When using a laptop or any other type of PC, we find that there is a series of information about its status that is essential for its use and maintenance. What would happen if we told you that with a mini-display installed, would we have access to it directly? Why don’t manufacturers include one in their different equipment?
Computers today include a large number of measurement sensors that provide information on the state of the hardware at all times. These chips write the results to specific memory addresses in RAM that can then be accessed by the operating system and certain applications. The problem comes when a large part of these applications are intrusive in our day-to-day environment and give us the information on the main screen. One solution would be to present such information, but in a different way.
A Mini-Display on a laptop?
We have to clarify that the concept is not the same as what Apple once did with the Touch Bar and we are not talking about including a fully touch color screen with which to interact with the PC. In the concept that we are talking about, we would not be talking about an input and output peripheral, but only an output device and it would not be used as an extension of any application. Rather, it would take up very little space on the computer, its best position being just above the laptop’s keyboard, but below the screen. In reality it would be a monochrome screen with very low energy consumption like the one in the following image:
Which would give us real-time information on the status of the PC, that is, things like:
- How much battery the laptop has left, what’s more, it can inform us of its status with the PC turned off or in sleep mode.
- If we connect a device with a battery to the PC, it can inform us of its charge status.
- If we have the Wi-Fi active or not and what network has been connected. The same can be applied with Bluetooth.
- The clock speed at which certain hardware components operate.
- The volume level of the headphones or speakers at all times.
- The temperature in which the laptop is located.
- If we are running a game it can give us the information of the FPS rate in real time.
And who says laptop, also says a desktop PC. The important thing is to be able to have the computer monitored at all times and not have to depend on third-party applications. It is something that has its degree of utility, it is not intrusive in the daily use of applications and the PC. Since there is nothing more annoying than an interface placed on top of another and we would not have to have more open applications consuming resources.
Something of little value to the vast majority of users
Although for the most enthusiastic the fact of having a screen reporting the status of the PC at all times is a good idea, especially for those of us who like to tinker with our computer. What’s more, the applications that usually provide such information usually take up few system resources to function and are of limited interest to the majority of the public. However, this does not mean that it is not something that is useful.