CES 2006 - Day 1: Dell's 30" Display, Quad SLI, WUSB and more
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 6, 2006 4:20 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Dell's Mobile Concept PC
The final item of interest that Dell was showing off at the show was their Mobile Concept PC.
The premise behind the PC is a unique one; it is a Media Center PC, based on a Core Duo platform, with a built in 20.1" LCD monitor, that can be folded up and used as a transportable.
The system has a Bluetooth keyboard (that can charge on the system itself) and mouse as well as a Media Center remote. Internally it's basically a notebook with discrete graphics and support for up to two 2.5" hard drives running in RAID.
The back of the LCD is covered in a leatherette material and the system has a leather handle you can use to carry it around.
Dell has apparently been working on the system for a couple of years now and are mainly interested in whether or not you all would like to see something like this brought to market. We were quite skeptical of its usefulness when we saw it, but discuss amongst yourselves - would something like this be interesting to you?
If priced competitively enough, we figured it could be decent for college students to use in their dorm rooms since they could easily take it with them whenever they left school for the holidays.
Dell looked at it as a lifestyle sort of PC, almost in a very Apple-esque fashion, however in our opinion for Dell to pull that off the machine would have to look a lot more stylish.
The transportable aspects of the system are interesting, and Dell even promised that unteathered the system would have up to 3 hours of battery life. Dell also mentioned that the final system should be around 17 lbs, which isn't terrible to move from one location to another. Note that it isn't designed to be a notebook, just a portable desktop that you would occaisonally move from one location to the next.
We are still quite skeptical of the design, but once again, Dell wants to hear from you - so give them feedback by leaving your comments.
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Xenoterranos - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
maybe it'll be a ton cheaper than a DTR. If it was maybe just a bit more expensive than say, a similarly equiped PC, then I could see it being viable.OrSin - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
Dell actually has some nice concepts. Dell high end products are getting better. To bad most people buy thier low end junk. I doubt the CPU would limit he Quad the computer in anything. The Quad video card might get a little more work if you get a 30in. But really can you game on 30in. I think tunnel vision would kick inI really like the idea of the portal. Now if they could add some MCE stuff to it would be ideal for Dorm rooms. No tv needed. and study (or play) center you can take with you, if needed.
plewis00 - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
I'm going to guess though that, as it comes with a Media Center Remote, it probably is kitted out with an internal TV tuner.It's a nice idea and one that whilst discussed has never really seen the light of day. However, given the choice I think I'd rather sit down and DIY it with a briefcase/suitcase or something than pay Dell to do it for me - if only for flexibility. Also 20" widescreen is good but it's going to be big and pretty heavy too. The fact that Dell tried something different shows attempted innovation which I don't think anyone can say is a bad thing.
FrozenCanadian - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
Does that MSI upgradable graphics thing remind anyone of the 1998 Micron/Rendition Socket X.Donegrim - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
In my opinion, the socket thing is a bad idea. It will make a complete graphics "setup" more expensive, will introduce another load of compatability issues and forced upgrading, and looks shat. Plus heatsinks will be a bitch to design/replace.PrinceGaz - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
omg I hadn't thought about heatsink issues, only enthusiasts and qualified proffesionals would be able to upgrade the GPU anyway and re-fit the heatsink (assuming it can still use the old one). I'm totally against the idea anyway for far more sensible reasons like how the GPU core and memory are very much tailored to each other and how memory speeds are steadily increasing, and sticking a next-gen core in a card will likely be a waste of money. And that's all before considering stability issues with a card you upgrade as opposed to the current market where you buy a card guaranteed to work.There is no place for upgradeable graphics sockets except on a mobo to provide an alternative to whatever the chipset offers. Actually no, that doesn't make sense either as a PCie graphics card would likely be just as cheap and offer better performance. No, upgradeable GPU/VPUs seem pointless to me. Let's stick with cards that are designed around components that work together best, rather than waste money on more expensive cards
However to say that is the world's first upgradeable graphics-card is totally wrong. Many graphics-cards in the mid 90's had sockets to add extra video-memory making which at the time was considered a serious upgrade as it allowed the use of higher resolutions and colour-depths. Different sort of upgrade agreed, but most definitely a true graphics-card upgrade and one which was readily available, unlike what we're talking about today.
LoneWolf15 - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
I think it's a killer idea, but poor implementation. I'd have done the design a bit differently if it is possible to do so, by making it possible to use Socket A or Socket 370 type HSF's on the GPU's so that customized cooling would be an easy option, and by separating the RAM from the GPU modules (perhaps SO-DIMM style?). This is probably more nVidia's issue than MSI's though. The idea of an upgradeable graphics card needs to be done to make it less expensive for the consumer rather than more (i.e., the cost of a GPU upgrade is less than buying a second card or a new card) more like buying a mainboard and changing processors. That probably needs to be done by nVidia as a from-scratch design though, and since it might not make them more money, there's probably no incentive to do so.erwos - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
The transportable is actually a brilliant idea. There's so many kids at college who buy a laptop when all they really need is something like that.-Erwos
VooDooAddict - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
I think Dell's transportable PC is a great idea. The handle makes it all come together.I'm supprised no one mentioned LAN Party! That thing has the possibility of giving Shuttle SFF PCs a nice competition.
I think that a battery is an unnessesary expense.
Seraph321 - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
I'm also very interested in this mobile desktop concept. I travel every week, and I currently take a laptop and a mini-tablet with me, but I leave the laptop in the hotel all week just so I can have a bigger screen and media/gaming options in the evenings.I would love it if the monitor could be used separately, like as an external monitor for my tablet. It would AMAZING if the monitor could travel separate from the rest of the computer in case I just want a bigger screen for my mini-tablet. If there were a way to just grab the monitor + battery and use it to extend the capabilities of my other devices, that would make me buy it right there.