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Would You Use a Smartphone-Style Laptop With a Three-Day Battery Life? (king5.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the decisions-decisions dept.

An anonymous reader quotes USA Today: "Always connected personal computers" -- or ACPCs -- refer to a new breed of Windows laptops with three key features: a battery that can last multiple days; instant-on access when you open the lid or touch a key; and an optional high-speed cellular connection, to avoid hunting for a Wi-Fi hotspot to get online. In other words, your laptop is going to behave a lot more like your smartphone...

In fact, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, ASUS is claiming battery life of up to 22 hours of continuous video playback, and up to 30 days on standby. At $799, the ASUS NovaGo (model # TP370) will also be the first always-connected PC with a 360-degree flip hinge -- making it a "2-in-1" that can convert from laptop mode to a tablet by bending back the 13.3-inch screen -- and the first with Gigabit LTE speeds, for an always on, always connected experience.
ASUS's media relations director touts the high-speed cellular connections -- which consumers pay for separately -- as 3 to 7 times faster than broadband. "It allows you to download a 2-hour movie in about 10 seconds."

And Qualcomm's senior director of product management says there's more ways that it's like a smartphone. "Even when the screen is off, it's still connected, so when I open the lid, it does facial recognition, and I'm in."

20 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Always Connected by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do not want under any circumstances. *I* decide when *MY* devices connect.

    1. Re:Always Connected by geekmux · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Do not want under any circumstances. *I* decide when *MY* devices connect.

      Welcome to the group of us that represent the 0.1% of society. Our motto is Good Luck With That.

      We fight against the other 99.9% of society driving manufacturers that have adopted the Take-It-And-Like-It-Bitch manufacturing standard.

    2. Re:Always Connected by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Welcome to the group of us that represent the 0.1% of society. Our motto is Good Luck With That.

      Is there a newsletter I can sign up for? I mean a mailing list. No, a usenet group or, umm, a facebook clan, that's it!

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. No thanks by scdeimos · · Score: 2

    If it's anything like the last ASUS I owned (a TF101 Transformer) the keyboard will be shit (half the keys will stop working within 12 months) and there'll be a half-dozen dead pixels that, with microscopic examination, turn out to be grass seeds under the glass. How the fuck do grass seeds get inside a screen at the factory?

    1. Re:No thanks by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      Are you 100% sure they're grass seeds?

      I've had several monitors (both home and work) acquire a bunch of dead pixels during the summer. At least I assumed it was dead pixels caused by the heat, until I saw one of the little fuckers move.

      Turns out really tiny insects were crawling between the screen and the backlight.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    2. Re:No thanks by Hal_Porter · · Score: 3

      Fumigate your house now, then burn it down, then nuke the charred remains from orbit.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    3. Re:No thanks by LordKronos · · Score: 4, Informative

      If it's anything like the last ASUS I owned (a TF101 Transformer) the keyboard will be shit (half the keys will stop working within 12 months) and there'll be a half-dozen dead pixels that, with microscopic examination, turn out to be grass seeds under the glass. How the fuck do grass seeds get inside a screen at the factory?

      I came here with the same thoughts. My thought process as I was reading the summary:

      "Would You Use a Smartphone-Style Laptop With a Three-Day Battery Life? " Well, yeah that does sound like something I might...."ASUS is claiming"....you know what, I think I changed my mind.

      I had a Transformer Prime (the model after your TF101). I had zero problems with the screen or keyboard. On the other hand, the GPS was absolute shit. It wouldn't function unless you had absolute clear line of sight. I mean, even inside my pickup truck, with windows all around, including a sunroof overhead, was not able to acquire a reliable signal. It was so bad, ASUS went as far as creating an obnoxious hardware dongle we could connect to the device. Oh, but you couldn't use the dongle while it was docked to the keyboard. What an absolute joke. The wifi was also pretty damn poor with terrible signals and disconnects. Most of us stupidly held out because we were led to believe it would be fixed with a software update, but it got to the point that ASUS eventually refused to acknowledge there was a problem any more. There were so many customers upset about this device, Amazon was voluntarily offering 100% refunds, no questions asked, for the device something like 6 or 9 months after sale. You just called them up, told them your problem, and they were instantly saying "yeah, we've had complaints about this. We'll issue you a refund"

      Stupid me decided that I loved the form factor so much, I'll just take my refund from Amazon and order the newest model, the ASUS Transformer Infinity. Mostly the same device (and compatible with the old dock I had, which I had not bought from amazon) but HD resolution, and you could see they they redesigned the case so that there was plastic instead of metal over the place where the wifi and GPS antenna was. The hardware on this model seemed great. I was very happy. Performance was super snappy, and it worked flawlessly. Then every single update got slower and slower. And we're not talking the type of slow that you see with your normal cell phone with too many apps installed. After about 1 year it had gotten so bad, I factory reset the device so it was totally clean. Even with nothing additional installed, after boot up ( and give it a minute or 2 to finish booting, but don't start any apps) you would still experience anywhere from 1 to 10 second delays in registering touch screen input. In the span of about a year it became absolutely unusable for anything. The wife an I each had our own with keyboard dock, so that's $1300 down the drain.

      Fool me twice, can't get fooled again. FUCK YOU ASUS!!!!

  3. Re:Yes by Kokuyo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yes! YES! HELL YES!

    I want a Nokia Communicator with usable screen ratio and Android OS.

    A 720 to 1080 AMOLED on the inside and epaper on the outside.

    Frickin hughe battery and antenna. THAT is what I want. I'll even wear that sucker in a belt pouch if I have to!

  4. My Tandy 102 by ckatko · · Score: 2

    My Tandy 102 has over a week of battery life.

    My "feature phone" cellphone I used to use before I had to get an android for work e-mails, lasted almost a WEEK with constant use.

    If it were up to me, I'd have a shitty feature phone that ALSO had a hotspot support, and then I'd just use my laptop whenever I want.

    Touchscreens are complete shit and the antithesis of productivity. I'm not writing comments online with a freakin' touch keyboard, it's a PITA--let alone anything productive on a cellphone. Other than checking e-mails, phone calls, and texts, there is nothing productive that comes from my phone. It's just dinking off viewing social media when I should be taking a shit.

  5. Re:Can you say by geekmux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    netbook?

    A netbook might have required a monthly recurring cost that creates a never-ending revenue stream for manufacturers.

    This new hardware fucking guarantees it.

    Big difference.

  6. yes if.. by DeBaas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yes if I can install Linux on it. I love the concept of very lightweight, long battery life and still a full OS with a keyboard.
    I've got a Lenovo MIIx, which I like, but never managed to get Linux running on it properly as it needs 64 bit UEfi but the processor (atom) is limited to 32 bit. I managed to get multiarch Debian on it but it would freeze within minutes after boot. It's probably my only device with just Windows on it and I now hardly ever use it.

    A device that can run for days, and has a full desktop OS on it definitely has purpose for me, I just prefer that to be Linux.

    Btw this link has much more info on the device

    --
    ---
  7. Re:Can you say by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

    netbook?

    Yeah... I don't really get this whole "instant on" thing. My old eee 900 had a wake from sleep time of a second. It was sufficiently low that it never bothered me. For some reason I find a 2 second pause bothersome even though by the time I have my laptop out, it's more than an instant check of something. I find my work macbook pro annoying in this regard.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  8. Re:Counter question by Hal_Porter · · Score: 3, Informative

    A Windows 10 ARM machine running x86 code gets 818 on Geekbench

    https://www.windowslatest.com/...

    I.e. about level with an Intel Celeron SU2300

    http://browser.geekbench.com/p...

    Running native code it's about 2.5x faster at 2092

    http://weborus.com/snapdragon-...

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  9. I would if... by sandoval88419 · · Score: 2

    1. it runs Linux, I mean the manufacturer (e.g. Qualcomm) is committed to integrate and support Linux
    2. The manufacturer is committed to enable the most efficient powersaving with Linux
    3. Specs are not limited or crippled in some way (like netbooks in the past)

    Otherwise I'd move along...

  10. Theoretically it could last all week. by MindPrison · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have a Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 pro that does this, add a bluetooth keyboard - and you have that laptop you're talking about.

    The key to long battery time, is to DISABLE WIFI. Bluetooth is okay, it uses a fleafart's energy of power, but WIFI is another beast, it sucks the batteries dry within hours of any device.

    When I disable wifi, it's not uncommon for me to have the device on for a whole week, and still able to just within seconds turn on wifi and go on about my business as nothing happened.

    The always-connected isn't really needed, and if it is - you'll be recharging it anyway.

    --
    What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
  11. Of course not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because it's not about running time, it's about "hey buy our new cool allways-connected-to-the-mothership-so-we-can-track-and-sell-your-data-to-the-advertisment-mob-operating-system".

  12. Re:Can you say by geekmux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In what way? I don't pay Apple for my cellular connection.

    I stand corrected by my manufacturer comment. Regardless, my point still stands. You still have to pay your cellular provider, which an iPhone turns into an iTouch real quick unless you pay for a monthly recurring service.

    Why would you pay Asus?

    Currently, some netbooks have WiFi and cellular services. In the future, I would not be surprised one bit if free connections (such as WiFi) are phased out completely in favor of making hardware that forces you to subscribe to a cellular service in order to use it.

    The concept of SaaS/IaaS isn't some fad that's going away. Pretty soon, all hardware and software will come with a perpetual cost. The concept of one-time purchase and outright ownership will become a thing of the past thanks to Greed.

  13. Chromebook by wonkavader · · Score: 2

    I have a Chromebook, so I already have a lot of this. I'd like my Chromebook to have more battery life, but it's already really good, and I don't want to carry the extra battery weight.

    I don't want to pay a monthly for connectivity for my laptop. If I really need connectivity, I'll tether the phone.

    This is too much money to lug around. I like my laptops to be cheap enough to lose/get crushed without me getting upset.

    But the real show-stopper for this ASUS thing is that it's Windows. Why in heavens name would I want ANYTHING Windows?

  14. Re: Can you say by nospam007 · · Score: 2, Informative

    "The hatred of Christianity on Slashdot is on par with Kabul, Tehran, or Riyadh."

    Not at all. Those countries have their own invisible friend.
    We are sane and have none.

  15. "Even when the screen is off" by korogorov · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Even when the screen is off, it's still connected, so when I open the lid, it does facial recognition, and I'm in."

    No. Nononono. Nope. NO.