Dell has previewed a new instant on technology that allows users to carry out basic tasks on their notebooks without having to boot up into Windows. Is this the future for notebooks?
laptop_latitude_e4200_overview3.jpgThe technology, called Dell Latitude ON, will feature on the Latitude E4200 and E4300 in the next few months. It will allow users to have near-instant access to a Linux-based environment that offers email, calendar, attachments, contacts (yes, these are going to have to be cloud computing-based since you’re not going to want to have to reenter the same data more than once) and a web browser, all without ever needing to boot into the main operating system. An added advantage of Dell Latitude ON its that it extends the battery life from hours to days. Sweet.
Instant on technology isn’t a new thing. Dell Latitude ON is similar to ASUS’ ExpressGate or Voodoo’s IOS technologies which are powered by Splashtop.
Instant on technologies have a number of potential upsides for the end user. Speed of boot-up (near instant) and increased battery life are two obvious benefits, but there are others. Having your browsing and email isolated from the main bulk of your data is highly desirable (as is browsing within a secure environment that’s resistant to malware such as keyloggers), as is having access to an environment that’s resistant to being crippled by a dodgy driver or misbehaving software could be very useful at times.
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