We’ve seen dual-screen systems before, but a notebook with four displays is something new.

David “Dadi” Perlmutter surprised visitors to IDF today by revealing a concept notebook, the oddly-named “Tangent Bay”, that had three small OLED touchscreens set horizontally into the case below the main, full-sized 15in panel.

It was the quirkiest demonstration of IDF so far, and Perlmutter didn’t suggest that quad-screen notebooks were ever likely to become commonplace. The device was intended merely as an example of the experiments Intel carries out in researching interfaces and features.

It was, however, a fully functional prototype and in the demonstration the OLED screens were displaying a music playlist, photo slideshow and calculator, all of which could be interacted with simple touch controls: scrolling photos with a swipe of a finger, for example.

Intel claims the screens can be set to display whatever the user wishes, and it was suggested that Tangent Bay could lead to a new way to interact with OS widgets and simple applications such as calendars.

For some of us, though, the idea smacked a little too much of the ill-fated Vista SideShow...