I believe there will be one major sweeping change in 2011 that will drastically affect computers, similar to the disappearance of the floppy drive.
... the disappearance of hard disk drives with moving parts.
Already there are larger and larger USB thumb drives (also called jump drives, flash drives, USB keys, and memory sticks) available, yet they are very expensive. For instance, Tiger sells a 256GB model for $1000 (256GB Kensington flash drive).
Many netbooks have already eliminated hard drives, using flash memory similar to that of thumb drives. Prices will drop significantly in 2011 as more and more of this type of memory is manufactured and it becomes the new standard for more devices like cell phones, laptops, and external drives. It is smaller, faster, noiseless, shock resistant, not prone to wearing out, uses little power, and doesn't get hot. This type of memory will eventually replace today's hard disk drives, and I think 2011 will be the year it begins to be shipped in place of standard spinning drives.
We'll see how much a 256GB thumb drive costs in December of 2011.
P.S. This leads to other questions too, like whether today's HDD manufacturers will shift succesfully into this new media or be left in the dust of the current leaders in flash memory. And whether recordable DVDs will continue to have any purpose at all.
Other Solid State Drives:
- 480GB internal drive, PCIe mounted - $1637.99
- 256GB external flash drive - $749.99
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