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Re: Inexpensive Display Technology

Ok let's add in another cost factor....
The amount you learn in that 75 hours of hacking would have cost you about
$3500.00 in college courses to learn what you did by hardware hacking that
"neat-o" gizmo you bought.
No formal training can replace real hands on research of the amateur
electronics/computer engineer.  So yes, I get relaxation from hacking that
hardware, smelling the solder smoke, burning my hand and being able to say ,
"I made THIS!" ...  The guy that hacked his own knows tons more than the guy
that bought the shiny new one that just plugs in.  :-)
Soooo.... Gimmie that el-cheapo refurb!  I wanna learn more than the grad
students!

Just my $4.95 rant!  :-)  There is a good side to banging your head against
the wall!

-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Havelka <>
To: 'Pete Hardie' <>
Cc: 'w-h' <>
Date: Thursday, April 30, 1998 6:05 PM
Subject: RE: Inexpensive Display Technology

>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Pete Hardie [SMTP:]
>Sent: Thursday, April 30, 1998 7:39 AM
>To: 
>Subject: Re: Inexpensive Display Technology
>
>
>> One problem that some of us have is that we are _hobbybists_ in this
>field,
>> and therefore have a limited budget.  Any savings is considered good, and
>the
>> P4/P5 pricing is excellent for many of our intended uses.  We also often
>are
>> unskilled in the hardware side, so some of the hacking that might be used
>to
>> a) build an HMD from parts or b) fix an off-the-shelf HMD with interface
>> difficulties is beyond our immediate skills.
>
>Limited budgets do have their drawbacks.  But what most people forget to
>factor into the overall price is the cost of their time to "hack".  Your
>time is not free since you could be doing other things: working, relaxing,
>etc...  therefore you have to place a value on your time.  A good number to
>use is $10/hour because it makes the math easy.  $250 for a refurbed
>product leaves you with 75 hours of hack time before buying a new product
>would have been more economical.  This does not include the cost of any
>parts you may require.
>
>
>> I've missed these 'try before you buy'  offers....could I actually get an
>M1
>> shipped to my house for a test drive, or would I have to go into a
>retailer?
>
>Give us a call and we'll send you an Evaluation Request Form.  Fill it out
>and send it back to us. Evaluations are secured with a Visa, MasterCard, or
>American Express.  Once everything is approved, we will ship the unit to
>you via next day air.  You will have five days to evaluate the M1.  On the
>5th day, if you decide not to keep the unit, we will need confirmation that
>the unit is being shipped back, i.e. FedEx waybill number, or your credit
>card will be processed.  All in all, the entire procedure costs about
>$90.00 for shipping.
>
>>> >> Also, why would a display hamper the building of a wearable?
>>>
>>> >Because there are incredible restrictions on power usage, weight, size,
>>> >durability, etc. that were never put on desktop monitors.
>>>
>>> Why blame the monitor and the monitor alone?  How much does the
>processor
>>> draw, the hard drive, the GPS and cellular modem?  A compromise of
>>> technologies is important.  Why P233 when a lower power chip will do
>just
>>> fine?
>
>> But all those still, even on a desktop machine, draw very little power
>> compared to the monitor, and there has been much less work getting
>display
>> technology down as much in power, up as much in durability, and down in
>size, all
>> in a pacakge the consumer can afford - look at the flat-screen displays
>for
>> non-laptops; still in the $1K range (AFAIK).
>
>I don't agree with you here. If you compare the power consumption ratios
>for desktop components you will find that a typical 14" monitor draws about
>150W of power while the typical computer (CPU, Cards, Hard Drive, etc...)
>draws about 150W as well.
>That's about 1:1, display to computer ratio.
>
>The M1 typically draws about 2.5W.  Therefore, using the power consumption
>ratio of 1:1, the rest of the wearable system should only draw about 2.5W
>in order to be comparable to a desktop system.  Since most wearables draw
>quite a bit more than that, I would say that, in the area of power
>consumption and in relation to desktop systems, HMD's have come quite a
>long way.
>
>At $1,000 for a laptop panel, I feel you are getting a pretty good deal -
>for buying just one unit.  There has been literally billions of dollars
>spent getting LCD based displays down in size, power consumption and price.
> All this investment has to start showing a return, hence higher prices.
> One has to remember that in comparison to CRTs, LCD's are still pretty
>new.  LCD's are also more durable, smaller, lighter and draw much less
>power than CRTs.  The only thing CRTs have going for them is the fact that
>they are so cheap to produce.
>
>- Tony
>

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