One of the holy grails of networking is “always-on” connectivity, whether wired broadband or wireless (some telcos even thought there was a market for ultra-narrowband always-on at below 16kbps using ISDN signaling D channels). With the quiet but inexorable progression of broadband, this is coming closer to reality. All sorts of interesting applications become possible when you have such connectivity:

  • Home automation: remote monitoring of alarms and thermostats, programming your ReplayTV/TiVo remotely

  • Automated unattended network backup

  • Self-hosted weblogs

  • IP telephony and videoconferencing

One key enabler remains unaddressed: quiet PCs. Most PCs make too much noise (usually around 60-70 dB) to be left running all day (and all night).

Some vendors like Dell hide this information deep inside their websites, when they even bother to measure it. Some, like HP/Compaq list unrealistic figures (I have a Compaq Evo D315 rated at 26 dB (point of measurement unspecified but probably from an “operator position”), which I measured at 55 dB using a Radio Shack sound meter). Apple is the only mainstream vendor that has paid some attention to this problem, but even they have backtracked: the iMac G4, while relatively quiet, is still significantly noisier than the PowerMac G4 Cube it replaced.

Always-on connectivity will not realize its potential until computer makers seriously tackle this issue and make computers that are quiet enough to be left running all night in a bedroom.

This would require a change of emphasis from bleeding-edge processors, that are highly profitable, but also power-hungry (and thus require big noisy fans to cool down) when their power is almost always untapped. Just as many more ultra-thin laptops are sold in Japan than in the US because US consumers are not clamoring for them, the situation won’t change until users demand quiet PCs.

Most of the work on quiet PCs is done in more environmentally conscious Northern Europe and Japan. Some resources: