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The Dell XPS 13 ultrabook is the first system we've seen to showcase Intel's Smart Connect technology. But what exactly is Smart Connect? We break down the seven most important things you need to know about this new Intel technology.
1. What is it? Intel Smart Connect Technology is a feature of select (Intel estimates 25 to 30 percent of) ultrabooks, such as the Dell XPS 13. The chipmaker anticipates it showing up in other laptops and desktops as well—any Intel system that can be set to sleep or standby mode instead of being switched off when idle.
2. What does it do? Smart Connect periodically wakes the system from sleep or standby (not from hibernation) and updates applications that get their data from the Internet, fetching, for example, Microsoft Outlook or Windows Live Mail messages or Facebook status updates. When you return to and reawaken the PC, the fresh data is waiting for you—so you can not only pick up where you left off, but pick up up to the minute.
3. Has anything like this been available before? Not really. HP business laptops have offered QuickLook, a fast-loading alternative to booting Windows that offers a snapshot of Outlook information as of the last time the program was used, but that's for checking existing e-mails and appointments instead of receiving new ones.
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