Asus W5Fe Windows Vista laptop
Asus has produced the first laptop with a Windows Vista SideShow screen
Review We already teased you not too long ago about the Asus W5Fe and now we’ve got our hands on an engineering sample of this innovative, compact Windows Vista laptop and an opportunity to put it through its paces.
Asus has produced the first laptop in the world that makes use of Windows Vista SideShow to support a secondary screen in the lid. This is a 2.8in screen with a QVGA resolution of 320x240, just like any number of mobile phones that are on the market. The lid of the Asus also holds 1GB of flash memory which stores a cut-down Operating System that powers SideShow and which also links to the main Vista Operating System.
You can use SideShow to play music or games such as Solitaire (remember, you’re limited by a tiny screen) but more usefully you can also check email and your calendar. There’s an On/Off switch next to the screen along with navigation controls so you have no need to open the lid of the laptop to use SideShow. If you choose to open the lid the image on the SideShow screen flips over in order to remain the right way up.
SideShow operates when Vista is shut down to save battery life, but it will wake Vista every so often to synchronise data and to keep the music flowing. Asus pointed out to us that on this engineering sample the headphone socket is only turned on when the main notebook itself is powered up. It’s a safe bet that this will be fixed in production units.
The software behind SideShow uses the Gadgets that appear in the Vista Sidebar so you can pick and choose which content uses SideShow. You can also opt to allow parts of Office 2007 to use the screen and no doubt software developers will shower us with SideShow plug-ins and apps over the coming months and years.
COMMENTS
Security???
[QUOTE]If you choose to open the lid the image on the SideShow screen flips over in order to remain the right way up.[/QUOTE]
So, if I'm on a train reading my e-mail and decide to open my laptop to do something, the slideshow screen not only stays on but flips around so that the person sitting opposite me on the train can read my e-mail?!?
Overblown
"The lid of the Asus also holds 1GB of flash memory which stores a cut-down Operating System that powers SideShow and which also links to the main Vista Operating System."
How intoxicated can one get by Microsoft PR to believe that a one-gigabyte operating systems is "cut-down"? One gigagbyte is "bloated". Vista is "overblown".
Bert Ofnuts
Sideshow != Sidebar?
According to this review on engadget
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/25/hands-on-with-the-i-mate-momento-70/
The sideshow uses completely different gadgets than the sidebar. Limits the use somewhat, I imagine sidebar gadgets are going to be a bit more widely developed.
Nice review though
Multiple Devices, No need to sync
There is a new service called Netelligence that lets you get the data that you would have on your laptop on your phone / pda / internet enabled games console (e.g. PSP) whenever you want, wherever you are, so something like sideshow is really not that necessary, especially if you have to pay a lot more for it to be on your laptop. You can even access files on a internet connected computer (whether it has a static IP address or not), and you can play games. you can see more info at www.netelligence.co.uk.
Vista slideshow = chindogu
The only reason to have a feature like Vista slideshow--providing easy, low-power-consumption access to content when a laptop is otherwise asleep--is to kludge around the unsolved problem that the content is not otherwise easily accessible. I already have a cellphone with a tiny screen that I have with me whenever I have my laptop with me. Give me the content I want on that device (surely these laptops have bluetooth, so they're capable of talking to cellphones) instead of making me pay for yet another tiny screen that only shows me some of my content.
