Laptops do a bit more on the side

Enhanced sidescreens allow you to use your machine all day.

How would you like a notebook that doesn’t die on you after a few hours of playing music files or viewing pictures?

Advances in the technology behind the small secondary screens now appearing on laptops allows you to do just that.

Technology called Preface from Portal Player enhances a feature of the next-generation Vista operating system called Sideshow, which is designed to make use of auxiliary displays on laptops or connected devices like keyboards.

Preface uses ultra-low-power system-on-a-chip, including a media player and firmware to drive a QVGA auxiliary colour screen and access data and digital content on the laptop. It will even display Powerpoint presentations.

The secondary displays are designed to be ‘always on’ to let you access emails, contacts and other data without powering up the notebook.

Portal Player says Preface lets you listen to hundreds of hours of music on a single battery charge. And if your battery starts running out when the notebook is fully switched on, you can continue for four hours using the second screen.

Preface recently landed the Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation of the Year Award for system platform technology and Acer has announced that it will be using it in a new range of notebooks.