The new trend for laptops is to have batteries that last up to 3 days.
Always-on PCs, or ACPC for short, is a new design and manufacturing trend for Windows-based laptops today.
According to Usa Today, ACPC is a term referring to laptops that combine key features: a battery capable of powering the device for days; instant-on technology that allows users to use a feature upon turning on the device or touching a key without having to wait for the entire operating system to boot; and a high-speed cellular network connection to avoid having to search for Wi-Fi while on the go.
In other words, the laptop would then have features similar to those of a modern smartphone.
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| Illustration photo: Internet |
Qualcomm, the world's largest smart chip manufacturer, is dominating the emerging technology trend. This also marks the second "conquest" of the PC market by the San Diego-based company after the failure of its Windows RT mobile operating system (a collaboration between Qualcomm and Microsoft) launched in 2012.
In addition, Intel is also a formidable competitor in this field. Intel collaborated with Sony in 2005 to create the first personal computer with mobile network support. In recent years, Intel has also been heavily involved in improving battery quality.
However, according to many technology experts, 2018 is unlikely to see the launch of ACPC laptop lines.
Technology analyst Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a leading Silicon Valley market research firm, said: "With the computers we have today, it's lucky to have a laptop with a 15-hour battery life, and in most cases it's 8-10 hours, so how can we expect to see a breakthrough to a new standard this year of 22 hours, or standby time of at least a week?"
However, there has been promising evidence of this capability in practice. For example, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip, ASUS claims that their laptop batteries can last 22 hours in continuous video playback mode, and up to 30 days in standby mode.
Priced at $799, the ASUS NovaGo (model # TP370) is also a laptop with a 360-degree rotating hinge and permanent connectivity. This allows users to transform a laptop into a tablet by folding the 13.3-inch screen back.
This is also the first computer with Gigabit LTE speeds, giving users a constantly connected experience.
Along with their long-lasting battery life, these always-connected computers also take advantage of the ubiquitous coverage of mobile phone networks, eliminating the need to constantly search for Wi-Fi hotspots.