Time for an Upgrade?
4:51 PM Edit This 0 Comments »For the past two years, I've done all my work on my "hackintosh-ed" netbook. I've developed in C, Java, Python, and Max/MSP, I've controlled robots via Bluetooth, I've used Photoshop and played Netflix movies, I've written long papers, I've programmed microcontrollers, I've had videocalls with my family, I've worked on planes and in hotel lobbies and coffee shops, I've done all my school and work assignments...all in 26GB of hard drive space, a 10-inch screen, a mini-keyboard, and 1.5 hours of battery life (originally it was 3, but the battery has gotten weaker). I have loved how it fits right in my purse, how it doesn't look like something anyone would immediately want to steal like a shiny new Mac would, how even if someone did steal it, it is inexpensive and replaceable, and how I didn't have to support Apple's frustrating business model.
Ever since I discovered Linux, I've been irked at the way Apple markets things and closes them down...but sadly after trying a whole variety of operating systems, Mac OS X is still the one I like best. As educational and empowering as it is, I just don't have time to fight with driver issues all the time. And I actually really like Windows 7, but I just can't quite deal with not having a Unix shell. I hate that I'm making this argument, but I've given it a fair trial run and I think it's time to face it and start giving Apple my money again. Dammit. *shakes fist at Apple*
The problems with my current laptop:
- It's not quite powerful enough to develop on comfortably.
- After two years, things are starting to break down. Bluetooth just stopped working entirely, and the battery life is getting shorter.
- Upgrades are kind of a pain. (and by that I mean I haven't done one since I first installed it)
- It is great for working on the go, but as a portable computer, it's not quite portable enough to say, use on a bus. It needs a surface to sit on.
- It's a "cramped" working experience, really: small keyboard, small screen, not much hard drive space.
- Small bugs such as: no working microphone, needing to run a shell script to set it to play out of headphones or to use the ethernet jack.
- Inconsistent VGA output. It works with some external monitors, have never been able to make it work with a projector. This is pretty important for presentations and I've had to borrow other computers enough times that it's a big issue.
I'm really happy that it's lasted me 2 years for not that much money...overall a great investment, I would say. But all in all it's not really going to cut it for school and work next year.
Research time!
It's got to be a laptop. The Boy insightfully reminds me, "duh, you're a laptop person! You're always wanting to move your work around." This is very true.
I was debating between the 13-inch or the 15-inch Mac Book Pro. The specs on the new 15-inch look so tempting (crazy switching graphics cards, lovely big screen, i5 processor), but then I compare the lowest end 13-inch to my current setup (which after all hasn't been that bad performance-wise):
4GB of RAM vs. 2GB
250GB memory vs. 26GB (for my OS X partition)
2.4 GHz vs. 1.6 GHz
13-inch screen vs. 10-inch
...yeahhhhh, I think that one will be just fine. :)
So now I just need to save up this summer so I can get one for the fall. With the education discount they are $1,100, and because they just upgraded them, I might be able to get the older model for a bit less.
Now here's the terrible part...I want an iPad (*cringe*). After making fun of the name and describing its total failure in every way to anyone who would listen (I was hoping for something that would be smartphone + netbook + ebook reader + tablet, and it didn't seem to do well at any of those), I actually tried one today. It is a fantastic size for carrying around and super responsive (the maps application is so much snappier than on the iPhone). It's about a pound lighter than my netbook, which I can already carry around in my purse, and much thinner. The book reader application (iBooks, I think) is really well done. It's these little shelves with all the books you own on them, and when you open a book you can actually flip the pages with your finger. It shows you where you are in the book with a slider (though I kind of wish that would be reflected in the unread pages graphic shown on the right). You can tilt it horizontally and see two pages, or vertically and see one (I do find it weird that the pages shift around to fit, so that words don't end up in the same place on the one page as they do on two). It works with any bluetooth keyboard it sounds like (YES!!!! I can avoid the horrendous Apple chicklet keys).
Certainly there are some UI issues, but I pretty much love it. I've been looking for the perfect e-book reader for a while, because as nice as real books feel, I hate having physical books to lug around from place to place. I also strongly dislike owning redundant stuff, so what's been holding me back from getting a proper laptop for a while is the idea of ending up with two laptops. An iPad would be cheaper in the long run than an iPhone (no data plan needed) and let me read (and work a bit too) on the go.
There is the standpoint that I could buy a ton of real books for $500... and the standpoint that I don't really need this, and that I've been totally-convinced, at the point of hitting the checkout button, on a lot of products in the past that I didn't end up buying (including the iPhone). So we'll see...I'll think about this some more, watch what apps come out, see what the next model looks like when they have some of the bugs smoothed out.
One more thing: one application that would be brilliant is a note-taking application that lets you create individual notebooks that are flip-through-able just like the iBooks application, and which you could embed web links and content into. This would be similar to the Microsoft Courier idea, and a very spatial and intuitive way of organizing and taking notes. A stylus is definitely also needed for note-taking. I could actually see using this for class notes.