXR, we often talk about the '“AR Laptop for Productivity”.

Of course, you're free to plug in any USB-C display, but we think it's really with the possibilities offered by head mounted displays that LXR really comes into its own.

Display is today a very important part of the nowadays Laptop Dilemma.

In short, we all want a large screen to work, create or play in comfort, but nobody want a large/heavy format to carry around.

We guess you already heard about spatial computing, right?

Recent technological advances in Augmented Reality solutions, coupled with the fact that they are becoming increasingly affordable, make them serious candidates for the display solutions of the future - to finally solve the dilemma.

Why not mentioning Virtual Reality solutions?

At that stage, we think VR headset are more expensive, bulkier to wear during long sessions, and (for the moment) not something you’ll wear in a public space.

Would you dare to work more in public with an AR solution that looks like cool sunglasses, rather than a headset that could make you “look weird” in a terrace café?

AR Glasses are more affordable and more adapted to a productivity use-case.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the choice is yours.

AR Glasses are just one of a myriad of possibilities. We use it on a daily basis as our go-to solution when we want to work or immerse ourselves in an audiovisual experience, but we can absolutely remove them to plug LXR into a screen if we're collaborating, or onto a TV to showcase content.

That's LXR's strength. A ready-to-use, powerful yet compact computer, made accessible and versatile by removing its screen.

To illustrate our purpose, here is the 7th episode of Beyond The Hinge, our video series deconstructing laptops.

Discover all the episodes here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGyftmonDWDhHU_ja_c8SGeRv-_c0_vzy&si=IP9NcCA0h_rIOJAH

In our next Devlog post, we’ll deep dive into the AR solutions available on the market, trying to analyse their strengths & flaws.

Participants’ corner

Depending on the use you may plan with your LXR (work, study, creation, content consumption, gaming):

Don’t hesitate to share with us within the comments section!

As always, any contribution is warmly welcome.