IDF 2008: For Notebooks, 'Thin' is 'In'

Let’s face it : when it comes to notebooks for the masses, thin is in. We crave notebooks with as small as possible profile, being able to fit in a purse or backpack without adding a lot of weight and bulk to our lives. However, when you offer a notebook that’s smaller and thinner than an average school notebook, providing functionality and performance required for the real world can get a bit tricky.

Rajiv Mongia of Intel’s Mobile Platform Group, who is also a thermal mechanical engineer, has made it his job to cram as much performance as possible into something we consider stylish enough to hopefully turn into a trend.

“The mobile has certainly been changed in the last several years,” said Rajiv. “This has really been a great change in the industry in the last several years... the notebook has really started becoming a part of our lives... we’ve turned this corner where the notebook is not just a productivity device, something to use in the office, it’s really starting to become part of our lifestyle.”

Rajiv went into detail on what it takes to make a stylish and small profile notebook while trying to keep as much performance as possible. This includes techniques like shifting certain parts around. For example, the hard drive sits lower than the CPU, which usually sits underneath the keyboard, said Rajiv. By switching the two, the laptop can go thin without sacrificing much in performance.

Notebooks traditionally get thinner by introducing new hardware to save space while reducing energy consumption. New OLEDs, like the 14.1-inch 1366 x 768 on display during the briefing will bring panel housing thickness down. Also, introducing smaller hard drives, like SSD drives, as well as smaller batteries based on Prismatic cells instead of industry-standard 18650 Cylindrical cells.

Another option is augmenting the cooling solutions already used in notebooks as well as introducing some new, thin alternatives. Rajiv showed off some new products currently being used or tested by Intel.

“If you have a low enough power CPU and graphics solution, you can just put a thin thermal spreader on top of the CPU and graphics,” he said. “This could be something like graphite, it could be copper, and many other types of materials...and then these spreaders would be attached to the fan.”

By using an extremely thing spreader, the traditional copper pipes, which are much thicker, could be done away with and another precious few millimeters are shaved off.

Sure, thin is in, but the technology introduced at this tech briefing doesn’t exactly appeal to the market who is more concerned with absolute power than size and fashion. We wouldn’t expect a performance enthusiast or hardcore gamer to go out and pick up a laptop with some of these new technologies, but you need to give the people what they want, and that includes a substantial group who isn’t trying to run Crysis on a mobile platform. But if you want a laptop that doesn’t consume your entire desk, look for some of this new hardware in laptops to come.