The New Year means a new set of devices from tech manufacturers. As Samsung continues to make headlines, the same goes for Apple, its rival. According to recent reports, Apple will be releasing a refreshed line of MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs in 2014. A recent patent sighting hints that the new MacBooks will not just be high performing but they may also feature a projector.

Jack Purcher from Patently Apple published a report about Apple's patent number 8,610,726B2, "Computer systems and methods with projected display." The patent was announced Dec. 17 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

According to the report from Purcher, the new technology can offer a completely new category of computer systems. Laptops and desktops will not be similar to any other. The patent can take out the need for a display within the housing device. The technology allows the computer to display information regardless of the surface as long as it is clean. Apple also claimed the computer can get rid of all external wires, except the power cord.

An even more interesting point is Apple's claim that the computer will be able to promise images instead of letting the display technology process it. The computer can address the shortcomings of conventional projectors. It can process video sources from its raw format instead of a degraded format to match the processing ability of the projector.

"As will be further understood from the following description, computer systems and methods disclosed herein may also provide an advancement over "smart projectors" that include image processing and/or correction capabilities. Regardless of the processing capabilities of such "smart projectors," which may be surpassed and justified for a computer system as described herein, a "smart projector" is limited to image processing and correction using processed presentation data [...] When a "smart projector" performs image processing and/or correction, the projector acts on the presentation data as provided, not the raw presentation data from the source [...]"

"The image processing and/or correction may be performed by a computer system that has access to the raw presentation data. Thus, the computer system has more information/knowledge regarding the presentation data, not being limited to processed data that may be modified in a manner that provides less information and/or knowledge of the processed data is limited. Thus, the image processing and/or correction may be performed in a richer space, that is, raw space."

Apple has also been promoting the use of many sensors. According to Barron's, sensors were mentioned 51 times in the filing. This should provide evidence of what Apple has in store for its next generation computers.