Anchorage, Alaska-based gScreen has formally detailed the launch for the Spacebook 17, a laptop that sports two 17-inch HD backlit LCD screens. When closed, the two rest sit behind each other. When the laptop is opened, they slide out and sit beside each other to provide a much wider display.
The company, citing research from Microsoft, claims that using dual screens can increase productivity by up to 50 percent. The research, conducted in 2003 by Microsoft’s Visualization and Interaction for Business and Entertainment group, nonetheless obtained the results using three projected images, not the dual-screen setup on tap.
The SpaceBook is available in three versions and in either a gloss or matte finish. All have a magnesium alloy lid frame, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M graphics, HDMI out, and a 500GB hard drive. The baseline incorporates a 2.66 Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM. A second model replaces the i5 with a dual Core i7 2.66GHz processor. The high-end model substitutes a quad Core i7 1.73GHz chip and ups the RAM to 8GB.
The i5 is priced at $1,899. Opting for the dual i7 version pushes it to $1,999, and the quad-core model is priced at $2,099. gScreen is taking deposits from $695 to $795 and will be shipping in 90 to 100 days, aiming for November.
