On Tue, Jan 8, 2013 at 5:42 PM, Scott Granneman <[email protected]> wrote: > Well, heck, if you’re using an MBA, that should be fine for all the crazy > stuff you want to do. :)
I can't complain. But like the PBG4 before it, I use it more as a desktop. For a recent flight, I took both the MBA and the netbook, just to see what I would use. At the airport I used the MBA. In the plane, I tried the MBA and then switched to the netbook. And I used a USB stick to transfer files. What was unfortunate about the MBA was that it was still too big. The netbook was a better fit. I could still get munchies and a drink on the tray and I didn't have to worry about the guy in front of me putting his seat all the way back. > Why replace parts? Seriously. Just buy the best machine you can. My MBP with > Retina has 16 GB of RAM & a 512 GB SSD. I’m getting a new one in 2 yrs since > I lease, & it’s covered by a warranty the entire time. Why do I care about > replaceable parts? Because a spare battery is really nice. On that same trip, my flight and everyone else's flight was delayed. Have you ever tried to find a spare outlet when the airport is packed with travelers, all with their portable electronic devices? A 4 hour flight + 8 hour delay is longer than the life of any laptop/netbook battery. With the netbook it's a matter of hybernate, swap, turn on. With the MBA the solution appears to be to get a clunky third-party add-on. Now you're dealing with an extra piece of hardware and that just kills the elegance of the MBA. The PBG4 had a nice, sleek battery. That's missing from the MBA. > As for the iPad, you don’t need a keyboard. I’ve learned to type on it & do > pretty darn well. That said, I can understand why some might like a > keyboard, but on a plane, you wouldn’t need one. You may not need a keyboard. I, however, do need a keyboard. I touch type. I feel where the F and J are, especially on a plane. I am aware that you can get a keyboard for the iPad. But I haven't seen one that isn't Bluetooth. And Bluetooth is not allowed to be on during a flight. > The other stuff you mentioned is specialized & the iPad cannot do it, as you > know. And a netbook handles that specialized stuff pretty well, as you know. The cost of getting all the accessories to turn an iPad into something close to what I use my netbook for would be about the same as getting two new netbooks. And about as clunky. > I’d still say, for 90% of users, the iPad is all the computer they need. I'll agree with that. And that is probably the most likely reason netbooks aren't being made: the iPad was "good enough" for most people's computing needs. I'll also say that 90% of iPad users probably don't need an iPad. If Apple would make it, I would trade in my current MBA for a 10" MBA with a replaceable battery. That'd be a sweet machine. Or maybe the coming generations of tablets will include include some of the best features of the netbooks. Regards, - Robert -- Central West End Linux Users Group (via Google Groups) Main page: http://www.cwelug.org To post: [email protected] To subscribe: [email protected] To unsubscribe: [email protected] More options: http://groups.google.com/group/cwelug
