Text 15597, 50 rader
Skriven 2007-01-23 12:08:42 av Rich Gauszka (1:379/45)
Ärende: Vista laptops - neat features
=====================================
From: "Rich Gauszka" <gauszka@dontspamhotmail.com>

Actually some pretty good features - pics of the Asus W5Fe laptop at the link
w/built-in sideshow display in lid

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/23/windows_vista_laptops/

he most visible part of Windows Vista is the Aero interface, and while we can't
deny that it looks very swish we find it very hard to get excited by a shiny
new GUI. Instead, we're looking forward to new Vista hardware, which includes a
new use for the humble USB memory key and much, much more. So what will the
ultimate Windows Vista notebook offer?

SideShow uses a secondary screen and a cut-down OS - which we assume is a form
of Windows Mobile - so you can check email, look up a phone number or check
your schedule without the need to start Vista.

The SideShow screen on the W5Fe measures 2.8in and has a resolution of 320 x
240. It's attached to 1GB of NAND Flash storage which is housed in the lid of
the laptop. Asus tells us that the SideShow feature can also be used to display
a map as a navigation aid, Google Maps fashion, although that would presumably
involve a wireless connection to the Internet. Essentially, what we have here
is a PDA built into the lid of a laptop, with the two devices linked together
so they can synchronise with a minimum of effort.

Asus also has plans to offer SideShow as an accessory for its LGA-775 P5B
Premium motherboard. As the picture shows, you connect the display to one USB
port and a receiver for the remote to a second USB port. No doubt the package
will install the SideShow secondary OS to some Flash memory, very likely in the
shape of a USB key, which brings us neatly to Windows ReadyBoost - aka External
Memory Drive.

More useful for laptop owners is ReadyDrive, a technology that moves from the
HDD (Hard Disk Drive) to the HHD (Hybrid Hard Drive). In principle, this is a
simple idea. Take a regular laptop hard drive and increase the 8MB of RAM cache
to 256MB or more of Flash. Windows Vista will continue to address the cache and
drive as a single device but once Windows and your applications have loaded the
drive can stop spinning and the cache effectively acts as a solid-state drive
(SSD). In theory, this will make the drive less susceptible to shock damage,
noise levels will be lower and power consumption will be reduced.

The other key benefit is faster application launch times, at least for programs
you use often - rarely accessed apps will still be loaded from the hard drive,
taking as long to load as they currently do. The gain you get depends on that
application and how hard you're pushing your system, but Microsoft's figures
suggest apps will typically start up in half the time they do now, all other
hardware specs being equal.

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5
 * Origin: Barktopia BBS Site http://HarborWebs.com:8081 (1:379/45)