David Tweed wrote: > On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 3:25 PM, Matthias-Christian Ott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > Kurt H Maier wrote: > >> I have a string of thinkpads. The newest model I have is a T43, and > >> after my wife brought home an X41 on loan from her employer I > >> considered buying one. Sure, you can get a used x-series for not much > >> money, but I bought an Acer Aspire One[1] for $300 -- and it's under > >> warranty, I don't have to worry about replacing the worn-out battery, > >> and all the other things that come with a new computer instead of a > >> used one. > > > > That's stupid! Even if the battery is nearly unusable, you can still buy > > a new one instead of buying a new computer (I also heard about people > > who build their own batteries ;)). Buying a new computer if the old one > > is not entirely broken just contributes to these huge e-waste dumps in > > Africa and Asia. > > FWIW, I still have my old laptop and occasionally use it, but a year > ago I got tired of walking around with this heavy thing in my backpack > all the time and bought a very cheap UMPC thing with a 7 in screen and > support for a USB plug-in keyboard. The machine is much more useful to > me because, being lighter, I no longer have to think about if I'm > going to be walking too far to want to carry the laptop, the UMPC just > automatically goes in my backpack. There are only two problems with > the new machine: boot up time, because Linux suspend doesn't work, and > because it's so small it can be difficult to use on a train/bus with > bright sunlight outside (normal laptops being bigger tend to block out > the sun better). It's an enivronmental trade-off: I'm buying new kit > but then I don't do all the driving around other people do > unthinkingly. > > The screen works acceptably in a tweaked dwm which automatically > assigns a new tag to every opened window, and I can write papers and > do programming on it (at least, providing it's not really sunny!)
That must be really painful. When I tried to touch type on an EEE PC 700 I often hit two keys at the same time (maybe just because I'm used to an IBM Model M keyboard, but anyhow it seemed unfavourable). I'm aware that some people managed to use the keyboard effectively [1]. > > I meant this seriously. I didn't touch a EEE PC 1000, but for the EEE PC > > 700 this is true. I haven't seen someone using this as his development > > computer or computer for longer works. > > I work on my 7in PC (primarily using dwm & emacs), although train & > bus travel is sufficiently tiring that about 2 hours is all I can > manage. (I also zonk out at about 2 hours reading fiction books whilst > traveling.) > > > Additionally I can't understand, why all people started to carry around > > laptops (what's the difference between laptop and notebook?) with > > themselves, except they are maybe professionals (programmers, > > scientists, ...) and travel a lot. I don't have to have a laptop to sit > > in an internet cafe during holidays. > > All the world seems to be busy (or at least pretend this) and therefore > > has to run around with mobile devices (mobile phones, laptops, ...) in > > order to do their "important" work. In my opinion these mobile devices > > are just modern today and people often just buy them and use them in the > > public for no reason, just to show who they are. It became some kind of > > status symbol. > > I've never understood why people who drive have laptops, other than to > give client presentations, since they don't have the ability to use > them whilst travelling. But on public transport and planes they can > make sense if you've got work you can do in a relatively crowded > environment. The other minor use is that, having been stranded once > during a foreign trip -- the railway line the Eurostar trip home > passed by exploding gas cylinders -- and had to book an emergency > flight home via the web, I would have been really, REALLY nervous > about trusting an internet cafe's computers with my credit card > details. I didn't say that portable computers aren't useful (I mentioned programmers and scientists as an example), but the extents of that are far too great. I don't mean computers aren't useful, but a lot of work non-professionals do with their computers could be more or less done with pen and paper (even if it takes a little bit longer). You usually don't need check your E-Mails every hour while you are travelling and in case you really need this, you should ask yourself whether there's something wrong with your job. > > If your at an airport, just look at the screens of these "business > > men" - nearly nobody of them does serious work (or at least I got the > > impression). You can also observe this at internet cafes or railway > > stations. > > When actually ON the train I've observed lots of people writing > reports, etc. (Of course, most reports are pointless but then you can > say that about lots of paid human activity...) Yes, indeed ;). [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjZGbJhcRbY
