BackCan innovation make personal computing more customized than it is today?
The next generation of laptops will usher in the next era of innovation
PremiumIf millennials can take personal computing for granted today, it is because of 50 years of innovation that has gone into power-packing the central processing unit (CPU) chip. The power in each sleek machine today would have taken up an entire room of equipment a few decades ago. The invention of the transistor changed everything. While vacuum tubes would be several inches long, transistors were much, much smaller —they were just millimeters in size when they were initially built, enabling compact designs for the first time.
The world’s first microprocessor, introduced in 1971, had 2,300 transistors, performing 60,000 operations per second and addressing 640 bytes of memory. With years of improvement, transistors have been shrunk to the nanometer scale, performing billions more calculations per second and offering incredible levels of performance, memory, durability, reliability and power savings.
The metamorphosis of personal computing, whether laptops or desktops, has partly been driven by consumer expectations. From the first mouse developed in 1968 and the first laptop in 1981 to the first Graphical User Interface in 1983 and the first colour display screen in 1984, each step forward has been fuelled by user considerations. Over the last 20-30 years, microprocessors have not just been in sync with customer expectations, they have often exceeded them.
The laptop itself has undergone several makeovers: from its bulky 20kg avatar at birth to the slim, sub-1kg notebooks that are out in the market today. The integration of Wi-Fi adapters into PCs in 1999 marked a major transition. The ‘Wi-Fi on the go’ feature redefined user experiences and added a whole new dimension of connectivity and mobility in business.
Consumer demand for multi-tasking has led to hyperthreading and multi-core processor technology, that delivers higher levels of processing power in personal computing. For example, if you are working on a spreadsheet while browsing the web and checking for emails using a laptop with a quad-core processor, as you enjoy a seamless experience, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes —it could be core 1 that is deployed to handle email, core 2 for the flash webpage and cores 3 and 4 for the spreadsheet.
In the last few years, technology leaders have focused on a few key areas to drive the personal computing experience: performance, improved connectivity, greater battery life, and integration of deep learning. That has led to the path-breaking microprocessors that bring performance-boosting artificial intelligence to personal computing for the first time.
So, where do we go from here? Has the laptop reached its end point in innovation? As you read this, global technology leaders are already working closely with top computer manufacturers to develop the next generation of laptops. The advancements will overcome hard engineering challenges and usher in the next era of innovation and experiences. These innovative laptops will be suited for fast-paced lives and will arguably be the thinnest, lightest and most powerful ones that have ever been designed, with voice and touch interaction modes.
These laptops boast features like instant resumption, low latency, exceptional battery life, accelerated artificial intelligence (AI) and graphics performance. With the integration of AI and 5G, users can expect blazing-fast connectivity, immersive displays, responsive gaming, seamless video conferencing, and voice assistance that can sense their needs and optimize performance. The latest ambient PCs can remain on when closed and will intelligently know when its user is nearby. Additionally, foldables and dual screen laptops are now delivering a more immersive experience and greater productivity for users.
For many, what lies ahead may seem like a slice of science fiction, but once it begins making a meaningful impact in our lives, we will witness the boundary thinning between science fiction and reality.
Prakash Mallya is vice-president and managing director for Intel India’s sales and marketing group.
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