This is an interpretation of an article from PCWorld. It is based on the fact that the seeping in of mobile technological devices like touch screen phones, etc have threatened the existence of PCs and laptops.

1. LAPTOPS OF 2018-
A LOOK AHEAD
PRESENTATION BY-
RAJALAXMI PRAKASH

2. INTRODUCTION
• The relevance of PCs is threatened by the new breed of
touchscreen mobile phones, tablets and the likes.
• PC makers are trying to reintroduce laptops with the
support of the drastic operating system Windows 8.
• Will try to generate excitement for laptops by introducing
new hybrid designs, such as swiveling touchscreens and
detachable displays.
• PCWorld spoke with chip makers, PC manufacturers,
and analysts to learn more about what laptops will offer
by 2018. Let’s have a look….

3. REFINING THE HYBRID
• PC makers admit that this laptop-tablet hybrid is still a
work in progress and it would take some time to get rid
of the hardware clumsiness.
• Kevin Lensing, AMD's director of notebook products,
says that he's seen some of these hybrids and their
conversion mechanisms already
look and behave better than
those of the initial wave of
products.

4. • Mark VandenBrink, chief technical officer of HP's PC
business, agrees that the next 5 years of hardware
development will focus on reducing the clunkiness of the
laptop-tablet hybrid.
• Pat Moorhead, a tech industry analyst and consultant,
who specializes in future scenarios, believes that the
modular PC concept will eventually go wireless, and
smart phones could one day provide all the necessary
storage and processing power.

5. • He says that the software barriers to making this happen
are already reducing due to operating systems like
Android and iOS.
• The WiGig Alliance is already pushing for the use of
spectrum around 60GHz, which would support speedy
display connections and wireless docking.
• Moorhead says that the only challenge
will be to get device makers to agree
on a standard for wireless
communication among devices.

6. BEYOND THE TRACK PAD
• Mark Aevermann, a senior product manager at Nvidia,
thinks that voice recognition, hand gestures, and eye
tracking could take off in the next 5 years.
• Concepts like Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Kinect, and Tobii's
eye-tracking technology may now seem ill-equipped to
replace trackpads and keyboards, but he recommends to
keep an open mind to them.
• VandenBrink expects a dynamic track pad that covers a
lot more of the laptop's surface. He also sees potential
for adaptive trackpads that learn your preferences and
tendencies as you work.

7. • Synaptics has introduced a pressure-sensitive track pad
and a capacitive keyboard that is thinner and lets the
user disable the cursor while typing.
• Intel's Nikiski concept track pad runs
along the length of the keyboard and
uses palm detection to switch off
during typing.
• Moorhead says that notebooks of the future could come
equipped with two or more high-definition cameras,
working in concert to track the user's hands.

8. CONCLUSION
• Gary Richman, a director in Intel's PC Client Solutions
division, thinks that PCs will become more context-
aware, enabling them to detect other nearby devices and
interact with them automatically.
• Many experts believe that hybrid devices will dominate
the laptop market in the next 5 years.
• Aevermann thinks that low-cost tablets and hybrids will
revolutionize the industry, but no single mode of portable
computing will completely dominate in the next 5 years.
Source : PCWorld
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