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-   -   Crunch time: Deciding between laptop and weblet for mobile computing (https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=20632)

RogerS 2008-06-02 13:46
Crunch time: Deciding between laptop and weblet for mobile computing
 
Quote:
I've just had a crisis of convictions -- returning my laptop to the publishing firm I've worked for since 2001 meant I needed to buy a computer quick.

And the deciding point came down to this: How much computing power did I need away from home?

You have to know that my friends expect me to separate from them when boarding the train to New York so I can sit in a laptop-friendly seat. They've also seen me skip a not-yet-full PATH (subway) train on the next leg into the city and wait five minutes for the next departure so I can open up the laptop for twelve more minutes of screen time.

Did I truly believe a weblet like the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet would suffice for my mobile computing?

Or has my fervent evangelism been tainted by way-cheap access to the Nokeys* I've used and by a top-of-the-line 17-inch laptop that my employer nefariously supplied me with, ensured its constant access by having me work at home two days a week?

Would I spend my suddenly scarce dollars for another laptop, intending to cart it most everywhere as I've been accustomed to for the last four years?

Or would I buy a sufficiently powerful desktop for less money and rely on my N810 for all my mobile computing?

This from someone who has written well over 90 percent of my ITT postings on a laptop. Who spends his free time looking at websites in Khmer (a script not supported by the Nokia weblets) and who works with multilingual texts every day. Whose eyes are aging and who consequently has a 14-point minimum font size set in his browser. Who installs on average one new program a week with a footprint of 30MB to 150MB.

Fabulous as the Nokia Internet Tablets are for spontaneous surfing, e-book reading, voip calls**, games, GPS geocaching, listening to music and watching video***, it's not a full-service device. I can't type 20 words per minutes on its keyboard, much less 100 wpm (as I do on a full keyboard). Can't run any topic map software (needs Java). No great XML and XSLT editors. And so on. How much would this lack hurt me away from my desktop? Could I manage to do what I had to do on the run with one or another weblet?**** The walkaround web is wonderful but what about trips? Could I go days without a full-powered computer?

Ah, who am I fooling?

I bought the desktop, which was half the price of equivalently powered laptops. For any kind of on-the-go now, I'm a weblet guy, body and soul.

__________
* I've paid 99 Euros each for the 770, N800 and N810 as they appeared over these last three years (roughly $115 to $140) as part of Nokia's seeding of the weblet development community. An N810 for $140 is a magnificent machine, there's no doubt about it.

** I use Gizmo for my second line permanently now. When I'm on one- and two-hour conference calls, it's really proved its usefulness by freeing up the main line for my wife's calls.

*** TV mostly, via the HAVA player, Today in the kitchen and Charley Rose in bed.

**** OK, at the moment I have five NITs. But some of them I bought to give to family. Really! I just haven't gotten around to it.
Read the full article.

Den in USA 2008-06-02 14:45
Re: Crunch time: Deciding between laptop and weblet for mobile computing
 
I use my N800 for 98% of what I need to do away from home. The remaining 2% is done on a tiny Sony sub notebook that I bought used for $300.

Makurosu 2008-06-03 01:29
Re: Crunch time: Deciding between laptop and weblet for mobile computing
 
The thing I love about my N800 is that it gets me out of the "computer room." Each new version of the Nokia's OS makes it more and more of a replacement for my desktop PC. So, now my desktop is becoming more of a server for the Nokia. Obviously, I'm unable to do very much writing on the Nokia, but what writing I can do is very comfortable as I can pull it out and do it wherever I am.

BTW, there is a Cambodian font for the microB web browser:

http://www.gronmayer.com/it/index.ph...ow_pck=151#151

Khertan 2008-06-03 07:22
Re: Crunch time: Deciding between laptop and weblet for mobile computing
 
Personnaly i use it more than my desktop computer.

You said that u don't know great XML and XSLT editor. Do you have try PyGTKEditor, what do u need exactly to more usefull for you ?

qole 2008-06-03 22:18
Re: Crunch time: Deciding between laptop and weblet for mobile computing
 
I personally wouldn't buy a laptop now that I've got the Debian stuff working. I can open MS Office e-mail attachments now with Abiword or OpenOffice; that was the last thing I was really needing, all the rest is icing. But we do need to make the Debian apps easily accessible to the average user out there...

EDIT: I'd use it more than my desktop computer, except for the fact that I gotta be able to do my online FPS gaming, and that doesn't work very well over VNC or X-Forwarding ;)

geneven 2008-06-03 23:35
Re: Crunch time: Deciding between laptop and weblet for mobile computing
 
I think that there's a barrier that the tablet can't break. That barrier is screen size. If you are willing to trust your job to a tiny screen, be my guest, but if I am doing work that I want to be accepted as professional, I want a bigger screen, and if I want to look at a movie that I really should be watching in a cinema, I want a bigger screen.

When trains and subways and planes and cars come with plug-in screens, I will just connect my tablet to the screen wherever I am and be happy. In the meantime, for fully professional work, I want a laptop.

For listening to mp3s, for reading books, for casual use, I want my tablet.

gemniii42 2008-06-04 00:16
Re: Crunch time: Deciding between laptop and weblet for mobile computing
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by geneven (Post 188486)
I think that there's a barrier that the tablet can't break. That barrier is screen size. If you are willing to trust your job to a tiny screen, be my guest, but if I am doing work that I want to be accepted as professional, I want a bigger screen, and if I want to look at a movie that I really should be watching in a cinema, I want a bigger screen.

When trains and subways and planes and cars come with plug-in screens, I will just connect my tablet to the screen wherever I am and be happy. In the meantime, for fully professional work, I want a laptop.

For listening to mp3s, for reading books, for casual use, I want my tablet.
What we need is video out for one of these.

smarsh 2008-06-04 03:45
Re: Crunch time: Deciding between laptop and weblet for mobile computing
 
I've always used a laptop as a main machine, lugging it about (and it is a lug, powerbook 17", but nice for all that weight) between home and office. Never really had any concerns, but recently there have been worrying noises coming along about privacy violations at certain borders, stuff like that, not to mention laptop crime. And the weight. Oh the weight... :eek:

Next week I'm off to a conference and traveling for 2 weeks. Experiment time... I have my n810, debian (thanks Johnx, qole!), openoffice (I can write and update my presentations on the tablet, plug it in to a USB port, and pretend its an external drive), a VPN client, sensible mail programs, plenty of storage space, spare cards, external BT keyboard and a wonderful DWL-G730AP travel wireless device for hotel rooms. All that weighs less than a quarter of the Mac, and the size difference is obviously stacked in my favour.

And if I really wanted to travel light, I'd just pack the n810 and not really lose too much.

I have Gizmo, Skype, and 2 SIP numbers for telephony. mp3s and mp4s for entertainment. The screen size is irrelevant for personal use of such things. I'm traveling, it's not a big deal for me.

So, I'll post back, hopefully whilst on trip, with my experiences. Should be a fun old time in Norway and the UK.

spm

RogerS 2008-06-04 16:06
Re: Crunch time: Deciding between laptop and weblet for mobile computing
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by smarsh (Post 188526)
Next week I'm off to a conference and traveling for 2 weeks. Experiment time...

So, I'll post back, hopefully whilst on trip, with my experiences. Should be a fun old time in Norway and the UK.
I can easily say A laptop is not a desktop and A weblet is not a laptop.

And every situation is covered when you have all three.

But I am very interested to see how well the combination of desktop, internet and weblet serves. Will taking the laptop completely out of the equation really meet all my needs?

I believe if there were an affordable phone data plan -- iPhone users pay $20 a month. I'd settle for $20 a month! -- then I'd be more than satisfied. I'd be using the weblet in places I'd never open a laptop. I'd use more web applets and store more mutable stuff on the web as the primary (and not backup) file.

As it is now, the Nokia Internet Tablet only beats out the laptop for "carry a device just in case" situations, and the laptop wins out for "I've got the laptop anyway cause I have to take it into the office/back home" situations (like the 35-minute train ride).

So when you write, I hope you'll post those small dissatisfactions and moments of being not-all-that-happy, as well as the Eureka! and Hallelujah I'm free! moments, when your laptop's absence is unlamented and even celebrated.

Roger

ARJWright 2008-06-04 17:08
Re: Crunch time: Deciding between laptop and weblet for mobile computing
 
Funny, I was just asking a question in line with this at Jaiku yesterday (http://arjw.jaiku.com/presence/36564837)

The IT isn't meant yet to be a substitute for many productivty tasks, however it can and does a good job in many of them given some time for setting it up to do so. Outside of the hardest things the OP has to deal with, it really would make sense to go with the IT, live with the positives and negatives of that move, and then use their usage situation as a means to help improve the ITs overall.

You cannot make the winning shot when sitting on the bench, at some point, you have to get in and play with what thee coach gave you and see if it can notch a win.


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