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Go beyond the current performance limits of notebooks
In our previous article we discussed how the most conditioning limit to the development and evolution of user interface of a computer is to be linked with the monitor and how, in the future, this limit could be broken with the adoption of holographic interfaces. Today we are going to examine the aspect of performance of notebooks and how this can be conditioned by a choice that was made years ago and that is actually not linked to any real need from users. We are going to talk about how this limit can be easily broken in order to bring computer power to the level of desktop pc's without necessarily having to wait for future enhancements in engineering technologies of components. Portable computer has always been a synonym of freedom, movement, flexibility and that is why people who choose it know they can bring their computer with themselves wherever they go, from home to the office, from their own town to holiday. They know they will have their works, files, programs and settings with themselves. But above all, their workplace as it was created and modified: anything like it was created and moved. But also the same physical ambient, the same monitor, the same trackpad, the same mouse, the same keyboard. The constance of input and output peripherals are fundamental for the user to be able to be master in his work ambient. This is not possible with other solutions that someone else has provided through the years such as a simple external device that can be used as a boot disk. Not even Apple Mac mini or the various imitations that will be introduced into the market from other manufacturers. These solutions allow the user to bring his files with himself but not his workplace. That's why, considering the actual state of technology and ergonomy, there is nothing like a notebook. On the other hand notebooks are used by people who use them like a total substitute for desktop computers that, as we all know, are more powerful so that the use of notebooks is still a penalizing choice. Computer industry has been trying for a long while to try and close this gap trying to build up new and more powerful versions of processors that are more suitable for notebook use.
Now, if we really consider how people use a notebook on the field, using a so called "ethnographic" approach, we'll realize that all the efforts made by constructors are rarely used by computer users. In daily use, in fact, notebooks are constantly connected to the main power line like if they were normal desktop computers. In a certain way, we can actually consider them portable computers only because they can be moved from a place to another and not because their battery allows them to be used in a convenient way on our trips around the world. We could actually call them "disposable portable computers" since their autonomy without an electrical socket nearby would be totally useless. Who would take a 4-kilogram computer in his trips knowing he could use it just for 2 hours and a half and then having to put it back in its bag? The first thing notebook users do when they move from one place to another (be it their house, an office, the library, university) is to look for an electrical socket. Notebooks depend on electrical sockets as much as the desktop pc's and if in one particular moment there is no electrical socket around, it is very likely that the user could not be even interested into using them anymore, for instance on a crowded underground. Concluding, the best way we can enhance portable computers nowadays is to get rid of the battery, at least as a standard component in the chassis. A new generation of portable computers that is not dependent on a battery, could be projected and created using most of the components that are used also for desktop computers and thus have the same power without requesting enormous efforts to project and reengineer of components by constructors like the ones that IBM and Apple are making in order to be able to adapt G5 processors to Powerbook. Translation by Claudio Cavalensi  Comment this article on Mac Discussions Home PageUseful links: Battery (electricity) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Computer hardware - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Inside my iBook's Battery... - Flickr iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 Battery Exchange Program - Apple Care and Feeding of Your PowerBook Battery - Lowendmac Laptop Battery Insides - Wired Blogs Powerbook battery tracker - Boingboing Apimac, software for Macintosh, Mac OS and Mac OS X. Shareware and freeware applications and programs for Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, Mac mini, PowerBook and Power Mac. Apple, Carbon, Finder, FireWire, HyperCard, iBook, iMac, Mac, Macintosh, Mac OS, PowerBook, Power Mac, Power Macintosh, QuickTime, are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Mac and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Mac Badge is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., used with permission. Copyright © 2000-2005 Apimac, All Rights Reserved Hosted by MacPremium™ |
