Opinions and Discussions on where portable computing is headed next.

[Death Metal Moe]

I just wanted to kinda shoot the shit with the other tech heads on this board about where they thought portable computing was headed. As I type this thread on my netbook that can't weight more that 3 pound I am just curious where we can go from here. Of course history has taught us NEVER to think "This is is." And it won't be, but what direction do you think our portable computing needs will be will be going? Smaller? Bigger again?

I guess my main question is, what size screen are we comfortable doing work on. You can get apps in all the smartphones these days that will do just about any mobile task. Documents, E-mail, stream video, directions, porn. Most smartphones are only limited by the internet the uset can get now it seems. Problem with them is the tiny screen and tiny keyboard. I don't honestly think people want a device that small as a primary portable computer, even when the technology gets that small.

I have this netbook and I really love it. I've been typing away on the keyboard with few problems really. It has a 160gig hard drive, plenty of space. Certain netbooks come with built in air cards to do internet. I have a wifi card only. But they're bigger than the ultra portable smartphones.

I think people will reallly start to develop the 9" netbook into a thinner, more lightweight unit and it will take off even bigger than it has. I think it's a good size to work on more efficiently for people who need to type a lot while still being small enough to leave in a bag.

Just my 2 cents. Anyone else have any thoughts?

[Charlie_Don't_Surf]

I have given this some thought and I think in the next 10 or so years we'll see a boom in battery sipping atom based CPUs running android or linux or some other resource friendly OS. I think we'll also see a surge in slate PCs(small form factor while maximizing screen size about 10").
On screen keyboards will be prevalent as demonstrated by the iPhone and i touch.

[Death Metal Moe]

I have given this some thought and I think in the next 10 or so years we'll see a boom in battery sipping atom based CPUs running android or linux or some other resource friendly OS. I think we'll also see a surge in slate PCs(small form factor while maximizing screen size about 10").
On screen keyboards will be prevalent as demonstrated by the iPhone and i touch.

Hmmm, excellent points. I had forgotten about the tablet netbooks. My grandmother's doctor has them for his entire staff on his wireless network now. The things look sweet.

[Fez4PrezN2008]

can't wait for stuff like this to get more main-stream
http://static.flickr.com/61/223347816_73780efe39_o.jpg
laser projected keyboard
You "laptop" could be size of an ipod.

[Death Metal Moe]

can't wait for stuff like this to get more main-stream
http://static.flickr.com/61/223347816_73780efe39_o.jpg
laser projected keyboard

OK, that is some next level shit. Lovin' that.

[Charlie_Don't_Surf]

OK, that is some next level shit. Lovin' that.

Only problem though is that it must be a bitch on the finger tips; although my fretting fingers would be unaffected.

I think that nationwide internet(whether through cell carriers or the 700Mhz spectrum) will be a possibility too, making portable computing much more attractive to the non techies.

[rgaimari]

Maybe the future is The Minority Report?

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

- Bob

[Death Metal Moe]

Wow, this went nowhere. I was hoping to drown in geek and tech talk. Come on guys.

[Charlie_Don't_Surf]

Wow, this went nowhere. I was hoping to drown in geek and tech talk. Come on guys.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/04/first-working-crunchpad-prototypes-a-few-weeks-away/

How about that? Looks like I was onto something.

[styckx]

Portability will hit a plateau very shortly. Remember When cell phones first started taking off the goal was to make them smaller, and smaller, and smaller?

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d96/Mpavleshyn/willf.jpg


But what happened? They were basically limited to text and phone calls. Laptops are heading in this direction also w/ Netbooks. While they are nice, cute and very small you are very much limited to what you can actually use them for. People will eventually start reverting back to a second generation per say of regular sized laptops. I say second generation because the technology within a few years will give even lower end laptops the power of semi modern desktops without the price tag attached to them now. People want one device. As it stands, any netbook owner is already carrying a full sized laptop around with them. Very inconvenient. Also, those same people have a full sized desktop at home.

I see within 5-10 years laptops being the new desktop. Once the technology is developed to make GPU's smaller, just as powerful, and better heat management.

Desktops will go away.

[Charlie_Don't_Surf]

Portability will hit a plateau very shortly. Remember When cell phones first started taking off the goal was to make them smaller, and smaller, and smaller?

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d96/Mpavleshyn/willf.jpg


But what happened? They were basically limited to text and phone calls. Laptops are heading in this direction also w/ Netbooks. While they are nice, cute and very small you are very much limited to what you can actually use them for. People will eventually start reverting back to a second generation per say of regular sized laptops. I say second generation because the technology within a few years will give even lower end laptops the power of semi modern desktops without the price tag attached to them now. People want one device. As it stands, any netbook owner is already carrying a full sized laptop around with them. Very inconvenient. Also, those same people have a full sized desktop at home.

I see within 5-10 years laptops being the new desktop. Once the technology is developed to make GPU's smaller, just as powerful, and better heat management.

Desktops will go away.

Not true at all my friend. This is only due to greedy corporations who limit how quickly technology is released. Just look at the Asian market. They have had television on their phones for years before we even had such a thing; it's either DMB-t or DVB-m/h.

[instrument]

i love doktor sleepless (comic) for ellis' view of the future.

like a screen thats viewable on an ocular implant, sorta like a contact lens, which is something i could very well see happening.

ever see the internals on an iphone?take away the screen and case and you could see that being very easily implanted internally...and say in 10 years the parts will be tiny.

[ANC]

I do remember my brother-in-law's younger brother worked for AT&T Wireless back in 99. He was saying how small cells phones would become and they'd have cameras and can play music and get internet... I was dumbfounded and thought it'd never happen.....:blink:

[instrument]

Portability will hit a plateau very shortly. Remember When cell phones first started taking off the goal was to make them smaller, and smaller, and smaller?

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d96/Mpavleshyn/willf.jpg


But what happened? They were basically limited to text and phone calls. Laptops are heading in this direction also w/ Netbooks. While they are nice, cute and very small you are very much limited to what you can actually use them for. People will eventually start reverting back to a second generation per say of regular sized laptops. I say second generation because the technology within a few years will give even lower end laptops the power of semi modern desktops without the price tag attached to them now. People want one device. As it stands, any netbook owner is already carrying a full sized laptop around with them. Very inconvenient. Also, those same people have a full sized desktop at home.

I see within 5-10 years laptops being the new desktop. Once the technology is developed to make GPU's smaller, just as powerful, and better heat management.

Desktops will go away.

i couldn't disagree with you more, phone like the iphone/pre/and the g1 are every bit as capable of most netbooks, and are more portable.

hell apple had this market pegged in the 90's with the newton, too bad it was 10+ years too soon.

i do agree that people will be moving to "laptop" for the home, but probably more along the lines of using it as more of a desktop with the only movement being inside of their home with their very capable cell-phone being the laptop on the road.

especially with 3g and 4g connections catching on..

[styckx]

It's not greed. Norton used to rant OMGZ JAPAN HAS TWO MEGAPIXEL CELL PHONE CAMERAS AND WE ONLY HAVE 1.0 MEGAPIXEL CAMERAS! GREED GREED GREED!

Japan invents and manufactures this shit. Obviously they will use their own country as a test market and filter it out there first instead of spending a lot of man hours, repacking a untested product for use in another country. You really think a corporation is going to hide new technology from the rest of the world so they can't sell more units? That makes zero sense. Also, the shit we get here is only based on demand. If 5% of the U.S. market is demanding a phone with television, you really think there is any earning potential there? No, it would actually create lost revenue.

Demand drives technology growth in any country. Whether it's the U.S., Pakistan, or Siberia.

[ANC]

hell apple had this market pegged in the 90's with the newton, too bad it was 10+ years too soon.

..

"Take a memo on your Newton: beat up Martin"

http://www.tuaw.com/media/2006/02/eatupmartha.jpg

[sink]

The future is all about clouds

[joeybags]

i thought the future was smoke pants

[Charlie_Don't_Surf]

It's not greed. Norton used to rant OMGZ JAPAN HAS TWO MEGAPIXEL CELL PHONE CAMERAS AND WE ONLY HAVE 1.0 MEGAPIXEL CAMERAS! GREED GREED GREED!

Japan invents and manufactures this shit. Obviously they will use their own country as a test market and filter it out there first instead of spending a lot of man hours, repacking a untested product for use in another country. You really think a corporation is going to hide new technology from the rest of the world so they can't sell more units? That makes zero sense. Also, the shit we get here is only based on demand. If 5% of the U.S. market is demanding a phone with television, you really think there is any earning potential there? No, it would actually create lost revenue.

Demand drives technology growth in any country. Whether it's the U.S., Pakistan, or Siberia.

I disagree, I think it is greed because [name drop] I was speaking to Irwin Jacobs, CEO of qualcomm, and talking about the technologies being rolled out too slowly and he agreed. In 2007 he said that his company had already produced some 4G chipsets but that they wouldn't be implemented for a while due to fact that most companies want to maximize on the revenue of their existing networks until growth plateaus, before they upgrade.[/name drop]
Also the fcc is partly to blame. The high price on leasing certain bandwidths makes it difficult for companies to own that bandwidth and still do R&D to utilize that bandwidth and furthermore risk a failing venture.

[instrument]

can't wait for stuff like this to get more main-stream
http://static.flickr.com/61/223347816_73780efe39_o.jpg
laser projected keyboard
You "laptop" could be size of an ipod.


this was first shown in 2001-2002, i remember because i still lived in new jersey.

they've made huge progress...

[sr71blackbird]

My friend got the netbook to use as a regular computer, but is always complaining of the screed size. Did not want to spend more on a full sized keyboard. I think economics drive where it is headed. I think that a laptop sized similar to the macbook air is what will become the standard, and large screen laptops ar home will be the standard too
I also think that peripherals like mice and external storage drives and wireless connectivity between these also will be standard.
At home I have my iMac G5 and next to that I have a Sony Vaio. I have my Blackberry Bold and just got a iPod Touch. I went and got a wireless router and now use the iPod when I am not in the room with the computers. I wish it was easier to connect to other wifi networks when I am not home, because 3G sucks balls for surfing outside of my network on my Blackberry (at&t)

[Fez4PrezN2008]

this was first shown in 2001-2002, i remember because i still lived in new jersey.

they've made huge progress...
ok buzzkillington, how bout this"
http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/zoom/usb_humpingdogs.jpg

[boosterp]

Portability will hit a plateau very shortly. Remember When cell phones first started taking off the goal was to make them smaller, and smaller, and smaller?

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d96/Mpavleshyn/willf.jpg


But what happened? They were basically limited to text and phone calls. Laptops are heading in this direction also w/ Netbooks. While they are nice, cute and very small you are very much limited to what you can actually use them for. People will eventually start reverting back to a second generation per say of regular sized laptops. I say second generation because the technology within a few years will give even lower end laptops the power of semi modern desktops without the price tag attached to them now. People want one device. As it stands, any netbook owner is already carrying a full sized laptop around with them. Very inconvenient. Also, those same people have a full sized desktop at home.

I see within 5-10 years laptops being the new desktop. Once the technology is developed to make GPU's smaller, just as powerful, and better heat management.

Desktops will go away.

I agree with everything but the bold. As laptops mature into more powerful and more efficient (heat and suck ass battery life even if some last 5 hrs) there will still be demand for a desktop, although I do see desktops shrinking. Reason: you can put a whole bunch of shit into a desktop that you cant put into a lappy. Hell, a lappy's HD is still 5400 rpm mainstream and 4200 just 2 years ago and just recently getting off the slow ass ATA bandwidth into SATA. Yes you have 7200 making a dent in the performace lappy market but it will take time for that to filter into mainstream due to cost and energy use.

It's not greed. Norton used to rant OMGZ JAPAN HAS TWO MEGAPIXEL CELL PHONE CAMERAS AND WE ONLY HAVE 1.0 MEGAPIXEL CAMERAS! GREED GREED GREED!

Japan invents and manufactures this shit. Obviously they will use their own country as a test market and filter it out there first instead of spending a lot of man hours, repacking a untested product for use in another country. You really think a corporation is going to hide new technology from the rest of the world so they can't sell more units? That makes zero sense. Also, the shit we get here is only based on demand. If 5% of the U.S. market is demanding a phone with television, you really think there is any earning potential there? No, it would actually create lost revenue.

Demand drives technology growth in any country. Whether it's the U.S., Pakistan, or Siberia.

I certainly agree with the bold here. As demand increases for the the latest gadget cost decreases and competition increases. Japan and Taiwan are perfect examples as they make or control a majority of the electronics that fit in these devices. They are also the testing ground for these devices, hell the Wii was released there before here or Europe.

I disagree, I think it is greed because [name drop] I was speaking to Irwin Jacobs, CEO of qualcomm, and talking about the technologies being rolled out too slowly and he agreed. In 2007 he said that his company had already produced some 4G chipsets but that they wouldn't be implemented for a while due to fact that most companies want to maximize on the revenue of their existing networks until growth plateaus, before they upgrade.[/name drop]
Also the fcc is partly to blame. The high price on leasing certain bandwidths makes it difficult for companies to own that bandwidth and still do R&D to utilize that bandwidth and furthermore risk a failing venture.

Agreed. I also think that net by power lines is certainly going to become mainstream. The owner here of the lines, meters, etc. is installing meters that communicate via the power lines to the provider and will make meter readers obsolete in 2 years.

Also, the technology that goes into making batteries will improve making them more efficient (storage versus heat) and decreasing size and charging times.