The ‘next big thing’ in notebook computers – and later, desktops – are solid state hard drives.

“Solid state” means no moving parts. Current hard drives have moving parts: there is one or more platters that spin, with an arm that rides above the platter(s) and reads off the drive. Because they are mechanical, they run slower and are more prone to failure.

Solid state hard drives are basically beefy flash drives – like what you may use now in a digital camera or MP3 player. Due to the lack of moving parts they are faster, quieter, lighter, and use less power. Boot times can be significantly reduced, too, which is really nice.

To be useful on computers – notebooks or desktops – they have to be a pretty good size (say, 40GB or above), and not crazy expensive.

Size is increasing and the expense is getting less crazy, so now we are starting to see these solid state drives in notebooks. MSNBC (not usually what we think of for cutting edge technology reporting) has a pretty good breakdown on the solid state drives and some of the laptops currently available that have them, including the new paper-thin MacBook Air from Apple.

See the article here.

Lucas Mearian of ComputerWorld doesn’t think so. Here is an excellent article entitled

“Blu-ray or HD DVD? Neither, thanks”

He makes some very interesting, and I think salient, points in this piece. His main point is basically that it doesn’t make any difference which one wins; they both will be irrelevant soon enough anyway. Indeed, his position is that the DVD disc itself will be dead soon enough. Why use it when storage by other means – mainly from cheap servers/NAS (network attached storage) devices that are getting cheaper and easier to set up in the home. Streaming and on-demand video is in the process of overtaking DVD discs already. Give it some more time and that’ll be that.

Even as the over-eager ‘early adopter’ that I am, I haven’t picked up an high-def DVD in either flavor. I, too, have been waiting for the format wars to play out then I’ll look at the lay of the land and decide. This article beings up a thought-provoking perspective on the whole thing. Check it out.

Here is a company from Michigan that really has something neat. They are introducing this device this week at the CES (Consumer Electronics show – hafta go to that one of these days) out in Las Vegas.

This is a full-blown computer for your car – keyboard and everything. It fits where a traditional radio/NAV device would fit in a newer car. (These types of slots are known as “double-DIN”.)

This baby has an Intel processor, 1GB of RAM, has a hard drive, and runs Windows Vista Ultimate. With that comes everything else: hard-drive based navigation (GPS/maps/directions, etc), music storage, iPod connection, Bluetooth, WiFi, satellite radio, CD player, DVD movies…lots of stuff. They are saying initial pricing will be at $2,799.

This outfit is based in Grand Blanc and the units are made here in Michigan.

The Great Lakes IT Report has an excellent piece on this unit here and the company web site is here

Of course, I want one of these. It just looks too cool. I wonder if they are looking any “celebrity endorsers”? Hmmm…