PCs Give Rise to LCs
[From Windows Magazine]
Wednesday, November 19, 1997
Manufacturers here are already buzzing about what's likely to be the star of 1998 Fall Comdex: the Low Cost PC, or LC. The components used to build it could set the PC peripherals market on its ear in the next two or three years.
LCs will integrate all the functions of a full-fledged multimedia PC onto the motherboard, making it possible to produce a DVD machine with fast 3D graphics, positional audio, 56K modem, videoconferencing and even home-movie editing for under $1,000. In the process, LCs will eliminate the need to buy almost any internal PC peripheral for new low- to midrange PCs, and probably lower tech support costs in the bargain. There's even talk of $500 PCs from Cyrix.
Chromatic Research's second-generation MPACT chip seems to be leading the way here, cramming all those multimedia and communications functions into a single chip. MPACT v2 can drive everything from DVD players to softmodems, and greatly improves on the first-generation processor's subfantastic 3D graphics. Micron, Toshiba, Gateway and Compaq already use MPACT chips to drive the multimedia components in some of their products, generally DVD players. MPACT, said one manufacturer, lets them use slower MMX processors and less memory in convergence-style boxes, keeping costs low without sacrificing DVD playback quality.
The first LC boxes should appear on the market by mid-1998, although they probably won't reach the magical under-$1,000 price point by then. Solutions Computer Technology Ltd. USA, for example, is one of the first out with an all-in-one motherboard. First computers using this board will offer a PC with DVD, video camera/phone, full 3D graphics, MPEG II video, Surround Sound, microphone, telephony modem/answering machine and multimedia editing capabilities, plus 17-inch monitor, in the $2,000 to $2,500 range.
Philips used the MPACT chip in an LC prototype that looked more like a slimline VCR than a PC and was in fact driving some wicked-looking DVD movies. The iron-gray box, which used a "midrange MMX Pentium" (that's all they'd tell me), came with a PC Jr-like keyboard and some pretty sophisticated 3D graphics and sound capabilities. Philips officials said they didn't anticipate going to market with the box until at least late 1998.
Several companies interviewed here said the advent of MPACT and competing processors is causing them to rethink their peripheral products line. Motorola, for example, is getting out of the retail modem market altogether and will concentrate on building softmodems--modems that use the PC's processor for at least part of their functions--that integrate with media processing chips in new PCs or multimedia upgrade kits.
The low price of the box is liable to be a secondary sell for corporations and other large organizations, which see the LC as a way to reduce tech support costs. The MPACT/Wintel combination drives just about everything on the computer, eliminating most of the compatibility problems of today's Plug-and-Play cards. "Forget Plug and Play. How about On and Play?" That's what one enthusiastic manufacturer told us last night, and it's an enticing idea for the home and small-business markets as well.
--Cynthia Morgan |
