Imagine you need to access your laptop and one of your hands can be full. You may be holding a mobile phone (well better use an earphone), a drink, carrying something, or worse, you may be disabled…
One important aspect of portable computers are the way their lid could be open.
It is also important that you do not want the lid got open in your bag or while carrying.
There are various lid latch implementations available in the market:
Slider on Lid
Dell Latitude D630
Dell Latitude E6420
Slider on Base:
Lenovo ThinkPad T430
This method always requires two hands to be free
Button on Lid
Button on lid  was attempted in the past but not being implemented anymore. Since the lids are getting thinner, there is not much space for pushbutton mechanism. It is not really reliable too.
Button on Base
Dell Latitude E6400
Dell Latitude E6410
This technique requires the use of both of the hands most of the time.
Double Slider
This was attempted in the past but not being implemented anymore. Although it was the safest way to keep the lid closed, it required two hands and some extra skill 🙂
No Latch
An example is Medion, another one is Fujitsu LIFEBOOK:
This method is the most comfortable for the users but still has potential issues.
Another factor for easy lid opening is the weight difference between the lid and the base. This is not significant alone as the tightness of the lid joint should be adjusted accordingly.
The easiness of the lid opening is also important for physically challenged users having problems with hands, arms. I had a fairly good idea about that when I broke my right hand more than a year ago. Having a lightweight and ergonomic device is much more crucial in those cases. There, Ultrabooks present the best option there as they are lighter.
Tests
I have done tests to open the lid of a Dell Latitude E6410 and a Medion laptop computer using only one hand. I have got interesting results.
Later, I did the same test over and over again with Fujitsu LIFEBOOK UH572:
It is just amazing that I never had those problems of not being able to lift up, the base also coming up or the device sliding on the table…
P.S. Thanks to Eren from work for triggering the idea of this blog post.
