Apple patent suggests notebook docking station

It's a patent application, so it had to be left deliberately vague. If they pat all the specific details in a single patent application, any one change from that 'system' would be different, and would circumvent the patent. So... they go with badly drawn, napkin-esque diagrams, and don't reveal issues about suiting different sizes of computer.

What I want to know is how much the display component costs in the iMac, because thats (plus 30% or something) is probably what we would be paying extra for the dock.

Otherwise, this thing would be freaking beautiful, I would definitely buy one. All it needs is capabilities to charge the MacBook (MacTouch, PowerBook, etc.), and a few ports at the back which also connect at to the laptop:

-Data transfer for external HD (USB, FireWire 400/800)
-Keyboard & Mouse (again, probably USB)
-Ethernet port, a little faster maybe... why not?
-Audio out/in
-External display port I guess, not very many people would use this, but again, why not?

P.S, Also:

-Time machine support, only syncs when connected.
-Blu-ray? BTO would be better, not everybody uses BR yet. (Also depends on if the laptop already has DVD/CD.)
-Automatic battery-mode, just for when the power goes out.
-External graphics support, but maybe that's too expensive.

I'm pretty sure this is just apple trying to divert the rumor-mill's attention. I don't think anyone in their right mind would buy a shell like that when they can just plug a monitor right into their macbook. And what about the different sized notebooks? Would apple really manufacture different shells for all the different sizes? That would be absurdly expensive from a manufacturing standpoint and just doesn't make sense considering apple's simple product lines.

Liquid-cooled telephonic handset? Right...

Here's my prediction:
The new ultra-portable (MacBook nano?) will have no optical drive, and a small flashed based HD. It'll be a 10-12" screen, and 1/2-3/4" thin. You slide this into your 20" dock (MacBook duo?) and there's an optical (Blu-ray?) and hard drive built into the dock! One power cord, wireless keyboard/mouse... BOOM. Great little laptop, awesome desktop. Price will be somewhere between $1799 and $1999 if they want to target everyone.

I was actually thinking about this over the Christmas holiday when I was installing some RAM in my mom's iMac. I unscrewed the back panel on the iMac (G5 model) and obviously the "chin" came off too, so I was like "they should just slim this sucker up, add a battery, add an easier to detach "chin," and there ya go, instant iMac tablet."

I guess great minds think alike, eh Apple?

I think it is more of a tablet type of mac being able to be docked into an imac housing which then would be hooked up to keyboard/mouse/external devices etc. - thus the screen is actually the tablet mac.

what if the screen on the iMac was actually a larger touch sensitive screen and a smaller touch-screen tablet is popped in. The iMac could have all the socketry we expect on a laptop that may be missing from the new uber-tablet....

I can't see someone paying for, essentially, an iMac shell. Having the laptop's screen unusable while its in the shell is dorky.

It'd be cool if the dock screen had a way of attaching yet another external screen.

Maybe an integrated Matrox DualHead2Go Digital.

Hot and...hot! I would imagine they'd want to drop this at the same time as the ultra-portable, which would be killer. Why doe s my job not pay more?