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  • Hurr Durr - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    They should put this card inside the other card as well, yo dawg.
  • ddriver - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    Let's hear it for "modularity".
  • nathanddrews - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    So there's no actual useful IO on the device itself? It needs to always be plugged into a larger shell to be used? Seems like a really limited use case, but hey, at least it's interesting.

    https://i.imgflip.com/1q6ecr.jpg
  • bobbozzo - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    Hi, what interfaces are available on the card to the docks? PCIe or USB or ?
  • CharonPDX - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    Per the original announcement: "The “flexible I/O” is not Thunderbolt (obviously, due to power consumption concerns), but it handles USB, PCIe, HDMI, DisplayPort connectivity and has some extra pins for future/proprietary use."

    The physical port consists of a standard USB type C port with an "extension" next to it that is about twice as wide as a type C port. They have not yet published (that I can find) the pinout of that extension. Presumably the type C port contains all standard type C functionality - power, USB, and display. I would guess that either the extension contains PCIe connectivity by itself, or that it's really a "not fully compliant" Thunderbolt 3 port plus an extension for added functionality.
  • Meteor2 - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    So you'd need a USB hub to go with this thing -- one which sends power back?

    Or just run it headless and wireless, though I can't imagine what you could use it for in that configuration.
  • skavi - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    Why would power consumption be an issue? In my understanding, this would slot into a device that either was either power at the wall or was basically a chassis with nothing but battery.
  • cfenton - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    It would be pretty cool to be able to upgrade your laptop's CPU without replacing the whole thing. Though, at this performance level it would be a huge downgrade from my current laptop. Maybe someday.
  • smilingcrow - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    Upgrading the CPU on a laptop used to be possible on most prior to the move to Ultrabooks and other fetishistic portable computing devices.
  • Meteor2 - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    Or as I like to call them, actually portable computers, not disguised concrete blocks.

    With the minimal increase in IPC since Sandy Bridge it's not like there's a particular reason to upgrade a laptop anyway.
  • Hurr Durr - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    I bought a new KL laptop this year and was very pleasantly surprised with performance gain. Granted, previous one was rocking i3-380um.
  • smilingcrow - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    The power efficiency gains since Sandy Bridge are dramatic and the extra features of the platform are useful also and keep in mind that SB platform didn't even have native USB 3.0 support.
    My current laptop has dual ThunderBolt 3 which is very useful for docking and charging as well as being USB Type C.
    On top of that it's fanless as it has a 4.5W TDP CPU and it's clear that it's a world away from SB.
  • name99 - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    Its almost like the key to FASTER LOWER POWER devices is to put more and more functionality closer and closer together, ideally on the same chip...
    Nah, physics cant be the reason, must be a conspiracy theory.
  • skavi - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    These are definitely not a single chip...
  • vladx - Saturday, June 3, 2017 - link

    Obviously name99 was talking about the possible final transformation in the future, not now.
  • CaedenV - Saturday, June 3, 2017 - link

    I imagine it would be the other way around: you spend a ton of money on a card, and pick up a disposable shell to protect it. Break your laptop and you can pry the card out and put it in something else. Or have the card be your pc, and throw it in a desktop at home and work, and a laptop or phone shell while on the go.
  • barryp - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    I could see this being popular if laptops get banned on airlines. With this you could give them the housing that has the battery, keyboard, screen - and keep this part with you. Or just rent/borrow a laptop housing at your destination.
  • Bullwinkle J Moose - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    HEY, where's that $100 Laptop Microsoft promised us 10 years ago?

    We could plug the laptop into another monitor or use the wireless video we were promised

    Why do you require locking me into ANOTHER proprietary platform that does not benefit me at all?

    SILENCE THAT MOOSE!

    The Great Oz has spoken
  • tecknohow - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    Well I've got a $100 tablet from 2012 that runs full Windows on an Intel processor. It has both WiDi and HDMI-out to a monitor. So we got them, albeit a few years late.

    I'm not sure what your point is though. If you don't have a use for these that's great. Others will. Does every single product in existence have to benefit you specifically for it to have value? Because honestly, the world doesn't really care whether Bullwinkle J Moose thinks these are a good idea or not, let alone if he personally is going to buy them.
  • bananaforscale - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    That tablet won't have AES-NI tho.
  • Hurr Durr - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    They really should be locking you into entirely different kind of institution.
  • Bullwinkle J Moose - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    Hey, how about letting me remove the battery from that $100 Laptop we were promised 10 years ago and power it directly off of the aircraft's power supply, thereby preventing terrorist bombs on planes?

    Whats that? You say it's easier to punish EVERYONE and ban electronics entirely?

    Oh My
  • jabber - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    Yayyy more unfixable and non upgradable hardware that will go to landfill.
  • jwcalla - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    Knowing Intel it'll probably cost a million dollars too.
  • boozed - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    Funny, I've never seen a credit card that's 5mm thick OR 95mm long.
  • Bullwinkle J Moose - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link

    NoTeckNow says

    Does every single product in existence have to benefit you specifically for it to have value? Because honestly, the world doesn't really care whether Bullwinkle J Moose thinks these are a good idea or not, let alone if he personally is going to buy them.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Dude, this is the Razor Christina of tech Reincarnated

    Show me a VALID argument for ANYONE to be Locked into this..........Thing
    It might have value to others but not me
    Just show me the Value (for anyone)
    PLEASE

    I'm playing nice now.....
    SHOW ME THE VALUE that cannot be met with existing tech!

    Pretty Please?
  • BedfordTim - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    A somewhat specialised case but it is ideal for industrial equipment where you don't have remote access. Replacing a disk usually works but is a little scary whereas replacing the PC means it can be fully tested before deployment.
  • Hurr Durr - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    Don`t waste words on a lunatic.
  • blakeatwork - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    This could be used in the digital signage market and replace the OPS slot with a smaller form factor device.
  • yhselp - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    Is it possible to use this as a standalone device with a USB-C to HDMI cable, power adapter, and Intel's remote keyboard app? Maybe there are TVs with MHL-enabled HDMI ports capable of powering a Compute Card, which would even remove the need for a power adapter.
  • Cloakstar - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    The Achilles heel of this plan is insistence on inclusion of the storage and RAM in the compute card. The point seems to be to make upgrades easy, and make a "laptop" a hybrid peripheral device.
    The problem is, the solution as presented appears to exchange the 2-hour "headache" of carefully opening up a few chassis screws for the real multi-day pain of reinstalling the OS, reinstalling programs, migrating all your files, re-establishing your desktop and other settings, etc. etc...
  • BrokenCrayons - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    Some of those problems can be mitigated. Ship the card with the OS already in place. Use a high capacity external drive and a migration tool to move data and settings. Settings and data can alternatively be stored in the data center or any other non-local server/cloud system. Yes, there'll still be settle-in time, but there are a lot of businesses or config scenarios that make that sort of pain moot. Intel envisioned these things more for appliance, kiosk, or automotive use rather than directly as client workstations or home PCs (detailed in the original article...laptop usage at this point seems speculative rather than confirmed). Maybe there's potential in the end-user market for something like that eventually, but that will probably hinge on the success of the hardware in appliances.
  • phoenix_rizzen - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    Will be interesting to see if any TV makers will use this for their SmartTVs. I doubt it, but it would be nice to be able to buy a high-end dumb panel, and then slot in a Compute Card with the desired "Smart" OS installed. Could be Windows, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, etc.
  • Bullwinkle J Moose - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link

    Need a free computer?

    Just grab that card computer while Joe is out to lunch
    Boy will he be surprised when he finds replacing his computer every couple of days isn't working out so well

    Hey look at that medical equipment with a credit card computer, I bet my card computer will work just as well.......
    WOW, now we can play tetris!
  • zodiacfml - Saturday, June 3, 2017 - link

    This will fail in price. If I have to guess, more than twice the price of a Compute Stick
  • Jay Mapother - Monday, June 5, 2017 - link

    PCs have always been modular.
    How about hot-swapping CPUs while the system is still running? How about a barebone x86 CPU embedded in the BIOS to bootstrap the system and keep it running while you swap the compute unit? If only I could afford to patent the torrent of unwanted ideas my idle brain generates !

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