Flash-chip laptops will bring big improvements

Posted by TheChatter

Guest Blogger

A new generation of quieter and faster laptops is in the pipeline. The hot, heavy hard drive we all know is being replaced with cool, lightweight flash chips. Flash chips will usher in a new wave of laptops that in addition to being light and fast, won’t need charging so often and won’t heat up the tops of your thighs.

The new technology is not quite ready for the mass market, but it won’t be long. Flash chips, which use solid-state technology, are already used in digital cameras, mobile phones and iPods. Their price is falling by a half each year and industry experts expect around a fifth of all new laptops to be running on flash drives within the next three years. A 32GB flash-drive laptop is already on the market from Fujitsu, but you’ll have to pay an extra thousand dollars for it. It is rumored that Apple and Sony will be next to launch such machines.

Once flash drive laptops become widely available, a wave of change will sweep through he industry. It will boost flash memory chip makers like Hynix Semiconductor, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba. Such firms will make money before other players join in and prices drop futher. The problem with hard disks is they consume a lot of power. So conventional laptops need frequent charging through the day. Flash drives are half the weight of hard disks. With no moving parts, they are more sturdy and they can process data faster. The lack of a motor or spinning disk means they consume less than half the power and generate less heat.

Apple may win the commercial race. It is already using flash memory in its iPods, which transformed how people hear music worldwide. The company is believed to be introducing a flash-based notebook the size of a paper-back book towards the end of 2007. We could also start seeing laptops with special drives for both an old-fashioned hard disk and a new flash one. But if money is not a problem, you can get a very special flash-drive laptop right now. For one million dollars, a number of luxury gift companies are offering diamond-encrusted laptops with a 128GB flash-drive installed.

About the Author

PortableUniverse.co.uk is a good place to go for laptops and peripherals. The best thing for people to do is to talk to them, let them know what your needs are (both current and future) and they will come up with the best laptop for you. They also supply software and blank DVDs there for your backup.

http://www.portableuniverse.co.uk

Written by TheChatter on May 18th, 2007 with 5 comments.
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