Intel IDF Report #4 - Wrap Up

Concept PC's

The iMac started it all and now those funky shaped, brightly colored PC's are everywhere and IDF was no exception. Intel has launched a program to recognize innovative PC designs from OEM that "advance the state of the art in innovation, simplicity, and style." The first two award winners were the Dell WebPC and the Compaq Presario EZ2000, which are currently available on the market. These two PC's are legacy free for the most part, so keyboard/mouse and all peripherals are USB based. ISA slots are gone as are serial, parallel, and game ports. The EZ2000 even features integrated Firewire support.

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Other concept PC's were based around the Intel Cape Arago concept motherboard. This motherboard measured just 5.5" x 5.5" and is a full PC, complete with 64MB SDRAM soldered onboard (nonexpendable). A 40W 5V external power brick is used to power the system so the system can be extremely small with no noise caused by fans. PaloAlto had a working design that was only a few inches thick with a notebook DVD drive attached in parallel with the motherboard.

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With the push towards increased PC usage throughout the home, with many households having multiple PC's, the time has come for these concept PC's to stop being concepts and start being reality. Don't be too surprised if you see some of these funky designs available on store shelves by the end of this year.

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Click to enlarge