Eric Landstrom - 09 December 2008 01:07 AM

I won’t buy a touch, iPhone, or laptop but I could see buying a netbook or tablet.

Why?

The touch and iPhone are too small and hard on my eyes to read.

Okay, but you can instantly enlarge the area you’re reading with a double-tap.

All laptops overheat and performance suffers. Plus they are truly slow in comparison to pro level desktop workstations and if I go somewhere else, I assure you that I do not want computers as part of that experience.

A small tablet with Wi-Fi would allow me to make a sandwich without the market unexpectedly moving on me while I’m away.

Huh? So you’re saying that a laptop computer is no good but you’ll buy a small laptop computer instead? What?

I think you need to check out Apple’s touch platform even if doing so doesn’t fit well with your hopes for Apple’s demise…

There are a couple of things that make this a much more feasible concept for Apple.  The market is significant and all they need is an inexpensive netbook to get hundreds of thousands of those iPod nano users and iPod users that use Windows to pick up a nice portable iTunes organizer plus all the gamer like kids that want an iPhone, but with better graphics, plus daily commuters that want lighter small sub-notebook computers.  The fact that they’re milling their own uni-body aluminum mobile enclosures and designing their own mobile CPUs in-house now changes the cost picture for Apple pretty dramatically moving forward and gives them more room to experiment.  More than likely, given all that they can do in-house at this point they could do a quality netbook for $600 and make money on it while expanding their market reach and NOT cannibalizing sales of notebooks.  Like the MacBook AIR there would be something unique about it.  Maybe a Fingerworks style keyboard or maybe a multitouch dual screen with no keyboard at all.  They only thing they can’t drive down the price of is LED screens unfortunately.

I purchased my first Windows based Computer since 3.11 when I bought my netbook.

This is the perfect computer for travel, I am gone from home 3 or 4 days a week and love this thing. I am sitting in my hotel room right now using it.

you wouldn’t want to write a novel with it, but the keyboard is fine for what I need to do when I’m on the road.

I use an iPhone as well, but I really hate browsing websites with it, the screen truly is too small for that. It sure is handy to be able to pull something out of your pocket and browse for information when I need to, and the netbook will never replace that functionality. But, when I am in a hotel room I want to be able to use an actual computer, and when I go through security I like the fact that this machine is small and less cumbersome to handle than my macbook.

Another security line consideration is that I feel fine storing this in the outside pocket of my bag making it a lot easier to grab and throw on the belt. I would never consider doing that with my macbook even if it would fit because it seems a lot more fragile and I paid 6 times the price for it.

It isn’t a Mac for sure, and I might try and turn it into a Hackintosh someday when I get bored, but right now I consider it a perfect machine for travel.

I think it is safe to say that I am done buying portable macs until apple comes out with this type of machine.

Flame away if you wish, but I have helped sell my share of Macs to friends and coworkers, and now they are noticing my Windows netbook.

and now they are noticing my Windows netbook.

And they look at one another and remark, ’ What the hell was he thinking! ”

Temporary insanity will allow you all sorts of defense.

I really smiled at the “macbook…............. seems a lot more fragile” comment when I have a five year old Powerbook that rides in the cab of my pick up every day along with tools and a lunch box, fragile it is not. There are tens of thousands of junior high school students carrying Macbooks in book bags every day.

How many e mails does it take to equal the character count of a short novel? Typing on a crap keyboard is, well, typing on a crap keyboard.

I’ll leave it to others to comment on your remaining concerns.

Actually travelers that already have a laptop would account for a big chunk of the customers on this, it would probably end up selling more 17” MacBooks.  I personally own a 17” Powerbook and I need the screen real estate for what I do (3d design/animation) but a netbook would be awesome for the convenience sometimes.

bulldog319 - 11 December 2008 04:05 AM

I use an iPhone as well, but I really hate browsing websites with it, the screen truly is too small for that. It sure is handy to be able to pull something out of your pocket and browse for information when I need to, and the netbook will never replace that functionality.

So you hate using it for browsing but it’s handy to browse with?

I like the fact that this machine is small and less cumbersome to handle than my macbook.

Like an iPhone or iPod touch.

I am done buying portable macs until apple comes out with this type of machine.

It has done so. The devices are just smaller, lighter, and handier than the one you chose to buy. And easier to use, more versatile, and more reliable.

Different strokes, I guess…

deasys - 10 December 2008 04:50 PM

Eric Landstrom - 09 December 2008 01:07 AM

I won’t buy a touch, iPhone, or laptop but I could see buying a netbook or tablet.

Why?

The touch and iPhone are too small and hard on my eyes to read.

Okay, but you can instantly enlarge the area you’re reading with a double-tap.

All laptops overheat and performance suffers. Plus they are truly slow in comparison to pro level desktop workstations and if I go somewhere else, I assure you that I do not want computers as part of that experience.

A small tablet with Wi-Fi would allow me to make a sandwich without the market unexpectedly moving on me while I’m away.

Huh? So you’re saying that a laptop computer is no good but you’ll buy a small laptop computer instead? What?

I think you need to check out Apple’s touch platform even if doing so doesn’t fit well with your hopes for Apple’s demise…

It has to do with workflow and ease of use. If I’m away from my trading desk I want a small tablet I can execute an order from or at the very least big enough to see a decent size candlestick chart say about this size, streaming in real time.

I bought a Dell Mini 9 and installed OS X on it - it’s great for surfing, watching videos (I have an iPod Touch that I watch video on as well), some writing (even if the keyboard is a bit cramped). The screen is . . . tiny, so spreadsheets are a bit of a challenge.

Spent $500 for the laptop & $100 for Leopard & $50 on a memory upgrade. It works fine, and is much more portable than my 15” MBP (love it, but long for the 12” machine days). It’s not a power machine, by any means - so I don’t even try many of the iLife apps. I wanted a machine that was ultra portable for meetings & travel - and ran OS X.

Mr.T

I would quote some stuff here but a little harder to do with an iPhone.

Dragging a laptop around in the cab of your truck or in a school backpack is a little less demanding than traveling. I have an old powerbook too. Mine is about 8 years old, still works though it has rarely been used in the last few years, and was perfect for travel when I could carefully pack and cushion it in the center of the bag. 9/11 happened and we had to start pullng these things out for some reason so carefully packing in the center went out the window. So mine started getting beat up pretty bad until I started carrying it in a seperate computer bag.

If you are lucky enough to not see the inside of an airport every week, then you aren’t going to understand.

I would have paid twice the price to have OSX and a multitouch mousepad all wrapped up in a tough plastic case. Unfortunately, apple doesn’t sell that product.

Don’t forget.  Look at the10 top selling laptops on Amazon.  9 are Netbooks.  This is NOT to be ignored.

We will disagree on relative abuse levels. I’ll leave it to others with knowledge of both environments to make up their own minds.  As far as portables go , whatever works for you.