The future of the laptop and desktop
After a barrage of beer related posts... more tech!
This is a purely speculative but I ran across someone pointing this out on Twitter. And I couldn't help but notice how it more or less sums up exactly where I felt the devices industry was headed as a solution to desktops and laptops. Basically, the device is a laptop shell with a monitor, keyboard and battery (and some ports). The smarts of the device actually come from a phone. I think I've made this claim before in a few articles referencing the now dead Atrix phone from ages past. A device which I felt was simply too many years ahead of it's time.
While I don't feel that they are there yet, phones are closing the gap in terms of processing power with traditional computing devices. And many people don't need the full power of a computer most times anyway. At the same time, a phone is a REALLY crappy form factor for watching a movie or writing a large email or all sorts of other activities. Phones also have a huge advantage in the form of subsidies and easily accessible financing plans making them more readily available to a larger number of people.
This sort of device which allows a phone to be transformed into another form factor (at a presumably more affordable price) seems like a very logical move. The extraneous devices just have the extra hardware required for the alternate form factor while the horse power and storage comes from a single device. As a gadget oriented guy, I can tell you that syncing data between devices is never fun. Things have gotten better with services like OneDrive, but it would still be better and simpler to just have one device that acts as the brains for all of my other devices. And I don't think I'm alone.
I also think it is just a first step. It is easy to imagine even the smart phone as just another dock and the actual computing core is a separate piece of hardware.
The reason it works is kind of simple... right now I have a smartphone, laptop and desktop. I'm only ever working on one at a time. And I only choose to use one or the other based on utility and circumstances. If I want to write an email but don't want to be in my office I use my laptop. If I want to game I use my laptop. If I need to do something simple or am nowhere near my other devices I use my phone. The point being... I only really need one processor and one storage device. Especially if my phone were powerful enough to replace the other 2 devices.
Also, my phone cost as much (if not more) than my desktop. Such a desktop solution however would be far simpler. I wouldn't need a tower. I would really just need a proper monitor and a physical keyboard and mouse. Maybe a tiny box to contain some ports and act as a central hub. Certainly not this massive tower with a noisy power supply and mass of wires.
It is also, in my opinion, a much more elegant solution to the sorts of problems the iPad Pro and Surface lineups are trying to solve. A travel sized dock for a phone makes a lot more sense than a separate complete computer just so you can work on the go. In theory it would also mean more options and variety (assuming this sort of tech became more standard).
I also love that it can be used as a second monitor. Something I only need or would use while travelling is a hard sell. But a second monitor is something I would use daily. In fact, that alone almost justifies the whole price tag.
Frankly, not sure how long it will take, but I do believe that this sort of device will, at least for the average consumer, replace laptops and desktops.
This is a purely speculative but I ran across someone pointing this out on Twitter. And I couldn't help but notice how it more or less sums up exactly where I felt the devices industry was headed as a solution to desktops and laptops. Basically, the device is a laptop shell with a monitor, keyboard and battery (and some ports). The smarts of the device actually come from a phone. I think I've made this claim before in a few articles referencing the now dead Atrix phone from ages past. A device which I felt was simply too many years ahead of it's time.
While I don't feel that they are there yet, phones are closing the gap in terms of processing power with traditional computing devices. And many people don't need the full power of a computer most times anyway. At the same time, a phone is a REALLY crappy form factor for watching a movie or writing a large email or all sorts of other activities. Phones also have a huge advantage in the form of subsidies and easily accessible financing plans making them more readily available to a larger number of people.
This sort of device which allows a phone to be transformed into another form factor (at a presumably more affordable price) seems like a very logical move. The extraneous devices just have the extra hardware required for the alternate form factor while the horse power and storage comes from a single device. As a gadget oriented guy, I can tell you that syncing data between devices is never fun. Things have gotten better with services like OneDrive, but it would still be better and simpler to just have one device that acts as the brains for all of my other devices. And I don't think I'm alone.
I also think it is just a first step. It is easy to imagine even the smart phone as just another dock and the actual computing core is a separate piece of hardware.
The reason it works is kind of simple... right now I have a smartphone, laptop and desktop. I'm only ever working on one at a time. And I only choose to use one or the other based on utility and circumstances. If I want to write an email but don't want to be in my office I use my laptop. If I want to game I use my laptop. If I need to do something simple or am nowhere near my other devices I use my phone. The point being... I only really need one processor and one storage device. Especially if my phone were powerful enough to replace the other 2 devices.
Also, my phone cost as much (if not more) than my desktop. Such a desktop solution however would be far simpler. I wouldn't need a tower. I would really just need a proper monitor and a physical keyboard and mouse. Maybe a tiny box to contain some ports and act as a central hub. Certainly not this massive tower with a noisy power supply and mass of wires.
It is also, in my opinion, a much more elegant solution to the sorts of problems the iPad Pro and Surface lineups are trying to solve. A travel sized dock for a phone makes a lot more sense than a separate complete computer just so you can work on the go. In theory it would also mean more options and variety (assuming this sort of tech became more standard).
I also love that it can be used as a second monitor. Something I only need or would use while travelling is a hard sell. But a second monitor is something I would use daily. In fact, that alone almost justifies the whole price tag.
Frankly, not sure how long it will take, but I do believe that this sort of device will, at least for the average consumer, replace laptops and desktops.
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