NEWS: New RAM chip unveiled, soon you can boot up Windows already loaded with shite

GEEK: New RAM chip unveiled, soon you can boot up Windows already loaded with shite

A company called Freescale has unveiled a new kind of RAM called MRAM, for magnetresistive random-access memory. Unlike regular memory chips, which lose all their data once the computer's power is shut off, these chips retain all their data. They plan on marketing them for automotive and industrial purposes first, as they read quickly and are very durable.

Freescale maintains that they should be able to put them into personal computers eventually, and since they don't lose their data after powering down, it will all but eliminate startup time. Which is great, unless your RAM is full of crap and you're restarting for just that reason. But by the time this reaches market (the chips are starting at 4 megabits, so it's gonna be a while) they should have some sort of workaround. Still, a big day for the computer industry and the nerd community at large.

Sounds good. I liked the Amiga's RAD disk, which survived reboots

i totally just came while reading that...

great news, can they hurry up please

i used to work for them here in austin. my boss was a jerkface.

I've been using computers a long time and doing so professionally quite a bit of that. I've never wanted my computer to do that. I even made windows not re-open the same folders that were open when it shutdown. I really don't see the point. Are there really that many people who do exactly the same thing every time they start up their computers?

how is this different from the flash memory that we have had around for ages?

There is nothing new here folks! Another company called NVE Corporation has been making and selling MRAM for many years. Their market is limited to mission critical applications for now, because MRAM is still quite expensive to compete with regular RAM for ordinary use, but they say eventually they'll be able to get into the computer and cell phone markets. You can check their web site at www.nve.com.

Flash memory is purely for storage, it's not accessed live.

um, so in English that means it will game better ?

For the record, "A company called Freescale" is actually Motorola's processor/computer hardware spinoff company. Most notable, this was the same company that produced Apple's G4 processor. Apple did of course move to IBM processors and then Intel processors because "Freescale" couldn't get their shˆt together.

So, this is basically the same as the Hibernate feature, only it costs more?

no, there's a shitload that MRAM is good for that this article doesn't even hint at. I can't remember much about it though, I'll have to see if I can dig up some articles...

4 mb

Well... Yes, but honestly with a good internet connection I don't even notice the delay before the porn starts coming up.

This isn't primarily about having your folders open when you start the machine in the morning, it's about designing a computer that starts as fast as a television when you press the power button.
Think about that, if your computer didn't need to boot after every downtime, there'd be no reason to leave it on during the day when you weren't directly using it. You wouldn't need semi-functional "sleep modes" in laptops, that drain battery, you could simply close the laptop when you're done using it, and open it again when you want to return.
It'll be cool when it gets here... This is one of those things that will fundamentally change the way we use computers in a very subtle way.

Hibernate is a clunky and absurdly slow work-around for what they're describing here. This would enable your computer to turn on in about the same time that it currently takes your monitor to power up.