Three second of late news take me thinking :
• First , Apple announces that it ’s going to start using Intel chips in its computers . The primary rationality looks like that Intel ’s good than IBM and AMD at designing buffalo chip that do n’t consume a lot of power .
• Second : Apple introduces the iPod nano , which apply flash retentiveness ( reportedly supply by Samsungat a hefty price reduction ) .
• Third , Samsung announces the first 16Gb flash memory chip , which will make it workable tostart using instant memory rather of hard drivesfor data store .
That ’s the news . Here ’s my speculation about what they could mean .
We ’re already assure what chance to design when you substitute instant retentiveness for hard ride . The ostentation - basediPod nanois something like 60 percent little than the mini , in large part because its storage chips take up so much less way than even the tiniest micro drive . While today ’s laptop thrust are smaller than ever , switching to flash memory for laptop computer warehousing could have in mind meaning size saving .
Or , rather , it could if the CPU did n’t ask chill . keep chips the right temperature accept space — for lover , heat sinks , air - flow , liquid - cool off , whatever . But index - smart chip from Intel do n’t ask as much quad for cooling .
Those silicon chip , combined with tiny warehousing chips , make it possible to radically miniaturize the laptop computer . I can guess an Apple laptop computer that put up the same resemblance to today ’s iBooks and PowerBooks as the latest iMac does to its squatty predecessors : A portable electronic computer that ’s not much thicker than its showing , either in a traditional keyboard - and - screen configuration or in the conformation of therumored Apple pad . I can also imagine a gadget the size of a organiser with the great power of a full - sized computer . And I can go to ideate some interesting home - entertainment devices that do n’t look like calculator at all .
What those new gadgets wo n’t be is cheap . Flash memory board will continue to be more per gigabyte than a hard drive : you’re able to currently buy a 250 GB FireWire drive for less than $ 1 per gigabyte , while twinkling retention identity card run $ 50 or more per spear .
But flash prices will in all likelihood fall promptly over the next couple of years . And as they do , and as Intel perfects the design of low - power , gamey - speed CPUs , Apple ’s going to have ample opportunity to do what it does best : out - innovate the rest of the computer industry .
Much of the above is phantasy and conjecture on my part , but Apple ’s now got the substantial - world partnerships to make it all bechance for literal . From my keyboard to Steve ’s ear …
