Ever since consumer electronics collided with digital technology, the personal computer has taken an essential place in the exhibition halls of the Consumer Electronics Show. PC luminaries like Michael Dell and Bill Gates are regular keynote speakers at the trade show, and the likes of Intel and Microsoft cozy up beside Sony and Samsung. The old PC dazzle is still there – faster performance, smaller form factors, more capacity in all subsystems etc. – but now it’s about how all that technology fits into your digital lifestyle.
Computing gets smaller
On the small end of things is the OQO Model 02, billed as the world’s smallest Windows Vista computer. It’s the UMPC (or Ultra Mobile PC) that Bill Gates highlighted during his CES keynote address. Holding it, you’d be inclined to think it was a Windows CE handheld device, but this one includes the goods to run a full version of Windows XP (and it’s Vista-ready). Both the processor and graphics chip are from VIA, a chip maker that abandoned the CPU speed cycles race a few years ago and turned to other important factors like battery life, noise reduction and heat performance.
The premium model of the OQO uses VIA’s C7M ULV (for ultra-low voltage) processor running at 1.5 GHz, and comes with 1 GB of RAM and a 60 GB hard drive. The five-inch 800 x 480 pixel display (supports up to 1280 x 800 on a bigger monitor) slides forward to expose a small qwerty keyboard and a pointing device called a track stick. The machine includes an HDMI port and VGA/Ethernet adapter, a USB port and audio line in/out port. It also handles WiFi (a, b, g) and BlueTooth 2.0. An optional docking station includes a DVD burner in the base and more ports to allow you to connect a full size monitor and keyboard. Weighing in at around half a kilo (1 lb), Model 02 runs for about three hours on the standard Li-Ion battery, but an optional battery gives twice that. Expect to pay around $2,000 for the premium model outfitted with a few accessories.
VIA was also part of the popular Lunch @ Piero’s event and was showcasing a number of UMPCs developed by its manufacturing partners. The chipmaker has been promoting things like “quiet” computing and energy efficiency for a few years, and in a sense VIA’s strategy has been vindicated because the PC biz is increasingly embracing these green concepts.
Having a full-blown Windows computer in a small form opens up a number of application possibilities, and one of the neatest I saw was the G4 from Korean tech company Infill. The G4 takes aftermarket car audio to an entirely new level. It’s designed to drop into the audio system bay and integrates nicely into the dashboard with an 800 x 480 pixel 6.5-inch touch screen display forming the main faceplate. Behind the screen is a PC powered by a 1.5 GHz VIA C7 processor running Windows XP. It has a 40 GB hard drive, a DVD player, GPS unit, FM tuner and a four-channel audio amplifier (you can also get a 5.1 channel pre-amp model). There are also three USB ports, one on the front and two on the back
Infill says the unit supports dual displays, so that the driver can have the in-dash panel set to a GPS mapping programme while the rear seat passengers watch a DVD movie. It can be integrated with a rear-view camera and tied into your car’s existing steering wheel radio controls. At this point, you’ll have to go to Korea to get one, where it sells for around $2,000.
Two cores and beyond
At the big end of things, chip giant Intel announced three new quad-core processors at the show: two in its Xeon server-oriented CPU family and the first to bear the name Core2Quad. Intel set the price of the Core2Quad at US $851 in quantities of 1000 to manufacturers, so you can expect systems built around this processor will be aimed at the high-end enthusiast market and command a premium price.
And speaking of that segment, Calgary-based Voodoo, which was acquired by HP last year, found a comfortable corner in the HP booth to show off its extreme gaming rigs along with an experimental wraparound display system. It also announced a new gaming laptop, the Envy HW:201. The numerical designation refers no doubt to the 20.1-inch screen. Other performance goodies include an AMD Turion 64X2 dual core processor plus support for SLI. Dual nVidia graphics cards in a laptop? Why not. And, of course, you can order the $6,000 unit in a range of colours.AMD announced its AMD Live! notebook platform design based around the Turion 64 X2 dual core mobile CPU. This brings to mobile computing the Live! initiative AMD began last year on the desktop. Live! is a set of technologies that allows the PC to better fit into a home entertainment environment. Based around AMD’s Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processors and Windows XP Media Center Edition or Vista Premium and Ultimate, it includes usability aspects like Cool'n'Quiet (which reduces PC noise) and rapid-on/rapid off (for more appliance-like start up and shut down of the PC). It supports up to 7.1 audio, high-end graphics TV-tuners and remote control units.
There were also a number of media-related software applications and utilities, such as: “On Demand,” which helps stream TV and audio to a media player; “Network Magic,” which is a home network management utility; “Media Vault,” which performs automatic backups to an online server; and “LogMeIn,” which allows users to securely access their home computer from a remote location.
A number of tech companies have signed up with the Live! logo program, including most of the motherboard makers, and other peripheral and software companies like Creative, Logitech, AverMedia, D-Link and Western Digital.
Vista and Home Server
With the general launch of Windows Vista set for the end of January, much of Microsoft’s booth was devoted to this next-gen operating system. The computers in the media room were running Vista too, so this provided many writers with their first taste of doing real work under the OS.
A potentially more interesting OS announcement came during Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates’ keynote address: Windows Home Server, which will become available later this year. The name says it all: it is server software for the home. In Microsoft’s booth was a nice example of hardware being developed to run the software – HP’s MediaSmart Server. This is an AMD Sempron-powered server based on AMD’s Live! Home Media Server platform design spec. It has four drive bays. Populated with 750GB drives, you could have three terabytes of storage without going outside the box.
The server will support up to 10 user accounts and can be used with Windows, Mac or Linux computers. Users connected to the server each have a Control Center interface on their individual computers that allows them to navigate the folders on the server or other connected PCs or other resources; for example, you could set up network printers with the MediaSmart Server. The administrator can set privileges at the folder level, allowing full read-write, read-only or no access. Mobile users with notebooks supporting remote access (Windows XP Pro, MCE 2005 or Vista Ultimate) will also be able to remotely access their home computers through the server, or backup travel documents, digital photos, etc. to the server.
A common safety net with enterprise servers – automatic backup of data on PCs – is also a feature of the Home Server software, including full restoration of a hard drive image, should a PC hard drive fail. The MediaSmart Server will also stream media to home entertainment players through a digital media adapter.
Computing gets smaller
On the small end of things is the OQO Model 02, billed as the world’s smallest Windows Vista computer. It’s the UMPC (or Ultra Mobile PC) that Bill Gates highlighted during his CES keynote address. Holding it, you’d be inclined to think it was a Windows CE handheld device, but this one includes the goods to run a full version of Windows XP (and it’s Vista-ready). Both the processor and graphics chip are from VIA, a chip maker that abandoned the CPU speed cycles race a few years ago and turned to other important factors like battery life, noise reduction and heat performance.
The premium model of the OQO uses VIA’s C7M ULV (for ultra-low voltage) processor running at 1.5 GHz, and comes with 1 GB of RAM and a 60 GB hard drive. The five-inch 800 x 480 pixel display (supports up to 1280 x 800 on a bigger monitor) slides forward to expose a small qwerty keyboard and a pointing device called a track stick. The machine includes an HDMI port and VGA/Ethernet adapter, a USB port and audio line in/out port. It also handles WiFi (a, b, g) and BlueTooth 2.0. An optional docking station includes a DVD burner in the base and more ports to allow you to connect a full size monitor and keyboard. Weighing in at around half a kilo (1 lb), Model 02 runs for about three hours on the standard Li-Ion battery, but an optional battery gives twice that. Expect to pay around $2,000 for the premium model outfitted with a few accessories.
VIA was also part of the popular Lunch @ Piero’s event and was showcasing a number of UMPCs developed by its manufacturing partners. The chipmaker has been promoting things like “quiet” computing and energy efficiency for a few years, and in a sense VIA’s strategy has been vindicated because the PC biz is increasingly embracing these green concepts.
Having a full-blown Windows computer in a small form opens up a number of application possibilities, and one of the neatest I saw was the G4 from Korean tech company Infill. The G4 takes aftermarket car audio to an entirely new level. It’s designed to drop into the audio system bay and integrates nicely into the dashboard with an 800 x 480 pixel 6.5-inch touch screen display forming the main faceplate. Behind the screen is a PC powered by a 1.5 GHz VIA C7 processor running Windows XP. It has a 40 GB hard drive, a DVD player, GPS unit, FM tuner and a four-channel audio amplifier (you can also get a 5.1 channel pre-amp model). There are also three USB ports, one on the front and two on the back
Infill says the unit supports dual displays, so that the driver can have the in-dash panel set to a GPS mapping programme while the rear seat passengers watch a DVD movie. It can be integrated with a rear-view camera and tied into your car’s existing steering wheel radio controls. At this point, you’ll have to go to Korea to get one, where it sells for around $2,000.
Two cores and beyond
At the big end of things, chip giant Intel announced three new quad-core processors at the show: two in its Xeon server-oriented CPU family and the first to bear the name Core2Quad. Intel set the price of the Core2Quad at US $851 in quantities of 1000 to manufacturers, so you can expect systems built around this processor will be aimed at the high-end enthusiast market and command a premium price.
And speaking of that segment, Calgary-based Voodoo, which was acquired by HP last year, found a comfortable corner in the HP booth to show off its extreme gaming rigs along with an experimental wraparound display system. It also announced a new gaming laptop, the Envy HW:201. The numerical designation refers no doubt to the 20.1-inch screen. Other performance goodies include an AMD Turion 64X2 dual core processor plus support for SLI. Dual nVidia graphics cards in a laptop? Why not. And, of course, you can order the $6,000 unit in a range of colours.AMD announced its AMD Live! notebook platform design based around the Turion 64 X2 dual core mobile CPU. This brings to mobile computing the Live! initiative AMD began last year on the desktop. Live! is a set of technologies that allows the PC to better fit into a home entertainment environment. Based around AMD’s Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processors and Windows XP Media Center Edition or Vista Premium and Ultimate, it includes usability aspects like Cool'n'Quiet (which reduces PC noise) and rapid-on/rapid off (for more appliance-like start up and shut down of the PC). It supports up to 7.1 audio, high-end graphics TV-tuners and remote control units.
There were also a number of media-related software applications and utilities, such as: “On Demand,” which helps stream TV and audio to a media player; “Network Magic,” which is a home network management utility; “Media Vault,” which performs automatic backups to an online server; and “LogMeIn,” which allows users to securely access their home computer from a remote location.
A number of tech companies have signed up with the Live! logo program, including most of the motherboard makers, and other peripheral and software companies like Creative, Logitech, AverMedia, D-Link and Western Digital.
Vista and Home Server
With the general launch of Windows Vista set for the end of January, much of Microsoft’s booth was devoted to this next-gen operating system. The computers in the media room were running Vista too, so this provided many writers with their first taste of doing real work under the OS.
A potentially more interesting OS announcement came during Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates’ keynote address: Windows Home Server, which will become available later this year. The name says it all: it is server software for the home. In Microsoft’s booth was a nice example of hardware being developed to run the software – HP’s MediaSmart Server. This is an AMD Sempron-powered server based on AMD’s Live! Home Media Server platform design spec. It has four drive bays. Populated with 750GB drives, you could have three terabytes of storage without going outside the box.
The server will support up to 10 user accounts and can be used with Windows, Mac or Linux computers. Users connected to the server each have a Control Center interface on their individual computers that allows them to navigate the folders on the server or other connected PCs or other resources; for example, you could set up network printers with the MediaSmart Server. The administrator can set privileges at the folder level, allowing full read-write, read-only or no access. Mobile users with notebooks supporting remote access (Windows XP Pro, MCE 2005 or Vista Ultimate) will also be able to remotely access their home computers through the server, or backup travel documents, digital photos, etc. to the server.
A common safety net with enterprise servers – automatic backup of data on PCs – is also a feature of the Home Server software, including full restoration of a hard drive image, should a PC hard drive fail. The MediaSmart Server will also stream media to home entertainment players through a digital media adapter.
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