Nvidia CEO: Future laptop will mirror MacBook Air

The Toshiba AC110, based on an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, hints at what's to come.

(Credit: Toshiba)

Nvidia's CEO added his two cents to an increasingly popular theory on laptop design: that is, the MacBook Air as a template for all future designs.

In case you're wondering where the laptop is headed--circa 2014--Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang offered what could be considered a highly educated guess in response to a question I posed to him in a phone interview today.

"You'll have trouble finding one that doesn't look like the MacBook Air," he said. "I think the Macbook Air is a good mental image of what a clamshell laptop will look like."

"They'll be thin because you won't need any heat pipes, the fan, and extra batteries to lug around," according to Huang.

Nvidia chips have played an important role in the MacBook Air. Apple chose Nvidia graphics silicon beginning with the second-generation Air. And its role eclipsed that of Intel in the 2010 MBA (third generation): Nvidia's GeForce 320M graphics processor is the only major logic chip to see a significant upgrade in the Air (Intel's silicon changed very little from second- to third-generation).

But Huang's vision for the future laptop goes beyond today's Air. It is rooted in devices running on power-sipping ARM chips, of which Nvidia is now a major supplier to tablet makers like Motorola, Samsung, and LG. And by 2014, ARM laptops will likely be running a full-blown version of Windows--if that's even necessary in light of the burgeoning popularity Google's Android, which runs almost predominantly on ARM.

Speaking of Android, if the present is prelude to what's to come, the Toshiba AC110 represents the future of extremely thin and light laptops thanks to its use of an ARM-based Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. And don't think will they will be slow. Nvidia is already hawking a third-generation quad-core Tegra processor that should make it into tablets this year.

TouchPad, Hp’s new version of Apple’s Ipad

Hewlett-Packard introduces its new tablet called the Touchpad. There are many rumors that HP launched a new tablet to chase or compete with Apple’s great success with their Ipad. Some analysts reported that the new HP tablet is as the same size to most Ipad tablets weighing 1.6 pounds, 7.5 by 9.5 inches, and over a half-inch thick.

TouchPad uses WebOS operating system. Last April HP bought Palm Computing for $ 1.2 billion, as being reported, that it gave HP the chance to use WebOS to its product line. The new HP tablet will set very interesting competition in today’s gadget market and will give rise to further confusion among consumers.

Senior vice president and general manager of Palm Global Business Unit, Hewlett Packard, Jon Rubinstein said, “Today we’re embarking on a new era of webOS with the goal of linking a wide family of HP products through the best mobile experience available. The flexibility of the webOS platform makes it ideal for creating a range of innovative devices that work together to keep you better connected to your world.”

The TouchPad has a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor, 18-bit color, 1024 x 768 resolution screen, and 32 GB storage capacity, which enables it to surpass IPad’s capacity. According to analysis, TouchPad battery life is the same with IPad. The TouchPad will be released this summer in a Wi-FI version only. 3G and 4G versions will be released later.