http://www.osnews.com/story/17368/Asus_W5Fe_Windows_Vista_Laptop Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2013, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:17:14 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://www.osnews.com/thread?216753 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216753 ...and another. Mon, 26 Feb 2007 23:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (cyclops) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216756 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216756 So, it's a laptop with a PDA built built in?

Sounds crazy, but then again, lots of 'crazy' ideas have been put to really nifty uses in the past few years.

As to the 'cut-down Operating System,' I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess Windows CE. Mon, 26 Feb 2007 23:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Almafeta) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216759 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216759 I guess when you have enough money you can just try ideas after ideas until one becomes a hit and makes you even richer...

Let's see what comes to my mind:
- tablet pc: flop
- xbox 360: success
- origami: flop
- zune: flop
- wart on your laptop lid to play solitaire: future flop...

At least they're trying! Mon, 26 Feb 2007 23:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Ventajou) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216761 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216761 SideShow operates when Vista is shut down to save battery life, but it will wake Vista every so often to synchronise data and to keep the music flowing.

Seriously who employs these people?. The way I see it Sideshow is either;

1) A standalone OS that can do useful things while Vista is asleep
2) A waay overhyped LCD screen

When I hear that Sideshow wakes vista up to actually do anything useful then I tend to think it must be 2. I presume that when sideshow plays music vista pushes data into the 1gig of flash and then sideshow plays it till the buffer runs out. Rinse and repeat.

But then I realise most people have mp3 players.

So what we have is a system that fills a need that is already covered by mp3 players, and for most other cases there is dollars worth of wasted hardware in the lid of a laptop.

Yes it is some cool tech but trust microsoft to come up with the lamest uses for it. What problem does sideshow solve in mode 2?Edited 2007-02-27 00:14 Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (nzjrs) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216762 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216762 I dunno, the panel looks like it wants to be a flat zune, now that you mention it. Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (findelmundo) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216771 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216771 I have to admit, when I first saw the first picture, I thought the secondary display was a Zune in some kind of built-in docking station.

On another note, it seems that Asus put zero effort into the aesthetics of this laptop. Lame thing to rant about, I know, but the thing looks uglier than the wannabe-MacBook that was the subject of a review posted here earlier.Edited 2007-02-27 00:58 Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shykid) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216777 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216777 it would be interesting if you could rip out the windows part and install linux on the 1gb to do something useful. imagine the possibilities. vista and linux running at the same time. Tue, 27 Feb 2007 01:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (broken_symlink) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216782 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216782 Call me crazy, but wouldn't that basically up the cost of the LCD replacement for the laptop, if something broke? Not to mention if you dropped that in the slightest, the pressure from the outside LCD part would crack the main LCD then you'd have to replace the entire thing.

Probably for the extra cost, you could just buy a PDA or smart phone along with a different model laptop. Not to mention for a lot of people having Vista on it would be a bad thing

Let's not forget to mention that the thing looks bulky and uncomfortable as hell to carry around. Plus, wouldn't it be a better design to just have a external device to go through the USB? Perhaps the problem with that is no way to control the power through a USB port, either way, I don't think this will exactly catch on with so many MP3 and PDA devices already out there.Edited 2007-02-27 02:01 Tue, 27 Feb 2007 01:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (leech) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216787 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216787 Tablet PC wasn't a flop. Granted it's not as popular as MS would've liked, but the platform has a following in the real estate, medical and artistic fields. Tue, 27 Feb 2007 02:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (DittoBox) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216788 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216788 But this thing is dead in the water.

I mean.. that laptop lid looks like it grew a hump. And the Sideshow idea seems kind of cool, but it's limited and impractical. If you have your laptop with you on a train/plane/car, are you going to close the lid and try to type notes, ideas, whatever on a tiny little PDA screen.... or are you just gonna open the laptop and get a lot done quicker?

It's a quirky idea, maybe worth a few test units to see how it shakes out in practical use... but I agree with other commenters - what need does this fill? Tue, 27 Feb 2007 02:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (NathanHill) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216796 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216796 You can say that again.

I once had the chance to fool around with Photoshop on a Tablet PC. Between system, software, and hardware, it was the most natural, intuitive computing experience I've ever had.

And then he told me how much it cost and I gingerly handed it back to him. Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Almafeta) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216798 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216798 I was thinking along the same lines.

If someone were to install an alternative OS, would the front panel LCD still be useful. Would it even turn on? Tue, 27 Feb 2007 04:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Xaero_Vincent) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216811 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216811 You wouldn't use the Sideshow device to type notes. It's for quick access to data already stored on the PC.

The integrated lid design will vary with the ODM, and is only one of the forms Sideshow devices will have. LG's is better integrated than Asus'.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/lge-z1-laptop-packs-sideshow-too...
Both ODMs use NVIDIA's device platform.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_38775.html

They can also be wireless devices that are either detatchable from the laptop's lid, or that are sold as standalone devices that only provide Sideshow functionality, or they can be integrated into any number of common items like alarm clocks, phones, digital picture frames, travel bags, or remote controls to provide readily available remote data access, and control for mobile, desktop, or entertainment PCs -- anywhere a secondary display can provide information or control without having to be sitting in front of the computer, or even compliment what's on the computer's monitor.
http://www.sideshowdevices.com/ricavisions-vista-sideshow-remote-co...
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/dells-sideshow-enabled-bluetooth...

The Reg article is incorrect about Sideshow gadgets being the same as Sidebar gadgets. Sideshow gadgets are built specifically for that platform, and have their own control panel in Vista. The gadgets that appear on the Sideshow device are customizable via that control panel, and there's an SDK for creating custom gadgets.Edited 2007-02-27 07:01 Tue, 27 Feb 2007 06:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (n4cer) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216820 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216820 Yeah, it will be fun for a few days but after that it's probably going to get annoying having to take that huge laptop out of the bag/backpack just to view your mail on a small screen.
You'll realize what you REALLY need is a PDA if you absolutely have to check your mail, view notes every 5 minutes everywhere you are.

And it makes the laptop ugly not to mention it's likely to get damaged in transport. Tue, 27 Feb 2007 09:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Ultimatebadass) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216822 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216822 Woo... yeah. Such as install Puppy Linux on it and have some fun with that

Then throw in some emulators and you've got yourself an over-sized gameboy :pEdited 2007-02-27 09:44 Tue, 27 Feb 2007 09:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Darkelve) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216855 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216855 I'd put logo's on it like:

* Company Logo - put your company's logo on it.
* Gamer Tag
* Personal Logos -- kinda like Apple's "apple" but in color and in motion.

..of course next we'll have major brands advertising on those little screens -- sell ad space on it. hehehe Tue, 27 Feb 2007 13:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ArcadeFX) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216888 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216888 When I had carpet installed, the guy who came out to measure had a tablet PC. Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (FunkyELF) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?216974 http://www.osnews.com/thread?216974 holds 1GB of flash memory which stores a cut-down Operating System that powers SideShow

Joke about "cut-down" 1 GIG OS, anyone? Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:50:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shiny) Comments