Your computer inside a keyboard? Yes, Apple wants to make that future happen

How small can a computer be? Your slim and svelte smartphone has way more power than the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the Moon. However, how about the power of your work computer crammed into a very small form factor; the size of a keyboard? Apparently, Apple is working on one such concept, as revealed by one of the newer patents it has filed. The patent talks about a regular Mac like computer fitting inside an Apple Magic keyboard. There’s even talk of an integrated trackpad within!

Based on a report from Patently Apple, a new patent has been published by the United Stated Patent and Trademark Office which Apple filed in August 2020. The technology involved here is essentially a small portable keyboard that houses a proper computer inside. This is similar to the Mac Mini that Apple sells, but instead of the computer bits sitting a small box, the entire computer sits inside a keyboard.

Apple Mac in a Magic keyboard!

Obviously, like the Mac Mini, this keyboard PC won’t have a display attached to it. It will, however, have an I/O port that will help you connect displays to the keyboard. The patent shows the Magic Keyboard sized devices holding all crucial bits such as the processor, memory, batteries, and other important bits.

While this seems like a far-fetched idea, the current technology makes it possible for a device like this to happen. With the new Apple Silicon chips, Apple has managed to reduce the bulk in its Mac computers. The current MacBook Air M1 does not even need fans despite holding enough power to do proper computing stuff.

The Apple patent does not confirm whether Apple is going to build such a kind of device in the future. However, with a patent in hand, there is always a possibility. Maybe the Mac Mini could evolve into something like this, where your keyboard is all the computer and you only need to connect it to a display, or pair it with a mouse.

While this concept is still a distant dream, Apple is expected to announce a brand new Mac at the rumoured March event where it is also supposed to unveil the iPhone SE 3 and a new iPad Air. Rumours suggest it could be the new MacBook Pro 13-inch with Apple’s next generation M2 chipset.