TECH411.ORG

By Jon M. Cohen

As a New Year begins, a lot of new trends are to be found in the computer industry. C.E.S. 2009 showed off a lot of great technologies and I have compiled a list of some of the top trends for the average computer buyer this year. Now take those unwanted holiday gifts and return them. Let’s use the money you got back and make a worth while purchase. This means  before you use that $200.00 gift card to buy some DVDs that you will watch maybe once or twice, why not look into putting that money into one or more of these trends instead? Besides we use computers daily, how often can you watch the Seinfeld Box set anyways?!

1. Netbooks… they are HOT! Portables are becoming cheaper and cheaper, plus they have a lot more power behind them. In 2009 you will continue to see the Notebook sub category of ‘Netbooks’ continue to sell well. They are currently sold with screen sizes of 7″ to 10″ and SSD at 8GB or SATA Hard Drives at 120GB – 160GB. I predict that these ultra portable computers will see a big bump in speeds and specifications. The cost of these goods has gone down and the addition of such features as GPS, 802.11N, and Express Card Slots should become standard shortly. As well, more memory and bigger hard drive sizes are to be expected.

2. Solid State Drives (SSDs): These drives offer a super fast speed of data transfer and have no real moving parts; they are almost at the “tipping point” (M. Gladwell). With drive capacity closing in on 600GB and the speed being 5x faster then a 7200RPM drive, I predict that this type of drive will continue to drop in price and start being present in more and more notebooks this year. Who does not want faster drives at cheaper prices?!

3. Better backup choices: Everyone is creating media, from digital cameras, camcorders, MP3’s, etc. As we add more and more files to our lives, these files become more valuable. The more we count on them, the more earth shattering it becomes when they are lost. Thus, simple and reliable backup solutions will be a big and popular trend in 2009. Yes we have had these solutions for years, but now it will be cheap and so simple to use that mainstream consumers can do it too. 

4. Multi-core comes to life in 2009! We have seen over the last number of years the idea of multi-core processors (e.g., Intel Core Duo, Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad) invade the market. Now as the new line of processors arrive in 2009 from Intel and AMD, I predict that these cores will start being maximized in multi function operation (i.e., running two operating systems at the same time.) So, if you are buying a new computer, at least make sure it is a multi-core.

5. Move to Mac: This trend is not as much new, as it’s getting stronger. Windows is bleeding; XP is starting to get old and Vista is like that freak uncle that no one wants to admit is part of the family. These two things will be the best drivers to bring long time Windows customers to the Apple platform. Even at higher prices, people will still jump in to the Mac world for a glimpse of what is expected to be utopia. Not even the release of Microsoft Windows 7 will be able to stop Apple’s momentum.

So go out and spend your money wisely. Take with you the knowledge of these trends and enjoy what the computer world has to offer.