hckrnws

In terms of throughput, absolutely.

In terms of latency... well... we also could do a lot better there, but as I understand it, even if you do your best to cut away as much software bloat as possible, the latency "floor" seems to be higher than in the old days[0]. And the many layers of abstraction that is the average software stack don't help. Like, I'm doing my best to keep a web-app snappy, but there's only so much you can squeeze out of a browser.

[0] https://danluu.com/input-lag/

Latency is subjective, but yes, I was referring to GUI latencies mainly. System design is increasingly more important when building new alternatives to existing architectures. x86, ARM are much larger chipsets than before, but smartphones do not really need a single operating system for making phone calls and browsing Youtube. What I'd like to see is more low latency devices that can compartmentalize applications and cores based on power consumption and speed requirements. Thinks like a notepad, calculator, and SMS app do not require Android 17, which, on my newest phone, takes over 2 minutes to reboot. In the past, the CPU would use big.LITTLE cores (like the ARM Cortex A53 and A72), but there's also a bootup cost to running those compared to a simple calculator or microcontroller. It would be ideal to have a dual display flip phone that is always on for phone calls and SMS (using something like Symbian OS), whereas the larger cores and OS can be turned off when not needed.

E-ink has had some improvements- I'm acquainted with the developers of this project: https://www.crowdsupply.com/modos-tech/modos-paper-monitor

Refresh rate is only one component of the system- an integrated display controller can lower the latency, and of course, the choice of computer affects the speed as well. Their choice to go with USB-C Alt is a good idea.