Technological advancements in computers have accelerated rapidly. Four decades ago, PCs operated at 5 MegaHertz, while today’s desktops hit 5 GigaHertz—making them a thousand times faster.
This article explores emerging technologies that are not widely adopted yet but are expected to be common soon. Some, like quantum computing, are still in research, while others, such as SSDs, are available but not fully embraced.
All have the potential for future widespread use. Here are anticipated changes in computer hardware and their technologies:
What is the Future of Computer Hardware?
Speech Recognition
Most people find it easier to read (or speak) rather than type, and we can generally read out words thrice as fast as we can type them.
What if, in the future, we could write text on our computer by speaking, rather than using a keyboard? Imagine how much easier it would be to write a long email or essay when that day comes.
Well, that day is almost here. The technology that will power this is already in use everywhere around us. We already have Amazon’s Alexa, and there are others like Siri and Google Assistant.
And though current speech-to-text technology is a long way from being good enough to replace the keyboard, a lot of progress is being made. Soon, we may be “writing” an article like this without typing anything.
Touch Screen
Just like speech recognition technology, touch screens are already a part of our everyday lives. Many recent laptop models have a touch screen, and we may get to a point when this becomes a standard feature for every personal computer.
When that happens, and as more people get used to using touch screens, the mouse may become obsolete. Touch screens could even play a part in making the keyboard redundant.
Wearable Keyboards
The world’s first “wearable keyboard” (branded Tap) was launched a few years back. You can wear this keyboard (if we can call it that) on the fingers like a brass knuckle.
With it, you can type by tapping your fingers using a specific code. It can also serve as a mouse when you place your thumb on any surface.
However, unless there are drastic improvements, this technology may not overthrow the conventional keyboard and mouse. This is because it takes a while to master the finger tapping code that represents the keyboard characters.
Many early users have complained about this steep learning curve. But with time, the technology could evolve to resolve this problem.
Projection Keyboards
One other innovation that may threaten the existence of the keyboard is the projection keyboard. These are tiny devices that can project a QWERTY keyboard onto a flat surface. And when you touch any of the keys projected on the surface, it detects and enters it.
The advantage the projection keyboard has over the conventional one is its portability. And it could get even tinier with time.
As we all know, there is an appetite in the market for miniaturized devices, which could help the projection keyboard overthrow the much bigger conventional keyboard.
At present, the projection keyboard is not very practical. Only hobbyists and those overcome with curiosity are buying it. But eventually, many of the issues that make the projection keyboard impractical could be corrected with innovation.
What are the Latest Developments in Computer Hardware?
If you have not been closely following the latest trends in computer technology, you may find this hard to believe. But it is true, the computer monitor may not make it to the future, primarily because of the development of wearable displays or virtual reality headsets.
You can wear VR headsets just like spectacles. These devices allow their wearer to see high-quality images and videos. You can also view your computer’s display on it instead of using a monitor.
This technology holds a lot of promise because of its flexibility. With it, you can expand the size of your virtual screen to almost any size.
You can also add as many extra screens as the operating system can allow at the click of a button. There are endless possibilities when viewing your computer’s display on a VR headset.
With conventional monitors, you can’t increase the size of the screen, and if you need an extra screen, you would have to buy another monitor. However, there are drawbacks to using a VR headset. These include the discomfort of wearing them for a long time. There is also a relatively high cost.
Nevertheless, as this technology gains ground, the average cost of a virtual reality headset will drop, and the developers will probably address some of the other issues.
The Universal Memory Concept
To understand the concept of universal computer memory, you will have to know a bit about the memory components in a personal computer and how they are configured.
Most laptops or desktops have a Rapid Access Memory (RAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), and a Hard Disk Drive (HDD).
The RAM (particularly the SRAM variety) is fast. In other words, the computer system can add, remove, or scan data from this memory device.
This makes it ideal for storing data the computer may need quick access to. Unfortunately, the RAM has a small memory capacity and is volatile as the data it carries vanishes when it loses power.
On the other hand, your computer’s hard disk drive has a relatively large memory capacity and is non-volatile, but unlike the RAM, it is prolonged. Your computer uses it as a memory bank where it stores data for the long term.
The Universal Memory concept has inspired efforts to develop a single memory device that has all the advantages. This memory will be both as fast as an SRAM and non-volatile as the HDD, and it will also have a large memory capacity.
If these research efforts succeed, computers will no longer need separate memory components serving different needs.
Instead, computer architecture will be altered to accommodate a single Universal Memory device that serves all purposes, and the performance improvement would be incredible.
Here are some computer memory technologies that researchers are developing in an attempt to create a universal memory:
Solid State Drives (SSDs)
Unlike Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), which have a spinning magnetic platter, Solid State Drives (SSDs) have no moving parts. Instead, this component stores data on flash memory chips.
SSDs have the advantage of being faster than HDDs, and they also use less energy and can help your laptop battery last much longer. And as you would expect, computers fitted with SSDs perform much better.
These days, more and more laptops have an SSD memory instead of an HDD. The only reason HDDs are still relevant is because of the lower cost. There is also the fact that HDDs have a slightly larger memory capacity per size.
Since SSDs are a recent innovation, we can bet that the parameters will improve with time. We are also sure that the cost will drop as well.
In fact, it is only a matter of time before SSD technology completely displaces HDDs. Soon, manufacturers will fit all our laptops and desktops with Solid State Drives.
Magnetoresistive Random-Access Memory (MRAM)
The Magnetoresistive Random-Access Memory allows the computer system to read or write data at speeds expected of a RAM chip.
But what sets this memory component apart is that it is non-volatile. In other words, even if it loses power, it still retains the data in its memory. This revolutionary technology combines the typical speed of RAM with the non-volatility of an HDD.
Just in case you still haven’t figured it out, this means that with an MRAM, if your computer loses power whenever you reboot, it can restore all your unsaved work.
In the MRAM, data is stored in magnetized cells whose resistance is determined by their polarity, so the polarity of each cell represents the data bits.
Though the MRAM is yet to break into the mainstream, experts believe it could become the universal memory of the future. The technology only needs some more development.
Other types of non-volatile but fast memory components under development include the Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM) and the Resistive RAM (RRAM).
If researchers can figure out a way to radically increase the memory capacity of any non-volatile RAM, it could displace other memory devices currently in use.
What Will the Future of Computers Be
As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, the clock speed of computer processors has increased a thousand-fold in the last four decades. We now have commercially available desktops fitted with 5.2GHz processors.
Presently, we have reached some plateau in the development of processors. In 1965, Intel’s co-founder Gordon Moore came up with a law that predicted the rate of improvement in processor speed.
According to Moore’s Law, the number of transistors one can pack into an integrated circuit of a given size would double every two years. And since processor speed correlates with a processor’s transistor density, one could interpret this law to mean that processor speed would double every two years.
Over the years, Moore’s Law proved to be shockingly accurate. Chipmakers like Intel and AMD worked to improve processors and released new ones regularly. Sometime around 2005, the rate of improvement started slowing down.
This was primarily because the number of transistors packed into these processors was almost reaching its limits. At this limit, scientists theorize that further improvements would become impossible.
Since then, the attention of researchers has gradually shifted away from silicon-based processors; even though some are still trying to improve the speed of conventional processors, the approach has changed.
If you want to know what computer processors of the future would be like, here are some emerging technologies you should watch out for:
Multi-Core Processors
Unlike conventional processors, multi-core processors are designed to handle more than one task concurrently. If a computer with a multi-core processor were to handle a task, the system could break the task up into two or more parts.
Instead of one big task, the processor can take on many smaller tasks concurrently. Since the processor uses just one socket, this multi-core capability can save time and improve performance.
There are dual-core (2), quad-core (4), and even 6-core processors in the market, and Intel and AMD are the two big players in this space. Considering the advantages of multi-core processors, we are sure that this type of processor will soon completely take over.
Quantum Computing
Quantum computers take advantage of quantum states to solve problems and process data. This technology is based on quantum mechanics and can be quite complex, and it is also radically different from classical computing.
Classical computing processes data step-by-step and reaches a definite solution, but several options are examined concurrently in quantum computing, and the solution is presented as a probability.
On account of this, quantum computing can solve some problems that would take a regular computer forever to solve.
However, research into quantum computing is still at a very early stage. Also, there are very few working prototypes. With increased interest and funding for research, this technology could someday power personal computers.
Rethinking Classical Computer Architecture
There are so many other radical ideas that involve a complete overhauling of classical computer architecture. So, instead of improving or changing the components of a classical computer, these ideas approach computing from a totally different perspective.
One of such ideas is Cloud Computing. In cloud computing, your “computer” has no memory or processing power of its own.
Instead, the device helps you connect to a central computer used by many others. All your inputs are sent to this central computer, and the visual and audio output is returned to you.
Therefore, in cloud computing, all of the data you need is stored in the central computer. This powerful computer also does all of the processing, and all your device does is send out and receive data.
Other radical ideas include Neuromorphic Computing, where engineers design computers to mimic the way our brains work. Researchers are also working on DNA Computing and Optical Computing.
Conclusion
It’s almost impossible to predict the future of computer hardware. Many promising computer hardware technologies showed plenty of promise in the past, only to fizzle out. Some others didn’t seem promising at first but eventually became an integral part of computing.
Some of our predictions may fail, and some of these technologies may never break into the mainstream. When it comes to computer hardware technology, only one thing is sure: we’ve got exciting days ahead of us.
