2004: What�s ahead for IT products
GCN lays out what to expect tech-wise in goverment sector in 2004
Excerpt
The merger of the LCD with the computer seems as inevitable as the marriage of handheld computers to cell phones over the last couple of years. Gateway Inc., MPC Computers LLC and Sony Electronics Inc. have set out on the all-in-one road, and others will follow.
Early government adopters see the all-in-one as a cure for the inconveniences of most desktop designs. It saves space in cramped cubicles, draws less power aboard ships or aircraft where every watt counts, and generates less heat.
A trip down the corridors of the Senate or House office buildings will reveal multiple TVs monitoring C-SPAN and CNN. All-in-one systems can easily handle TV display and next year will become more adept at recording video.
Vendors that have not yet adopted all-in-one designs�notably Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.�have given buyers the option of attaching a small, sleek PC to an LCD, as do the Dell SX260 or the Compaq Evo D510.
The main reason the largest vendors have not endorsed all-in-one packages is untimely replacement. Early all-in-one designs had nonswappable hard drives that required complete system replacement for even a minor failure. Inability to swap RAM and video components meant systems were nearly impossible to upgrade.
In 2004, almost every all-in-one will have modular components. Look for more ergonomic designs, too, and for software that makes a PC, particularly an all-in-one, function like a TV to record snapshots of programs. Sony and MPC all-in-ones can do so.
Story Link
Government Computer News (GCN) daily news -- federal, state and local government technology; 2004: What
Posted by Craig at December 16, 2003 02:43 PM