Asus W5Fe’s dual-screen saves battery life

If anyone finds great benefit in using the second (and smaller) screen on his mobile phone, a second screen for one’s laptop may not sound so bad at all. Not if it lets you scan e-mails, access a calendar, check network connections, and monitor downloads without having to open the laptop and drain battery life.

The Asus W5Fe, one of the first Newport laptops from Intel, lets you do just that. It has an additional external display built into the top of the lid. Imagine not having to fire up the laptop each time you wish to access flight departure information, movie show times, alerts, play games, movies, images, and MP3s. You can actually do all these while your laptop is switched off, since the second screen is quite self-sufficient. It has its own power switch, a four-way directional pad with a central selector button, and a menu button. The system is provided by PortalPlayer Preface, and known officially as Windows Sideshow – a technology that’s Vista-only.

PortalPlayer boasts that the external screen can run hundreds of hours without draining your notebook battery. At first we thought this was ridiculous. But when we imagined how cunning this is, I guess we agree: the Newport series has indeed ushered the new era of the dual-screen laptop.

Via CNet

If anyone finds great benefit in using the second (and smaller) screen on his mobile phone, a second screen for one’s laptop may not sound so bad at all. Not if it lets you scan e-mails, access a calendar, check network connections, and monitor downloads without having to open the laptop and drain battery life.

The Asus W5Fe, one of the first Newport laptops from Intel, lets you do just that. It has an additional external display built into the top of the lid. Imagine not having to fire up the laptop each time you wish to access flight departure information, movie show times, alerts, play games, movies, images, and MP3s. You can actually do all these while your laptop is switched off, since the second screen is quite self-sufficient. It has its own power switch, a four-way directional pad with a central selector button, and a menu button. The system is provided by PortalPlayer Preface, and known officially as Windows Sideshow – a technology that’s Vista-only.

PortalPlayer boasts that the external screen can run hundreds of hours without draining your notebook battery. At first we thought this was ridiculous. But when we imagined how cunning this is, I guess we agree: the Newport series has indeed ushered the new era of the dual-screen laptop.

Via CNet