Slashdot Mirror
Concept PC 2001
Rami Kassab writes: "Check out this sweet PC developed by HP. It runs on the Intel P4 and features a wireless keyboard, mouse, even a wireless 18" flat screen LCD monitor. The wireless mouse and keyboard run over RF. All of the components are connected to eachother via Bluetooth technology. Included with this PC is USB 2.0 and an ATI 7500 AGP card." The screen looks a little strange, but I always love seeing interesting new designs for these boxes since I spend so much time in front of one.
Maybe its just me, but I didn't see anything about a wireless monitor..."DVI Interface LCD monitor" "and an 18" flat screen LCD monitor to top things off".
No cables to play with and/or chew to bits. If I can't offer my computer to them as a sacrifice they'll make a beeline to the A/V gear cables.
Does it have a flash disk thingee? Those things rock!
My IBM PC jr had a wireless keyboard that came standard. For you folks who don't remember the PCjr was popular in the mid 80's
There is finally some bluetooth devices coming out. I have been using a traditional wireless keyboard and mouse (IR) for a while and get quite a few missed keystrokes and mouse jerks. Bluetooth from what I understand is supposed to eliminate this. For those of you who dont know what bluetooth is go here.
--
FearLinux.com
The article says nothing about this being a wireless monitor. That would be quite a task though, bet that doesn't run across 802.11b or Bluetooth.
It won't be really wireless until the power supply is also wireless ;-)
Maybe someone can beam the power into the machine with lasers or something, but I wouldn't want to have to reboot every time a cat runs under the desk!
NO TOUCH MONKEY!
Imagine a beowulf cluster of these.
There, I said it and I'm proud, PROUD, do you HEAR??
Damn you all to HELL!
I've seen systems before where the cd drive is built into the monitor (like this one). I'm curious what happens if the CD drive goes bad on you. Obviously, it would be a bit too expensive replacing the entire display, but the drive itself looks like it would have to be very slim to fit in there. Has anyone had experience with something like this, and if so, how hard is it to find a replacement drive? Just curious. :)
Other than that, this thing looks nifty. It would make a great in-car computer if it doesn't draw too much power.
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
Last time I tried wireless a keyboard and mouse was about a year ago. It sucked. The keyboard dropped characters often enough to bug me, and the mouse had a tendency to "stick" as it lost its connection for brief periods. Has the technology gotten any better? It doesn't seem like that hard a problem to solve reasonably.
Now if only it had a sweet web server and some sweet bandwidth....
-----
How many more times could they have mentioned "Intel's Pentium 4" in that article? Funniest part, was when I came back to write this response there was a p4 ad running on slashdot (ugh).
"In case of emergency, break glass. Scream. Bleed to death."
The PCjr was a joke, as was Bill Sydnes who commissioned it while at IBM. Another example of his handiwork is the death of Commodore (specifically the Amiga).
Ok, if they article has "Posted by CmdrTaco" at the top then only read the parts that are in italics.
The parts that are not in italics are either wrong, advertising or some text designed to piss you off and start many fame wars....
Mod me OT or troll or whatever, but it's true...
M0571y H@rml355.
Wow! That's cool. How about calling it television?
18" TFT... Got it...
Wireless Keyboard and mouse.. Got it...
Silent machine.. got it...
I don't see where the _concept_ part comes in???
This is a good glimpse into the future of new technologies, with higher transfer rates and eliminated bottlenecks. But conspicuous in it's abscence is Intel's new bus architecture, 3GIO, where is it? Is it such vaporware that there are not even prototypes to use? Or does this mean that HP is endorsing Bluetooth as its connection interface of the future? I would like discussion on Hypertransport vs. Bluetooth vs. 3GIO. And which one, if any, will be the new standard.
Insert Sig Here.
I hate sigs.
I have a couple problems with the devices being hooked up via RF.
1. There is the Cancer aspect. It's obvious that no one understands the issues that may arise from having a radio transmitter around you all the time (Cel phones) let alone multiple ones around you all the time at your computer.
2. Interferance. The FCC regulations for RF devices at these frequencies state that you have to accept whatever outside interference there is. Getting bad input on an RF mouse, display or keyboard would blow.
Those things said, my mother had an RF remote for her C-band sat dish, and it was really neat.
wow, 15 comments and its already slashdotted... now this comment isn't meant to be a troll, but... what is Slashdot doing right and other sites are doing wrong? I mean... in order for a site to be slashdotted, those browsers are being directed from slashdot, so AT LEAST that many people are browsing slashdot at any given time, yet the front page loads lightning quick, even over dial-up, and there's very little downtime, i think the rest of the web can learn something here (don't use IIS maybe)?
anyway, not a troll, just genuinely curious
May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
Been five minutes waiting for that site to load. Time that someone used a proper CSM rather than those PHPNuke pieces o' ####.
Still to this day, upgrading a hard drive or a graphics card is an unnecesarily obfuscated process, requiring the PC guts to be cracked open and laid out on the kitchen table.
Of course easily upgradeable components would cut into PC sales, so its probably hopeless.
With only ten posts with a score of 1 or above, the site is already down. Can anyone post the text of the article? Thanks.
...they could make the toilet wireless..
My sources tell me that these PCs are really cheap for foreign HP customers in the information technology sector. However, buyers should not wonder when black vans permanently circle their premises. As additional benefit, you don't have to file any patents in the U.S. any more, others are doing this for you.
www.designtechnica.com has got to be the worst "design" website I've ever seen. How could they possibly think dark blue, almost black, links with no underlines, could possibly be "good" design. It's so poor it's not even funny.
The PC is pretty cool, but the monitor is kind of strange.
1. The dials on the right look like something off of a 1960's era tv set
2. No cables are going to the monitor
3. The article does not say anything about the monitor being wireless. That would have to be a lot of bandwidth
Hmmm...a wireless monitor?
At 24bpp and a 1600x1200 display, that's 3 bytes x about 2E6 pixels per frame, times (very nominally) 60 frames per second, or ~360MBytes per second.
If they could do that cheaply, they wouldn't be using it just for sending digital video to monitors.
DVI is Digital Video Interface. It's neat (no more ghosting and shadowing), but not wireless.
What technology allows to transfer video signal in real time?
According to the users of this device, wireless peripherals constitute an "illegal circumvention device" under the DMCA and will be filing a lawsuit against HP shortly. In the meantime they urge that all computer users stick with wired peripherals.
;)
Error:
It comes with up to 300' of cable so you can put the base anywhere. This is slashdot, so accuracy in reporting is not a concern.
A wireless flatscreen would SUCK. Analog = interference. Digital = too much bandwidth for wireless. 'nuff said.
Armand28
"-LINUX was a good OS, before it became a religion."
Wireless everything... because RF is so secure.
Sure, it uses Bluetooth, but you still have to run power cables to each one of these things, a VGA cable to the monitor and worry about replacing batteries in the keyboard.
As anybody noticed the image on the screen is always the same in all the pictures? And no power cables shown...
Looks more like a model to me than a real working PC...
coffee | nose > keyboard ©
This Post Is Powered By the Intel Pentium 4! Get yours today! If you don't, you are l4m3.
In addition to the above, I would like to know about:
3. How secure is this?
I have already heard tales about being able to spoof/sniff logitech wireless mice and keyboards. Like much of wireliess tech, this just adds another layer of vulnerability. Why go through the trouble of getting a trojan onto a system, when you can do it remotely, w/o using a network? Add this to a wireless LAN, and it seems like it opens a lot of doors.
Takahashi Rumiko made beats! DON, taku, DON, taku. . .
I have enough trouble with finding my remote.
Now I can lose my keyboard, mouse, monitor and CPU. This is definately progress.
--
#include <malloc.h>
free(your.mind);
Together its about $950 without monitor. It runs completely on 266Mhz bus (DDR) and outperforms your common 2Ghz P4 with SDR bus thats shipped all over as latest greatest.
It has 4xUSB 2.0, 4xUSB 1.1 and 1x IEEE1394 (firewire). And also other standard ports. Dolby Digital Surround sound is also neat and the thing just rocks. And under $1000.
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
Did you actually look at the thing? Sure, some of the gadgets are interesting, but the way they've put it together isn't what I'd call sweet.
Expandability? None, internally, to speak of. So that means loads of things hanging out on FireWire or USB cables. Wanna upgrade? Better call HP, as I'm sure this thing screams 'proprietary case design' for the thermal management they mention, let alone that's generally how HP works. Add that DVD-ROM? External, please. CD-RW? Same thing. Hard drive? Replace the existing, while juggling your data, because there isn't space for a second one.
They mention XP pretty prominently, but I doubt seriously it will run Linux out of the box. They mention the Intel Pentium 4 a LOT. But I can get more bang for the buck with an Athlon. Option for that? Not that I could find...
All in all, the whole thing looked like a commercial for Intel, not a sweet concept PC.
Little girls, like butterflies, need no excuse. -- L. Long
Intel has a page about this Concept PC. It is not slashdoted like the main link :)
I saw this system on TechTVs week in review. The system box is tethered to the display unit by a cable up to 200ft long. The Box contains the HD, processor, display card, etc. The flat panel display contains the CD/DVD drive, camera and a speaker.
The mouse and keyboard are the only wireless parts of the system.
According to dinky Jim Lauderback, HP claims you'll only need to change the dispaly component every 5-6 yeats, and the system box every 2-3 years.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
/.-ed again :(
Today's PC is brought to you by the number 17 and the letters N, S, and A. Tune in tomorrow when we show you how to get rid of that annoying aluminum foil wrapped around your head.
I use a logitech wireless keyboard and mouse... is it just me or is this technology still a little immature? Once every few weeks things go on the "fritz" -- the mouse stops responding or the keyboard acts really weird -- radio interference?? I'm only 3 feet from the transmitter... its nice to have no wires but when the keyboard malfunctions its -really- annoying.
Warning: User designtechnica@localhost has already more than 'max_user_connections' active connections in /home/www/designtechnica/mainfile.php on line 42
/home/www/designtechnica/mainfile.php on line 42
Warning: MySQL Connection Failed: User designtechnica@localhost has already more than 'max_user_connections' active connections in
Unable to select database
I want to see line 42. Right now I refreshing the page.
...if you owned such a system. I'd be willing to bet that you'd rather buy a GeForce 3 AGP card for $100 (yeah, I'm dreaming) than a GeForce 3 module for $300, right?
Profitable indeed, if they could only persuade people it was worth it.
Besides, how difficult is it really to swap parts of a PC? Sure, still too complicated for the average user, but at least these days we have PnP, IDE autodetection, and so on...
Would it kill you to add an HP Logo?
There's at least 1 HP story a month and quite a few in recent months with the whole layoff/merger/calculator thing. They always manage to pick some other logo, last week it was the Compaq one...
Slashdot is such hypocrites. It is running on Windows 2000 and IIS, masked to give out "fake" responses saying it is Linux/Apache.
Paying lip service to a bunch of freeloaders while running on a stable 21st century OS is pretty hyprocritical. Come on, come out of the closet already.
the cat is out of the bag
Back when it was called the Apple G4 Cube... <br>Except that the cube needed no CPU fan... And was designed by people with talent. Hmm...<br><br>
On top of that.. The non-symmetric monitor would make my head explode after 2 hours of usage. Not too sure about the 60's era TV throwback industrial design thing either...<br><br>
summary: leave the innovative industrial design to Apple and keep to making those hideous grey or beige boxes, HP...<br>
I hate Grammar Nazi's
Funny, I did the same thing because the page didn't even bother trying to render in my browser. So I saved the HTML and read the article in "vi". Or rather, I saved the HTML and spent 30 seconds trying to find the damn article.
1) SaveAs article.html. Cut-and-paste only the HTML that includes the article text and image HREFs.
2) SaveAs articleraw.html. Cut out the user comments, leaving the original HTML intact.
3) $ wc article*.*
44 381 2473 article.html
482 1742 22916 articleraw.html
Geez, a 10:1 ratio of Javashit and other dreck to actual content, and that's without loading graphics.
The sick thing is that I know that's not a record for waste.
Maybe someone can beam the power into the machine with lasers or something, but I wouldn't want to have to reboot every time a cat runs under the desk!
Every time? I suspect each cat would only be able to do this once. How many cats do you have?
Isn't the latency for wireless bad enough it's noticable for fast-twitch gaming such as Unreal/Quake and relatives?
Any sort of RF-based wireless hardware bears a much greater risk of interfering with, or getting interference from, ham radio equipment, cordless phones, and other RF devices nearby.
Given this, wireless accessories make a lot less sense if you're also an amateur radio op, especially if you're operating on the UHF and microwave bands required for things like satcomm and moonbounce/EME communications.
The endless hype surrounding wireless devices really makes me wonder how long it's going to be before someone starts playing with their RF-based wireless keyboard, and their typing ends up on their neighbor's PC or something equally annoying.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
Perhaps Bluetooth connectivity is an add-on then? I have trouble believing this. HP make good hardware, and they charge a bundle for it. Thats the way it's always been. Even if it does have an intel heart-replacement.
The question is, does it still have a 16-bit BIOS, AT hardware interrupts and a funky A20 line on the processor?
:-)
I'm out of my tree just now but please feel free to leave a banana.
HP doesn't really even deserve their name anymore. Hewlett and Packard are both dead. All the cool scientific goodies have been spun off into Agilent. HP just killed off ACO after insulting their loyal user community with the 49G. And Carly Fiorina (can you look at her picture and honestly say that she doesn't look like a vulture?) is gleefully turning the remnants of HP into yet another Microsoft whore.
Their printers are the only tolerable product they're still producing, and I hear Epson is rapidly catching up. I have had the worst luck with HP's computer systems, both with the Kayak (their "high-end workstation" that I used at a previous job) and with various Pavilions that I have tried to fix/upgrade for people (oh, and their tech support is useless; try calling and asking what Ethernet card they have inside: "oh, that would be a `10/100' card, sir").
HP has a training program wherein you can get significant discounts on their products if you take online classes. I guess the idea is that retailers will be more eager to sell HP if they have 1) gotten free stuff from HP, and 2) know lots about HP products. Well, the HP PhotoSmart 612 which I got at a nice discount is of horrible quality. The camera design itself is actually pretty decent, but I had to go through 5 cameras before I found 1 without significant CCD defects. What I can tell you from my extensive HP training is this: Don't buy HP, kids. They suck.
TO BUY A NEW CAR WOULD MAKE YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE.
Or at least in my experiences they haven't been.
Has anyone else found a wireless keyboard that works okay under games? Seems like the keys don't register as often or quick enough.
I can't remember the model I was using. It had a touchpad built in.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
Seriously, if you're advocating simple to upgrade PCs.
Pull a latch and the side of the G4 pops open. Drives sit on the bottom and are connected to a ribbon cable. CPU sits on an easily upgradable daughtercard (or maybe it's in a ZIF socket by now, I own a Titanium Laptop), ram is easily accessable, and all the PCI slots are trivially available because the motherboard lies on the hinged door.
The problem? Most PC buyers don't want to *pay* for the ability to easily tinker with their PC, instead placing higher value on performance and price, leaving design innovation, power consumption, and noise pollution as casualties of their budgets.
GPL Deconstructed
Although I may be a lowly AC, I -do- have to comment on this.
What is to get excited about? Concept PC? Concept of what? It's all more of the same---same centralized ram-it-all-through-the-CPU architecture running on the Nth generation 8086 derivative. There's nothing new about that at all. All else is fluff--bluetooth? Wireless? Whoop-de-do. This is nothing I couldn't assemble myself.
What -I- want is something new. JUNK the PC architecture entirely---start over with something new. Geeze, when was the last time anyone tried that? The BeBox perhaps? And no thanks to the Dual Monopolies (TM) of Intel and Microsoft, it died before it hit the streets. No one can afford to try something new with Microsoft and Intel around.
Now before I wax nostalgic about the Amiga, all I will say is this: at least they tried a totally new approach to computer hardware. With the lamentable rise of the IBM PC clone we've been walking in lock-step with a braindead design.
*sigh* at least we have the Apple machines...they aren't revolutionary but at least they're -different-.
It seems that the only consumers willing to pay for design considerations are Apple customers.
Fanless design, low power design, ease of accessability, ease of maintainance, CPUs on daughtercards, Firewire and USB, easy to access ram, easy to open cases, are all part of the G4 Tower and the G4 laptop.
The majority of PC buyers would rather put up with more noise pollution, cramped and difficult to maintain cases, spaghetti cables, and heat than pay for the design and manufacture of concept PCs.
GPL Deconstructed
Gee, who did the article say was teaming up with HP to make this thing? Let me check... Oh, yeah, there it is: Intel! What they hell are they doing?!?!? Intel shouldn't waste their money promoting their own products... They should be getting together with HP and developing a product built around AMD chips... Sheesh.
As for the expandability of the thing -- read the first line:
Equipped in their concept PC.
Concept widgets generally never make it to the public as is... Oh, look, it says so right here:
Will we see these new PC's on shelves soon? Not likely..
If you are looking at something other than the link in the article, I am sorry, please post a link, but the way I read the article this is nothing more than what they call it: A Concept PC.
here's a link to Intel's version of the page...the other link i saw only took me to www.intel.com, lotta good that did...
This is exactly the same concept Apple implemented in the 20th Anniversary Mac in 1997, and they actually sold the thing! It had a box on the floor for the power supply and subwoofer to complement its Bose sound system (where is the audio on this box?), and it thethered to a flat monitor that integrated the motherboard, CD drive, and speakers. The concept of placing the power supply outside the enclosure to save space and increase cooling efficeincy was used again in the Cube. The wireless keyboard and mouse are also very old news; if you wanted them you would have bought them months ago.
"Will we see these new PC's on shelves soon? Not likely"
Yes, the fact that HP is far too safe/non-innovative (they weren't always that way, either) a company to actually introduce it makes this even more of a non-event.
But I suppose we are resigned to see another box shop make some half-assed copy of an Apple idea and be lauded by the technologically-illiterate press once again.
"Reality is just a convenient measure of complexity" -Alvy Ray Smith
There is more information from the (non-slashdotted) Intel site. The thing at the side of the monitor is indeed a CD player (CD writer, even).
For comparison, look at the Concept PC 2000 (also known as "deep forest") from HP and Intel sites. Both designs feature a small case. The most advanced feature of the 2000 design is that the side of the case has a translucent panel so that you can use the PC as a picture frame (for those who don't have enough room for their pr0n). But the lack of PCI slots seems like a pretty big limitation (if USB were faster and had more peripherals, maybe that wouldn't be such a big deal and I suppose for many uses it still isn't a big deal, but I'm not sure I'm quite willing to consign PCI to the "legacy" category yet).
I could never get into the whole small pc thing. Every time I have to fiddle with small case computers, I have visions of hell turned loose. To me a "sweet computer" is one in which everything is easily upgradable and insertable. On my last computer, I replaced every component except the actual case (which I am also planning to do soon with an addtronics 7896 case). This thing is just begging to be outdated before it is even fashionable due to when the next cool graphics card comes out or when 600X cd roms are all the minimum on games or even just to upgrade ram.
I miss the Karma Whores.
Ok now, I'm not talking about laptops. I'm talking about this wireless (home)PC. Really, whats the point? once you throw printers, speakers, internet (phone line or cable modem) digital cameras and whatever other nifty toy's people have for there PC's these days your still going to have wires sticking out all over the place so really it's not a big deal since you can already go buy a wireless keyboard and mouse. And who needs to move their home pc around that much? isin't that what laptops are for?
Snoozer.
... besides the matching cute exteriors of the devices? We already have the "concept" of wireless mice and keyboards. Besides, why the hell would anyone want a wireless mouse, with its horriffic refresh rate?
luckman
I don't involve myself with flames, much less know how to bait one.
imagine how fun it would be to see everything your neighbor does and sees!!
my neighbor is big into porn, now i can get all i want for free!! only problem is he's a homo.
"The new concept is that of wireless keyboard and mouse, and an 18" flat screen LCD monitor to top things off."
Oh, yeah, I've never heard of any of those things before. What a concept! They're still on the ol' cutting edge there at HP.
Maybe, just maybe, it is becuase this concept PC was co-developed my Intel and HP.
-- Find the Truth...
For those of us that can see and need to be in the same room as the monitor, the range and less dependance on direction or line of sight of RF over infra-red is an advantage. For example, my IR mouse can't quite make it from the lounge to the top of the TV set, so the sensor has to sit on an object at the same height as the mouse about a metre in front of the TV.
One possibility, which I don't think has a commercial solution yet, is to connect a transmitter to the RF-out on a video card, have it tuned to a spare channel and use TV sets wherever you go as monitors. The frequencies for TV are at the top end of the MHz range, so a very similar piece of equipment to the small, low power FM transmitters should do to job. Picture quality will not be fantastic due to NTSC (not the same colour twice) and PAL limitations. For those of us with one TV a cable would be better.
of a wireless monitor? I am gonna assume that it still has a power cable, so it's not really "wireless" anyway, and seems like a cable between your stationary monitor and your stationary PC won't really get in the way much.
I do love my RF keyboard and mouse though - but I never did realize how "conceptual" and "cutting edge" they are.
sic transit gloria mundi
Since the CPU case is for the most part not a human interface device and since it is the only one producing irritating white noise, wireless interfaces make it possible to move the noise into a closet, air-conditioned box in the garage, attic or neighbor's guest house.
Luuvely! With a strong enough transmitter I bet you could overpower the base unit... AYBABTU!
Wah!
...but I've already got one!
When I bought my computer two years ago, it was a Cyrix with a PCChips motherboard and a 14" VGA monitor. Now only the case remains.
RF keyboard + mouse, 15.1" Sony flat screen, 1.1GHz thunderbird, a GeForce 3 Titanium and vast rolling expanses of RAM.
And all for about 1/3rd of the likely price of this thing. I'm just a little upset that that TBird is almost obsolete already! Now twin 2GHz Athlons - that would be droolworthy.
"I think he was truly surprised at how little I cared about how big a market the Mac had" - Linus on Jobs
I love the wireless cup of coffee that is featured in most of the pictures of this new comp. what would ever get done without coffee? obviously nothing.
So basically, it's a small footprint PC case (BookPC), a flat panel display (hundreds to choose from), a wireless keyboard/mouse setup (dozens to choose from)...and that's it.
Hell, if that's a concept PC, I'll take my modified Biostar Sunflower to Comdex next year. Or my i-opener! Yeah, that's the ticket. That'll blow them away. Computer and flat-panel display IN THE SAME BOX!!!
And why would I want wireless input peripherals in an office environment (as they seem to be hinting at in the photos)? Anything that isn't tied down disappears. No more handing out $10 replacements when someone spills coffee on the keyboard or steps on their mouse.
i've never ever seen any techie's desk so clean. in a matter of hours questions like "where the hell is my mouse!" and "who put the keyboard on the shelf?" and "who put this picture of spock on my monitor!" would come screaming out of the cubicle/office space. sometimes i think the cables are necessary just so we don't lose the components, and the size so they dominate the desk full of clutter...
I can just see it now - 100 keyboards and mice within earshot of each other - that's 200 xmitters and 100 recivers. Can anyone say RF pollution?
Think outside the... Hey, where'd the friggin' box go?
As for it being safe, large amounts of RF radiation will turn you into a crispy critter.
All of the earth return work he did also looked very weird - apparantly he planted a light bulb in the ground near an AC generator and it lit up.
He has a reputation for being a crackpot, which mostly came from Edison calling him names over the DC (Edison) vs AC (Tesla) debate, and from a few psuedo-documentaties that came out in the 1970's (you know the sort- "What are these mysterious roads into the sea, are they proof that Easter Island was once part of Atlantis?" when twenty years before someone with scuba gear has proved that they were BOAT RAMPS!). All of those pencil sketches that are shown things like airships generating power by the potential difference in the atmosphere and broadcasting it were never published (that's why they are in pencil), and just get dragged out when someone wants to make Tesla the pin-up boy of the conspiricy theorists.
This a concept pc? More like a pc that is somewhat non legacy and has wireless components. As others have noted: great, I can lose my keyboard and mouse too. Fundamentally though it is still within the same monitor-keyboard-mouse-cpubox paradigm defined at Xerox PARC. Cept it has things in different positions and fewer wires. Why a cpu-box? I thought LCDs don't generate that much heat, so why not, at very least, increase the leg-room, deskspace, whatever and combine the cpu-box and monitor. Things can certainly be made light enough; we have laptops after all. Also why no creativity from the industry leaders in the interaction dept. I have always wanted to do something like combining an expresso pc (see arstechnica.com) with a head mounted display. Maybe even throw in vr gloves and software that virtualizes the standard interfaces (keyboard, pointer) and adds new ones. This is the same old thing with prettier chrome.
-ghostis
Computer Science is all about trying to find the right wrench to bang in the right screw. -T.Cumbo?
Maybe someone should go into business making chains for these wireless devices. "Always losing you mouse, why not securely chain it to your keyboard so you never have to look for it again." Probably should make the chain look like a normal mouse cord.
People might steal the keyboards so better chain them to.
People who buy more than one of these might forget which computer is which monitor, so we better have a chain (again styled like a cord) to connect the wireless screen to the computer.
Alternative Laptop Gallery Lots of cool images!!
"The computing element measures 4.5"H x 12.8"W x 14.8"D and contains sealed and secure devices to offer increased control for information technology managers"
First off it seems the real innovation here is the new marketing BS - "My computer doesn't have a CPU, it has a Computing Element!"
"Sealed and secure device" - as in, "you can't fuck with them"? By the gods, what's the point then!!??
sic transit gloria mundi
yeah, and in a cube the farthest your keyboard can be from the receiver is about 4cm, so it kinda looses the whole idea.
sic transit gloria mundi
Is it secure? I don't know much about Bluetooth, so I couldn't say. But I don't want to be transmitting my keystrokes in cleartext over RF. Somebody probably already mentioned this, but I couldn't find the thread...
Still to this day, upgrading a hard drive or a graphics card is an unnecesarily obfuscated process, requiring the PC guts to be cracked open and laid out on the kitchen table.
If upgrading hardware was quick and simple - what would be the fun in it?
sic transit gloria mundi
ever since the P4:
"'Concept PC 2001' uses the power of the Intel® Pentium® 4 processor platform for future PC innovation."
What does that sentence MEAN?? How can a computer (even a Concept PC) use a platform to achieve future innovation?? Or is it just using a platform that's itself is a platform for future innovation? In that case, since when is a proccessor a platform for innovation? And lastly, what the hell does "platform for future PC innovation" mean in the first place???
sic transit gloria mundi
uhh... are my Kendwood 72X, Plextor 24X and Asus DVD all gonna fit in there?
sic transit gloria mundi
I have yet to see a good fixed wireless power solution for a PC that doesn't potentially kill the user or his stuff. Yes, the fuel cells look promising, but recharging your keyboard/ mouse/ monitor(?) with a cartridge every few months may end up being too much hassle.
Never never never smoke crack before geometry class!
...the Pentium 4. The whole concept is that of a better working environment with the best technology too, but mainly to get the job done. The 2001 Concept PC uses... Better working environment? The dude is still surfing the web and wasting productivity... So much for getting the job done... ;) Now we can goof off without any wires to tangle our coffee cups.
My god! You still use floppies? I'm sorry, but you can't have a nice modern PC until you can get over that. :-)
:-)
Another example of the dark side of PCs. The inertia for `the way we have always done it' is immense.
When I got my first iMac I was worried about the no-floppy. It was pointless. I have never wanted a floppy for any mac since then. I still use them on PCs that are too old to boot from CD or net. Got to get linux on there somehow.
So where's the wireless power?
Seastead this.
My wish for a PC is to be rackmount at home, in the basement. Keyboards, mouses, CDROMs and Monitors are dispersed in the house. Since the CPU is in the basement, the fan noise would not be a problem in the main appartements. Quiet, slick terminals across your home... Imagine...
Note that rackmount of a 5U unit at least. I want the same upgrade possibilities as I have with my mid tower. The CPU unit does not need to be slim; costs consideration must come before space or even noise (to a limit of course).
Remember the year 2000? They promised us flying cars. They delivered the PT Cruiser...
I don't think the Monitor is acutally wireless, I couldn't find any specific mention oother than on the post above.
Let's think about the bandwidth required to display 1600x1200 resolution, Bluetooth doesn't come close to hacking it
This monitor has effectively increased the surface area that I have to put the stickers from my bananas on by at least 500%. It's going to be a long time before we see another innovation like this from the computer industry.
Try 9th post, buddy. Not to mention that you came in 3 minutes after the first post.
LOL! You're later than the 10th post, and four minutes off from the original post! Jesus Christ, you fucking eat balls!
OK.. so i'll lose a karma for flamebait.. but WHO THE HELL MODS THIS!!! -1 Offtopic? WTF That's a poorly used as the 10 -1 Redundants i've got.. and only 3 other comments posted!!
:->
:)
Anyway. I'd hate to be that cat, with that much power runnin via laser
Microwave might work... but with the same caveat
I do find however that the worst wire to work with is the power wires. Its stiff.. and finding damn OUTLETS!!! i've got WAAAY too many surge strips already!
Is it just me, or does that look like my parents old Black and White Zenith TV that got run over by a steam roller.
Seriously! Wats with the off-center screen, and the knob looking things at the side!! DAMN that's waaay to retro.
Oh, and BAN the fucker who used all their mod points to -1 Offtopic relevant posts. dumbshit..
I love how someone modded this as offtopic. I've seen posters who didn't bother to read the story or the article, but when a mod does it, it's just sad.
See the picture with the monitor hanging on the cube wall -- this thing has 'corporate' written all over it.
Expandability? None, internally, to speak of.
Corporate MIS doesn't generally add cards or internal devices.
I'm sure this thing screams 'proprietary case design'
Corporate MIS NEVER wants to upgrade motherboards. Any other objections?
All in all, the whole thing looked like a commercial for Intel
Yup, different market than you, hopefully you'll understand that. Still it's been done 100 times already (see iPaq, etc).
From pricewatch.com
$503 17" LCD
45 wireless keyboard+mouse
64 32M RADEON
218 1.5G P4 + MB
45 512M RAM
73 40G drive
8 ATX micro case
84 WinXP
Same fluff and junk different approach. You would think with a few years of experience between Intel and HP that they would have come up with something better than commodity hardware that has been trashed with more proprietary hardware.
I have been working with computers for years, and even teach a computer repair course for an Adult Education program. The thing that torques me off more than anything is that this concept PC is nothing but a scam. Let me see here, I run to my local computer store and buy a NLX box, wireless keyboard and mouse. I get a little jiggy with a soldering iron and mount the RF wireless receiver inside the case. I get me a nifty LCD Monitor, put it in a box with a Laptop/NLX style CDROM... break out the soldering iron again, and make a single nifty cable to go from the "Monitor, Drive" to the NLX Box.
We are down to 2 cables, 1 for power, one for Monitor...Ohhh wait, how about a 802.11b wireless card. Job is done.
Now on to the bashing part: They probably spent more than my new house cost on developing this thing. While what they should have been doing is spending less time on fluff and more time on compatibility. Like say, developing a Standards based store bought computer that doesn't consist of a $79 mother board, and the cheapest stuff they can get their hands on, then putting in a Pentium 4 and sell it as gold. Ohhh wait, they could use a FORM FACTOR in a PC... so when they pull a Micron and put a pico fuse on the motherboard connecter, you have to buy a Micron motherboard.
Wait... Speaking of standards, Pentium 4... different power supply, different memory, marginal performance gains.
Boils down to pure crap.
Is it me, or have computer keyboards actually gotten crappier over the years? More keys, buttons, dials, and knobs. Fancy colors, new computer interfaces (USB, IEEE1394, bluetooth). However, the actual performance, functionality, and durability of computer keyboards has gone down hill over the past 10 years. The strange thing is that almost every other aspect of computers has improved significantly over the past 10 years. CPUs are god-like compared to those available 10 years ago. RAM is fast, plentiful, and costs next to nothing. Same goes for harddrives. Video displays have gotten larger, and have better quality.... etc... Hell, even the other major input device, the pointing device has improved (trackpoints, laser and mechanical mice, etc).
Keyboards on the other hand are degenerating into cheap pieces of crap. They no longer have crisp clean tactile feedback, which makes fast and accurate touch typing possible. Keystrokes often fail to register. Keys stick, and even sometimes fail to press. All in all, the modern keyboard fails at its most basic task: typing.
Why are keyboards getting worse?
Here are some of my theories:
So yeah, this Concept PC looks cool, and I am glad that overall, computer technology is improving, but I wish that the "few steps back" taken in the keyboard technology department didn't have to happen from generation to generation. Of course, some people still make and sell good keyboards with the high quality and durable capacitive aka buckling spring keyswitch technology.
Don't forget the magnetic floppies that are the heart of Zip and LS-120 disks. They'll probably be around for years to come.
Never never never smoke crack before geometry class!
BFD.
BTDT.
If you get a decent case, all this becomes simple. Take my case, for instance. Open the side latch and the whole side comes off. Flip a catch and the 5 1/4" drive bay comes out to allow you to screw in drives from both sides. Flip another catch and the floppy bay comes out. Case fans fit into clips, which gets rid of the need for screws. Tons of room, so that you can get at any part of the motherboard.
Elapsed time to replace any component in the system? A minute, max.
If that's not fast enough for you, then buy swappable drive bays for your hard drives. It's not hot-swappable, but the drives just slide in and out. Course, you need enough externally accessable 5 1/4" bays.
It seems we live in worlds too different to even communicate. Allow me to supply more detail...
:-)
Zip - it never entered my mind to use a zip disk. I have no use for cheap, unreliable storge (floppies), I certainly have no use for expensive unreliable storage.
Bootable CDs - my prefered way to install software. Fragility doesn't matter. I lose them or loan them. I just burn a new one each time I need one.
Bootable Network - I use this. If my NIC dies I replace it. I'm using Linux on these machines. I do not have a driver issue to deal with. If I did, I would just use a CD or CD-R to tote the driver over.
Everything is networked. All my valuable data moves around at night using rsync so it is stored on multiple machines. rsync is patient. Most users (image editors aside) don't make enough data that rsync won't catch up in a couple of hours at night, even on a modem.
You use "floppies" and "reliable" in the same sentence. I'll assume that is a typo.
You mention me using a costly horrible to upgrade box. I'm not sure what you mean there. I buy my wintel boxes for $400 (cheapest machine at BestBuy) and never upgrade them (ok, I do add RAM initially if I will be running gimp or such on it). The macs I usually buy low end machines on their 'end of model' sale and get a nice price on those as well.
Other than adding RAM or a new drive now and again I have only upgraded 1 machine in 20 years. I got a clocked doubled P180 for a P90 once. It wasn't really worth it. The rest of the machine was mostly obsolete and the machine just got bus bound. Paying a premium for upgradability is a waste of money in my book. Part of that comes from having multiple computers. I can always just demote all the machine, give away to oldest machine, and buy a new for the machine that needs CPU.
Sony's 18.1" LCD display is available now. Looks better, too.
This is an interesting concept and show of technology but very insecure.
It is currently hard enough to secure current displays and interfaces from determined, well funded snoops(read government, drug cartels, industrial estionage).
Current wireless keyboards(Logitech) are very easy to intercept from a decent distance.
You could aquire much more information from a distance if you could watch all input from the office or appartment nextdoor.
I would hope the display and keyboard would use some sort of encryption.
SIGFEH
We always hear about the Concept PC's yet they always go back to the 1980's technologies of the floppy, slow serial, slow parallel etc. IR Wireless keyboard and mouse were here more than five years ago and last month I tried one that was very reliable and cheap. Nothing is new here.
The concept PC of 200X is one that sheds all the bottlenecks of the 80's and 90's. Unfortunately every PC maker talks the talk but does not walk the walk.
/-\ |-|
Yet another sad attempt by a PC designer to make cool, elegant, homogenous looking computer components like Apple. At least this doesn't look as slapped-together and idiotic as earlier HP and Compaq attempts.
Maybe they'll get it right in several years, just about on track for the general "PC now is Apple 10 years ago" rule.
Why is it that only Apple seems to be able to pull this off? They couldn't have hired all of the talented industrial designers in the world.
As usual, this HP P4 box is just a ripoff.
The Twentieth Anniversary Mac was introduced in 1997 and Apple built 12000 of them. It contained a Base unit with power, drives and subwoofer. Just cable one from the base unit to the LCD display which contained a cdrom and the connectors... or check the picture to see it yourself..
Tesla was successful! Haven't you ever seen a Tesla coil? That's wireless power, buddy. It's a little loud and tends to smell like ozone, but Tesla wanted to put one of these on every street corner.
Sure it looks neat, but what about the always full coffee mug. That's gotta come in handy for all night coding/gaming.
0 011113comp_a.htm
On another note, someone mentioned the article on Intel's site but I didn't see a link directly to it so here it is:
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/2
They have nice big pictures there so you can actually tell what those dial looking things are.
Granted, I didn't read the article, just looked at the pictures (hey, I have an art degree). But the two circular 'knobs' on the monitor remind me of the TV I used to plug my Timex Sinclar 1000 into -back when 1K was this boundless void of ram.
Never trust a bald barber; he has no respect for your hair
" Fiorina holds a bachelor's degree in medieval history and philosophy from Stanford University "
*Insert jibe about her medieval treatment of HP here*
Alex 4.0
a new way for my employer to cram me into an even _smaller_ space than I'm already in now.
There's no "I" in Linux.. err..
That monitor looks like one of those old (pre-remote) tv's complete with separate dial for UHF and VHF stations
what a piece of shit. the monitor looks very stupid the way they have it. if you must have a cd drive on the monitor, at least they could have mounted it on the back so that you don't have this wasted blue hunking real-estate on the side. where do they find their industrial design guys? toys"r"us? gm? zenith? i'm sure they were tops in their class. what a joke. hawaii five-0 anyone?
small box is nice. but come on, it's still a box. ooooh, how original.
keyboard and mice are old news. nothing special.
you can say what you like about apple, but at least they know how to make shit look good. the rest of the industry in that regard just plain sucks.
-running with scissors
By the way, aren't there security concerns with running every interface on the PC as wireless? Brings a whole new definition to sniffing/hacking someone's box if you can hijack the video, input devices, and network connectivity.
With RF, I might be concerned that I'd have yet another plain text connection that could be snooped.
Does anyone remember when keyboards were attached to the terminal? It was such a nice thing when, finally, you could put the thing in your lap. Now we have the Enterprise class keyboard (named after the aircraft carrier, which it resembles. There are all these extra keys on one side. So in the lap, the keyboard is an out of balance accident waiting to happen.
Laptops have nice compact keyboards that you can put in your lap, but the monitor goes into your lap too.
-- Stephen.
This seems to me that HP was inspired by Apple's Cube. The color scheme looks the same (from the tiny pictures), they tried to minimize cables (Cube had ADC & AirPort), a slot load optical drive, and they are using airflow to control the temperature just like the Cube.
I have a website. It's about Macs.