Ever fantasized having a MacBook with touch-screen functionality, but Apple's adamancy against it has forced you to either use its premium laptops without touch screen or switch to an alternative model. What if we told you that you can turn any laptop, including your MacBooks, into a touch screen one with this simple trick?
It's quite simple really. Neonode's AirBar is a magnetic laptop accessory that sits at the bottom of your laptop's display and tracks hand and finger movements and gestures to replicate touch screen capabilities. While the AirBar for Apple laptops is available for pre-orders only for MacBook Air model, Windows 10 laptop users can largely take advantage of this plug-and-touch solution immediately.
Neonode's AirBar is available for laptops with three screen sizes – 13.3-inch, 14-inch and 15.6-inch – and works seamlessly to recognise touch with a finger, glove, paintbrush, stylus and more. Users can perform various gestures, such as tap, swipe, pinch, zoom and rotate, on a non-touch laptop with AirBar attached to it.
Regardless of what laptop brand you are using, as long as it has one of the three screen sizes and runs Windows 10, you're good to go. AirBar also made its debut in India, listing three variants of the plug-and-touch accessory exclusively on Amazon India.
Neonode AirBar 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch, which are pretty standard laptop screen sizes, are priced at Rs. 4,999 each. If you own a 14-inch notebook, Neonode has you covered with its AirBar 14-inch touch-screen enabler, priced at Rs. 5,988.
AirBar is called a plug-and-touch solution for laptops for a reason. The magnetic bar attaches to the bottom of your laptop screen, and a USB wire connects to your laptop's port. Once setup, the charged bar will start emitting invisible light to track movements and gestures and translates them into corresponding units. For end users, it looks like you're using a touch-screen laptop.
As cool as it all seems, Neonode AirBar has its own challenges. It is not of much use in laptops where there is little or no room at the bottom of the display. Users must also remember to remove the AirBar before closing the laptop, or risk damaging both devices.
