time for a new {laptop, netbook, tablet...}

[cellio]

My trusty iBook has died and the Apple Genius declared a hard-drive failure. Apple no longer sells those, though I could go looking for a third-party solution and that's not off the table yet. But maybe it's time to move to a machine that can support an OS newer than 10.4 and a Firefox newer than 3.6, so I'm considering other options too

Comments

[cellio]

Thanks!

[merle_]

I know Windows is not your cup of tea, unless you want to pour it on the computer, but the Lenovo 12" Thinkpads weigh in just under 4lbs and.. well, I own four. It's my laptop of choice. My current one is a souped-up X220. That said you have to know Windows and disable all of the AVmalware that comes with it. The form factor, the happy button that just sends light down onto the keyboard, the lightness, the 7+hrs battery life. Well.

Tablets like mobiles have decent hacks to get you things but it feels a few years behind to me. I used to despise laptops but seem to have fallen in bed with them, and their power is close to a desktop now.

Anyhow. Just my two Euros. Yeah, I've been watching the market. ;-)

[cellio]

Thanks for the recommendation! For this kind of application I'm not necessarily anti-Windows -- anti-Vista to be sure and I'm a little suspicious of 7, but I could come around. I've gone over to Mac OS for my main computer, but I'm open to options for a portable device. Though, as I mentioned, I'd kind of like to be able to install the one piece of Mac software that I care about. I'll only get that on a Mac laptop, though, not a table of any kind nor a Windows laptop, so I might lose out on that anyway.

[merle_]

Definitely be anti-Vista. One computer I bought had it and I still feel like I should pay the $hundreds to upgrade it. I use it as a burner laptop just for getting content, figuring if it becomes corrupt not much is lost.

Agreed about the software. Unfortunately I have software I want from Win, OSX, and Ubuntu, none of which (sigh) exist on any of the other platforms. So I just end up with a ton of computers, and a definite need for a nice quiet NAS.

[cellio]

Oh, I hadn't realized I could buy from them; I thought I'd have to go third-part, eBay, etc. Thanks!

[ralphmelton]

I would be happy to give you discounts. (My iPad discounts are spoken for this year, but my Macintosh discounts are untouched.)

As others have mentioned, there are several Dropbox options for getting text on and off. I personally use Evernote (not a Dropbox option) for getting text on and off the iPad easily; I compose LJ entries with a mix of iPad and Macintosh.

[spiritdance]

On the glossy screen thing: the aftermarket screen protector I added to my Nook cut the glare considerably. It's not quite a matte finish, but pretty close. I'm fairly certain most any tablet devise will have something similar available. Oh, and I found it worth my time (and aggtavation) to have the fellow at B&N apply it for me (they do a lot of protector applications, and know the tricks to avoid dust, air bubbles, etc).

[cellio]

Ooh, that sounds useful. Thanks! (And I'm totally willing to ask the guys who do this all the time to make finicky adjustments for me. I didn't put my own screen protector on my phone, either. :-) )

[ex_hrj]

If you're seriously considering an iPad and balking at potential difficulties for text documents, consider the QuickOffice app, which provides limited text/Word/Excel/PPT creation/editing ability. You can save files either on the device or in the cloud (now that iDisk is gone I've switched to a free Dropbox account), and you can easily e-mail the files from your device as well. The one major caveat is that performing interim saves while working consists of exit-save-reopen, which is really awkward for large files.

My Kalamazoo blog posts this year were all written on my iPad using QuickOffice and then cut-and-pasted into LJ. Oh, and you'll want to get a keyboard case if this is a major function for you.

[cellio]

Thanks! I remembered you writing from K'zoo on an iPad with external keyboard to what seemed like good effect, but I wasn't sure whether you were posting "live" (in the browser) or composing offline. Good to know that that works reasonably. (And yes, if I get a tablet I'll also be getting a keyboard.)