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What would you think about screw holes in the back?

Piggie

Piggie

macrumors G3
Original poster
Feb 23, 2010
9,213
4,219
Just a thought.

Might it have been a good/interesting idea, and opened up a whole host of mounting possibilities if Apple had fitted threaded holes in the back of the iPad?

Like the standard hole fitted in the bottom of almost every camera for years.

Perhaps 4 of them, just small about 1" or so in from the corners.

Flush with the aluminium so nothing sticking out.

We could have car mounts, wall mounts, hand straps, even things like Angle Poise stands, all using these standard fixing points set in the aluminium back.

Just a thought :)
 
The more likely scenario is that someone will build a brackety, clampy thing that holds your iPad and then offers some sort of universal mount on the back. Zcott is absolutely right -- Jobs would never go for it, even if it made sense (e.g., USB port on iPad), because it fouls his notions of simplicity.
 
Piggie said:
Just a thought.

Might it have been a good/interesting idea, and opened up a whole host of mounting possibilities if Apple had fitted threaded holes in the back of the iPad?

Like the standard hole fitted in the bottom of almost every camera for years.

Perhaps 4 of them, just small about 1" or so in from the corners.

Flush with the aluminium so nothing sticking out.

We could have car mounts, wall mounts, hand straps, even things like Angle Poise stands, all using these standard fixing points set in the aluminium back.

Just a thought :)
Click to expand...
Horrible idea!
 
Pointless, just build a case with a suitable mount point for whatever you want to do with it. The 'standard fitting points' are redundant when the iPad is itself a standard size and everything can be built around that.
 
Interested to see the views so far (though not surprised) ;)

I agree, the initial reaction I can understand to "Do you want 4 screw holes in the back of an iPad" would be horror. :eek:

But I don't think (in reality) it would be as horrific as many would initially think.

You would only need to use 4mm screw holes (which actually mean the hole is really 3mm across) so very tiny really, and there could be official Stainless Steel/Titanium/Aluminium blanking screws so they would almost disappear and be totally smooth when you run your hand over the back.

I still do think (even if no-one else does) :) That it would be cool to have a whole range of mounting options, stands, brackets etc etc that would fix to these standard mounting points without any need for ugly (in my opinion) cases that have to wrap around the sides and the front (or the 4 corners) as that's the only current way to hold an iPad onto anything.

I just feel it would be almost unnoticeable if done well, and open up a whole range of possibilities. As long as (as I say) its done properly.

But I may be the only person to think this..... :D
 
Piggie said:
Just a thought.

Might it have been a good/interesting idea, and opened up a whole host of mounting possibilities if Apple had fitted threaded holes in the back of the iPad?

Like the standard hole fitted in the bottom of almost every camera for years.

Perhaps 4 of them, just small about 1" or so in from the corners.

Flush with the aluminium so nothing sticking out.

We could have car mounts, wall mounts, hand straps, even things like Angle Poise stands, all using these standard fixing points set in the aluminium back.

Just a thought :)
Click to expand...

You can see the effort Apple has put in to try not to put screws in the iPad. There isn't a screw on it, let alone a hole, unlike even the iPhone.

It's a nice idea but in practise might look a bit weird.
 
While I agree the wholes would be useful and could be plugged with dummy screws to be barely noticeable, it isn't really even about S.Jobs.

Design when attempting to be ALL Inclusive gets very messy and introduces confusion and break points.

The solution, for the minority of the users that would use it, is to use an after market product. An elegantly designed clamp that grabs the corners then has the screw mount, which should be the EXACT size as a camera mount. I hate when engineers take a ubiquitous element and make it unusable.
 
I think Modulr might have the best solution. A TPU style case to securely hold your iPad, with hard plastic mounting points on the bottom to fasten it to a car mount or wall mount or whatever.

http://www.modulRcase.com/accessories.php

Of course, it has taken them so long to get it to market that it might just be vaporware.
 
MrWillie said:
Yea a car mount... Another wonderful distraction. (Please don't say gps. Turn by turn units are around $100, mount to the windshield.)
Click to expand...

When I was thinking "Car Mount" I was considering passenger side or rear seat viewable mounting.

Not 10" GPS

Not that I'd mind that and if in the dashboard I could accept it could be safer, to view travel information on a 10" rather than squinting at a 4" screen.

If mounted in the right place of course.
 
Piggie said:
When I was thinking "Car Mount" I was considering passenger side or rear seat viewable mounting.

Not 10" GPS

Not that I'd mind that and if in the dashboard I could accept it could be safer, to view travel information on a 10" rather than squinting at a 4" screen.

If mounted in the right place of course.
Click to expand...

View travel information... Again another distraction. And since we are viewing travel information while hurling down a roadway at 90 mph, let's look at porn too.


Remember kids, it's all fun and games till somebody gets knocked up!
 
MrWillie said:
View travel information... Again another distraction. And since we are viewing travel information while hurling down a roadway at 90 mph, let's look at porn too.


Remember kids, it's all fun and games till somebody gets knocked up!
Click to expand...

Twisting my words... tut tut....

I mean the same info you get from a GPS unit.

If you centrally mounted a 10" and a 4" screen in a car, both showing GPS route mapping on them, I'm certain in any test, you would find that the larger screen meant a driver would spend less time with his eye's on the screen than on a 4" display.

But, again, when I said "car mount" I was not thinking of this, it was just one example of being able to hold an iPad without needed a wrap around case to encapsulate the device.
 
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