Acer Laptop W/Fingerprint Recognition System

Dekaner writes "Acer has announced the TravelMate 740 with a built-in fingerprint recognition security system. The fingerprint sensor is part of the notebook? s palm rest. Users must train the recognition system, which is then used to boot the machine or to decrypt files stored on the hard disk. The TravelMate has a 1.2 GHz Pentium III processor, a 15-inch screen with a resolution of 1400 by 1050 pixels, built in 56K modem and Ethernet connection, and it can be supplied with either 128 or 256 MB of memory. It can be configured with a second hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD, or a DVD-CD-RW drive. It will go on sale in October."

Comments

This is neat, but not really useful

[The Ultimate Badass]

This sort of biometric authentication is not really all that vital for most of us, and the effort required to keep it functional, in this case at least, outweighs any advantage gained.

Don't get me wrong -- I can see this being very useful for corporations and governments who have valuable information to keep encrypted. For those applications, this is a good idea.

The problem I see is that fingerprint sensors require maintenance. The human fingertip exudes oil, used to increase the traction of the fingertip. This is not good for a sensing surface, and will necessitate regular cleaning. Anyone who has owned a trackball can tell you that anything the finger touches regularly, builds up gunk quickly.

Another problem is susceptibility to damage -- scratches in particular. I wouldn't want to be locked out of my files due to clumsiness. Also, damage to the recognition system through any form of clumsiness will keep you out of your encrypted files. Using an ordinary encryption method, you'd just hook the HD up to a different machine and be back in business.

I'll assume that the device is good enough to detect your print accurately. I wouldn't think the company would willingly release a half-engineered product in such an important area as authentication.