A Wireless Display Feature in Windows Blue Could Mean One Device For Everything

There has been a lot of work put into syncing profiles across devices in Windows 8+.  Perhaps you only need one device…

Update:  This is officially coming true.  Microsoft has now revealed that the Miracast technology is part of Windows 8.1, allowing wireless HD display.  Now let’s see who announces a ShellTop – allowing an ultra thin display and bluetooth keyboard/trackpad to be used with an 8” tablet (or phone later).

Imagine an 8” Windows 8 tablet – reports are that at least an 8” Microsoft Surface will appear this year.  Can you use this as your primary machine?  If you do presentations, write code, take your PC around the office(s) with you, or you are a serious multitasking user you’ll tend to say no.  The reason?  The display is too small, you need a keyboard to be productive and a mouse may usually be your friend.  OK… you can add a USB keyboard and mouse, perhaps even a wireless one (dongle or Bluetooth), and you may even plug in an external display.  Now imagine doing that every day and you start to worry about connector stability, doing this at other locations and the inconvenience of it overall.

So what happens if the whole device goes wireless: wireless charging, Bluetooth keyboard & mouse AND NOW wireless display.  The result?  You place your tablet on a charging pad and an NFC message tells your tablet to use a previously configured set of I/O devices and settings.  You now have a desktop environment in seconds!

Now… go down the hallway and give a presentation on a compatible large screen or projector (or via a bridge device) – wireless display to the rescue.

Go home and use the TV as your display (directly or via XboxNext) – wireless display again.

And now the major leap and one I’ve been thinking about for a while, but for which I believe a workable answer – the in-between case.   What if I want a productive environment on the go?  The 8” display isn’t that productive and I don’t have a large monitor in my bag.  Most people would just use a laptop.  How about the thinnest laptop ever?  One with practically nothing inside except a battery and wireless transceivers/codecs?  This would be a laptop shell or a ‘shelltop’.  I just place my 8” tablet next to it (or optionally in a slot on the back/side/edge it for wireless charging) and my KVM experience comes to life through the most ridiculously thin laptop experience.  I can have a productive 13” to 15” experience from my 8” device (which could even be sitting across the room).  OK, it’s not one device, but it is one PC.

So is this possible?

Well, take a look at this winbeta.org video of an unofficial leaked Windows 8.1 (blue) build.  It shows a wireless display connection settings at 01:38.  It’s not clear what resolution this could handle or what protocol it uses but if it works, and the PC device has the power to handle your applications (and if it didn’t there’s always the possibility of handing off some processing to the cloud – public or private), then it could change everything – one device for everything.

We’ll see…

2 thoughts on “A Wireless Display Feature in Windows Blue Could Mean One Device For Everything

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