That’s right Wi-Di. Just when you thought you had all the acronyms figured out along comes another one. Just what is Wi-Di? Well it stands for Wireless Display and is geared towards folks that have always wanted a way to get what is on their laptops display onto their new flat screen TV and in time this technology could dramatically change the way the two interact. Right now if you wanted to give a presentation or play a game and have it show up on the television screen you would have some cabling to do. Well Wi-Di promises to change all that.
Wi-Di is made possible by the 2010 Intel Core i5 processor, which debuted in select laptops on Jan 17th 2010. Basically the system operates a lot like your Bluetooth headset by pairing with a receiver attached to your television. As of this writing though only three brands of laptop are available with the processor and the ability to take advantage of Wi-Di . They are the Dell Studio 15z, Sony Vaio S Series and the Toshiba Satellite E205. The other part of the equation is the receiver attached to the display and for that you will need a NetGear Push2TV PTV1000, which is the only compatible unit manufactured right now. All this wonderful equipment is also only presently available at Best Buy due to a 6 month exclusive licensing agreement. Everything you need to get set up and running is bundled together under the Best Buy Blue Label Program. The good news is though that by the end of July the equipment should be available in more places and thereby spur some price cutting.
Are there any drawbacks to this new tech? Well there are a few. One is that you will not be able to play a DVD or other copyrighted material and have it stream to your plasma screen. This is due to Digital Rights Management (DRM) and is probably there for the duration. Another drawback is that some reports have surfaced that there is a latency issue, such as a delay between moving your mouse on your laptop and having it show up on the display. A distracting situation at best.
All in all though, even with its drawbacks this technology has the potential to simplify things dramatically for businesses. How? Let’s say you have a bunch of weekly presentations that have to be given. All you would need is one receiver unit for the display and that the laptops have an i5 processor, then all each person would need to do is sit down pair with the unit and move on. Something to think about if replacing laptops is in your future.
If you think this is something you might want to buy my suggestion is to give it a while longer yet and wait for more machines to be available and to have the firmware go through some more upgrades. More good news is that it’s looking like it might make a great Christmas gift if you need a new laptop. Start planting the seeds now in the mind whomever might buy you a setup or just treat yourself this year.
Be sure to check back here again because once it’s more widely available we’ll throw a little more light on it.
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