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From The Road Warrior Archive - “The Genius Of The Laptop”

In December, 2003 in The Road Warrior I commented that "The laptop computer is a wonderful invention. I prefer working on laptops at any time, and mine are mostly used as desktop substitute machines, but road trips make you even more profoundly appreciate the genius of the laptop."

I haven't changed my opinion since then, and I'm still using a Pismo as my "road laptop" albeit with a 550 MHz G4 upgrade and running OS X 10.4.11, still packing it around in that wonderful Willow Kerouac case, I'm more of a notebook computer fan than ever, although I've long since moved up from the old WallStreet to another G4 upgraded Pismo, and first to a 700 MHz G3 iBook and then the 17" PowerBook G4 that has been my main production workhorse for the past 30 months.

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"The Genius Of The Laptop" [Originally published December, 9, 2003]

The laptop computer is a wonderful invention. I prefer working on laptops at any time, and mine are mostly used as desktop substitute machines, but road trips make you even more profoundly appreciate the genius of the laptop.

The past several weeks I've been having a round of dental and medical appointments, which involve schlepping off to the nearest town, 50 miles away. There is also usually shopping to be done on these trips, so on several occasions recently, my contributions to the Applelinks news have been prepared in waiting rooms and in parking lots as my wife attends to provisioning. You just can't do that with a desktop computer.

My tool of choice for these forays it is my 500 MHz Pismo PowerBook, which travels well in its superb Willow Kerouac backpack/briefcase. The Pismo offers decent battery life (especially in OS 9, which I switch to for road warrioring), and the 14 inch screen offers decent visibility when working in the car.

Pulling the PowerBook out and getting some work done is a lot more productive use of time than reading old magazines and in doctors' and dentists' waiting rooms, or staring at prosaic parking lot vistas.

The laptop also frees you from your desk and office chair even when you're at home or the office. These days, I am mainly using my older 233 MHz WallStreet PowerBook as my "laptop" laptop on the home front, sometimes in bed with it perched on the excellent Laptop Laidback portable workstation, or sitting in a comfortable chair by the woodstove -- a much appreciated comfort during the cold months.

\My profound appreciation of these comforts and conveniences afforded by my PowerBooks and iBook makes it difficult for me to understand how people can go back to using a desktop computer after they've experienced the joys of mobile computing.

I can't imagine ever going back to using a desktop computer as my main workhorse. I gave it a shot a couple of years ago when I bought a G4 Cube, which is in my estimation one of the most congenial desktop computer form factors ever. But it was not a laptop; it was still tethered to an AC power outlet, and it just didn't have that je ne sais quoi that you get with a PowerBook or iBook.

Becoming addicted to laptops wasn't original plan when I bought my first - a PowerBook 5300 back in 1996 intended to be a portable backup and auxiliary to my desktop computer. However, within an hour or two of taking little unit of its box, I knew that the desktop wasn't going to get a lot of use anymore. The PowerBook was so cool; so small; so clever. Even though it only had a 9.5 in. gray scale 640 x 480 Monitor, compared with the brilliant Trinitron on my desktop computer, the 5300 almost overnight became my workhorse box, and remained so for three years.

Fast it wasn't. Even another family member's 25 MHz '040 PowerBook 520 seemed faster in some respects than the lazy 100 MHz 603e in the 5300. However, it did the job for me, and has continued to do so for my daughter since I replaced it with a 233 MHz G3 WallStreet in 1999.

I have been perfectly satisfied with the performance of that WallStreet, and with my current 500 MHz Pismo, and least in OS 9. OS X is not terribly lively on a G3 with 8 MB of video RAM, but it's certainly usable.

I get asked fairly frequently, since I use my PowerBooks mainly as desktop computers, why I don't just buy a real desktop unit and enjoy the extra performance while saving money in the bargain. Indeed, I've asked myself this same question, and even followed up on it to the extent of buying that G4 Cube in the spring of 2001.

However, the Cube, while a smallish desktop computer, it just wasn't the same as a laptop. There are some of objectively explicable issues - I like the self-containedness of the laptop package, and the belt and suspenders redundancy of having a battery for backup power, but mostly I think it's one of those "if I have to explain it to you, you'll probably never understand," issues. I just like laptops. To me, desktop computers seem compromised and absurdly bulky.

I don't want to get into a polemic here with the folks, presumably a majority, think it's portables that are compromised. If you really need expansion slots, multiple drive bays, and upgradable processor cards, no argument from me. A Power Mac tower is the ideal machine for you. However, while that upgradability is surely nice to have, it doesn't loom high on my own list of computer priorities. The PowerBook (or iBook) is the ideal machine for me. Nothing else has the 'Book mystique.

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cmoore@macopinion.com

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