ViewSonic Wireless Smart Displays
- — 28 February, 2003 07:18
Imagine being able to turn your desktop PC into a tablet PC. Well, ViewSonic has confirmed its intent to release during the first quarter of 2003 a range of 802.11b wireless smart displays — what it has dubbed airpanels. At the Comdex trade show in late 2002, the company unveiled two main models, one with a 15in LCD display (V150) and a second 10in LCD model (V110).
Stated to have long-life lithium-ion batteries lasting up to five hours and a three-second bootup time, the devices are touch-sensitive and can be controlled using a stylus. This allows you to leave the keyboard and mouse at the desk where they belong. An airsync USB wireless adapter for the PC is likely to be included.
The models represent some of the first devices based on Microsoft’s Mira technology and require Windows XP Professional to enable full airpanel functionality. ViewSonic’s Web site mentions a free upgrade to XP Pro but whether this offer is also made available to Australian customers remains to be seen.
The flagship V150 weighs about 2.7kg, has a maximum resolution of 1024x768 and can be used as a standard monitor when docked. It also uses a 400MHz Intel XScale processor (as found in many PDAs) to help improve speed and power efficiency along with 32MB of flash ROM and 64MB of SDRAM. The built-in Windows CE for Smart Displays operating system is interoperable with Windows XP Professional on a desktop PC. At the time of writing, pricing and specifications had yet to be finalised.
Price: $TBA URL: www.viewsonic.com
