Dell Latitude On is a Smartphone in your PC

In "Digital Domain 30 Seconds to Boot Up?" (NY Times, 1 November 2008), Randall Stross writes: "... what I want is a machine that’s ready in about a second, just like my smartphone". But what the readers may not realize is the Dell Latitude On feature mentioned is essentially that: the same type of low power processor as used in a smartphone, installed inside the laptop.

What will be interesting is how many people find they can get along day-to-day with the low power mode. If ASUS "Eee Box" desktop is as market leading as their Netbook was, then low power, low cost desktops may become mainstream. But even smaller and cheaper computers are feasible.

If you, they can replace their expensive desktop computer with a $99 unit, which just has the same sort of processor and memory as a smart phone, in a cigarette packet size case . Such computers have been sold for years as "Thin Clients" but have been hampered by the perception they are not real computers. With "cloud computing" becoming fashionable, these may soon replace most computers .