Gadget Tomfoolery
The tech world was abuzz today because of Steve Jobs’ keynote address at Macworld. I wasn’t nearly as bored compared to last year, when the iPhone was introduced at the keynote, so I wasn’t following along on the live feed. Last year, the hype was the iPhone and how cool it would be. Certainly, it has some neat features, but to be honest, it’s a terrible phone and I’d rather have the non-phone functionality of it with a better battery life. And, you know, without the standard Apple Markup(tm).
This year, the buzz surrounded the rumoured Apple ultraportable. Macbooks are decent and all, but I’d like my next hardware cycle to consist of a desktop and an ultraportable/pocket PC type device. Ultraportable for the Macbook line (dubbed “Macbook Air”) seems nifty, but the end result was less than stellar. The aesthetics and general “gush & awe” features made it look appealing initially (stupidly thin, awesome screen) but the practicality aspect once again took a back seat (13″ screen which is big for an ultraportable, non-solid state for a non-stupid price). It’s also $1800, which is a $400 markup over similar products like the Fujitsu Lifebook series and the Lenovo Thinkpad X61s series, and $1400 includes >1 year warranties for those two. Okay so you made a Macbook thinner. Not exactly the point of being an ultraportable. The Internet was, predictably, awash with MBA news, but I did stumble upon this gem.
I’d like to see something like the eeePC, but with a 9″ or 10″ screen and at least 6 hours battery. Currently, the eeePC stands at 7″ screen (which I suppose I could live with if absolutely necessary) and a 3 hour battery life (this is the killer for me, because an ultraportable is supposed to sacrifice features for weight and battery life). Asus has retracted anything about a 10″ eeePC, but if the 7″ series sells well, rumours are they may come out with the 10″ sometime this year. I’m not looking to spend a large amount on this thing either, because it’s essentially going to be an Internet surfing/very light coding/e-book reading tool. Since I’m not in school anymore, I don’t really mind that my main machine is chained to a desk; when I’m on the go, I’m doing other stuff now, not really working.
I’m willing to wait a few months to get a good ultraportable. In the meantime, anyone have recommendations on the current crop? I’m looking for 6+ hours battery life, ~10″ screen, <$1200 total (taxes, warranty etc), < 3 lbs, no optical drive, SSD preferable but not absolutely necessary, Linux compatibility, good wireless connectivity.
In other areas of technolust, my desire for a DSLR seems to rise and fall. My current camera does a good job for everything except low light conditions. That’s when I’d really like the directional flash and low aperture lenses that come with a DSLR. It hasn’t been very good photo taking weather this winter, aside from the one or two days of fresh snowfall and the odd clear day. I might yet again be browsing for a DSLR sale in the flyers come summertime, when the weather yields some fantastic nature shots.
January 21st, 2008 at 10:50 am
I had a talk with Oli’s brother about the MacBook Air. While we’re both enamoured by its thinness, we’re not impressed with the other problems (lack of disc drive, expense, etc.).
I think I’ll wait for Gen 2.
January 21st, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Well, you already said my recommendation, which would be the Thinkpad X61/X61s. The only thing you really are giving up is an optical drive, but you can probably live without that - just use an enclosure with a 5.5″ drive as the substitute.
So far so good. The only issues I have are running it in Linux and lack of out-of-the-box support for various things. The video is kinda slow, the Fn-keys will need configuration to work properly, and so on, but I’m pretty sure it’ll get fixed later on. It works and that’s all that matters.
And yes, I agree. As pretty as the Macbook Air is, it is not going to be practical in the long run.
January 21st, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I should add that the X61 does go above the price tag you listed (mine was a bit under $1500 after all the taxes, but there was a friends and family discount involved), but everything else, besides what I mentioned above, works under your specs. Just make sure you get the 8 cell battery - under Windows (which would have everything properly configured), I can potentially get 10 hours.