Guys, want to hear what is in store for the future of Personal Computers? Here is a list of what should happen to 2004:
Motherboard designs are going to be replaced with the BTX form factor which better handles airflow and power. From what I'm hearing, BTX will probably require new cases and power supplies since the current ones are ATX. Here is a press release regarding it:
https://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20030916corp_b.htm
The P4 will get a new socket (LGA 775) and core. Intel will probably roll out the LGA 775 socket with the BTX form factor.
DDR-2 Memory will replace DDR Memory (vendors can't keep cranking MHz out of DDR forever).
PCI Express will replace PCI and AGP.
The SATA spec will (is starting to already) replace the PATA spec.
Those are pretty much all of the big changes for 2004 that I have heard/read about. Here are a few that are going to happen but I'm not exactly sure when:
The SATA 2 spec will be finshed and replace the SATA spec. Probably will be in 2005 but may be in 2006.
The BIOS will die. Intel is planning to replace it with Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). A firmware interface (obviously) which is more efficent, boots faster, is more ready for new technologies, etc. Here is an article on it from Intel's site:
https://www.intel.com/technology/efi/
Some other things that are planned for the future are better graphics cards (obviously), Windows Longhorn (can't wait), etc. I have been hearing that ATI is developing a graphics card 2x faster than the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. I also have been hearing that they are developing a digital TV chip. I hope this will mean a future AIW card will be much faster than my current AIW 9700 Pro and will be able to receive HDTV signals. If so, I can't wait to start recording pokemon episodes and movies (I already have them on DVD but recording them is fun). ^_^