Microsoft is still spilling small details of the design of the Surface Pro ultraportables, and there’s also a new patent that shows the commitment they have with a redesigned mechanism that keeps the kickstand in place.
The patent was published in February, and it also comes with a catchy title: ‘Friction hinge with clutch-based resistance’. It shows a hinge that comes with different levels of resistance; it really depends if it’s opened or closed.
In the patent, friction hinges with lower or low closing are described. The friction hinges may come with different opening and closing resistance levels. The one that would allow the hinge to be closed with a lower amount of torque than would be open is the lower closing resistance level.
We expect the next Surface Pro, which will probably be Surface Pro 7, to be the same when it comes to the “bite” that’s opening wider than actually needed, we need it to be “stiff”. Closing the current Surface Pro machines will need the same amount of force.
Sometime in the future, this design will mean a lighter touch, a better user experience and hardware that’s better suited to portability.
The design of Surface Pro is quite practical
If there’s a patent, it doesn’t mean that it will automatically be fitted in the production models, but the design is quite practical, and it will bring its users a lot of joy when it comes to the Surface Pro.
The designs of this device have added many marginal gains in the last few years. Being so many, Microsoft has captured the cutting-edge design from Apple’s team that worked on Mac. The changes that came for the MacBook are those with the removal of the physical function buttons, no more magsafe charging cables and the butterfly keyboard.
Tim M. Hill helped bring Digital-Overload from a weekly newsletter to a full-fledged news site by creating a new website and branding. He continues to assist in keeping the site responsive and well organized for the readers. As a writer to Digital-Overload, Tim mainly covers mobile news and gadgets.
