All knowlege is contained on LJ :P
For a long while now, I've wanted a more portable computer. Laz (my Macbook) is fabulous as a primary machine, but she's awfully big and heavy (not to mention expensive) to carry around. The (so far nameless) iPhone has certainly improved my life with it's Internet in the palm of my hand, but while it's great for rudimentary Googling and mapping routes and quick looks at email and carrying music, it's not so great for other sorts of daily tasks, and terrible for reading or watching movies. It's also exceedingly clunky for doing things like file transport, and useless for on-the-go copyediting and copy writing. It can carry knitting patterns, but see above for file carrying clunkiness and small screen.
(Yes, I know the iPhone can do those things, but the screen size is really not suitable for my vision.)
I need something that can hold and read PDFs and other e-book-like files, with a good scrren size for displaying them. I need full word processing, with markup and the ability to save as PDF and TXT. I want the ability to store and play movies and TV shows. I need a full web browser that works. I need at least one USB port. A web camera would be useful, but might not be a deal-breaker. I need multitasking ability, and the ability to run chat programs. I need to be able to play Flash - it's essential for web stuff. I need accessibility features like zoom and voice. I want wide screen for my videos. I want wireless, and ideally 3G, and I don't want to pay twice for that. Ideally, I'd like to keep my portable machine at around $500.
All this is by way of saying that I won't be buying an iPad, at least not yet. It's lacking most of those dealbreaker features I listed above. It's sexy as all get out, don't get me wrong - I deeply love Apple's clean, sleek designs, and I adore the idea of a tablet with a touchscreen. The on-screen touch keyboard works just fine for me, but those lacks of features plus the higher price point plus the likelyhood of paying AT&T twice for a 3G dataplan.... I just can't do it.
So tell me, what do you think I should buy? A tablet would be ideal for functioning as a book reader and media device, but I don't really know enough about tablets to have an opinion. There are a couple of netbooks I have my eye on, but I'm not convinced yet (except that I do not want a Dell. Do not speak to me about Dell).
(Yes, I know the iPhone can do those things, but the screen size is really not suitable for my vision.)
I need something that can hold and read PDFs and other e-book-like files, with a good scrren size for displaying them. I need full word processing, with markup and the ability to save as PDF and TXT. I want the ability to store and play movies and TV shows. I need a full web browser that works. I need at least one USB port. A web camera would be useful, but might not be a deal-breaker. I need multitasking ability, and the ability to run chat programs. I need to be able to play Flash - it's essential for web stuff. I need accessibility features like zoom and voice. I want wide screen for my videos. I want wireless, and ideally 3G, and I don't want to pay twice for that. Ideally, I'd like to keep my portable machine at around $500.
All this is by way of saying that I won't be buying an iPad, at least not yet. It's lacking most of those dealbreaker features I listed above. It's sexy as all get out, don't get me wrong - I deeply love Apple's clean, sleek designs, and I adore the idea of a tablet with a touchscreen. The on-screen touch keyboard works just fine for me, but those lacks of features plus the higher price point plus the likelyhood of paying AT&T twice for a 3G dataplan.... I just can't do it.
So tell me, what do you think I should buy? A tablet would be ideal for functioning as a book reader and media device, but I don't really know enough about tablets to have an opinion. There are a couple of netbooks I have my eye on, but I'm not convinced yet (except that I do not want a Dell. Do not speak to me about Dell).