In A World With No Lappy
My laptop died about three weeks ago. It was a Macbook Pro, and was a real workhorse. I’m not surprised it died; I’ve configured it all manner of ways, including a Mac/Win/Unbuntu triple-boot at one point. Unsurprised, but disappointed — it was a nice piece of hardware, and I’m sorry to see it go.
This put me an a tough position. The Money Fairy hadn’t dropped off the bundle of bills that would enable me to buy a new one, and in reality, I wanted to reconsider my computing strategy. Things have changed considerably since I bought my MBP; I do not spend as much gaming, I do not spend as much time writing code, and in truth, I do not spend as much time on the computer as I used to. Even as my MBP was marching toward oblivion I had switched completely over to Linux save for a few activities (Netflix, for instance), and so the idea of running right out to buy a new Mac or Windows machine really did not appeal to me.
I made a decision that surprised my wife and myself; I decided not to go buy a new computer. I have a small Asus Eee netbook which, while tiny, could be hooked up to a monitor and keyboard, and as I would in text this days, all I need to do was check email, browse the web, and use Vim, my writing environment of choice. I could do all of that from the netbook, and while it was a little slow, it was preferable to hunting for a new lappy.
And so, I adjusted to not carrying a computer with me everyplace I went. It was an interesting, freeing feeling. As much as I appreciate the wonder of the Internet, I like being disconnected from it. I prefer it to be what it is rapidly becoming; a background process for syncing my data, instead of a destination in and of itself. It was in this mindset that I went to Google I/O.
Anyone who follow tech news can fill in what happened next: at Google I/O everyone received a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. I was shocked, surprised, and a little bewildered when I unboxed the new tech; I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Earlier in the month I purchased a used iPad (first gen) for my wife. I played with the device and it annoyed the little hell out of me. So, now I had a new one all to myself, running Android. What to do with it?
I decided to see if I could use it to replace my laptop. When I returned from my trip, I set the tablet on stand and hooked up a bluetooth keyboard. Viola; I had an ultraportable writing device.
Here is what I’ve learned about using the tablet as a replacement for a laptop:
- The whole setup is less weighty than a laptop, which I adore. I hate lugging tech. I prefer to travel light, and this works extremely well for me.
- The form-factor is excellent for writing: I prefer to work on a paper-shaped space (8.5 x 11) and the fact that I cannot have difference windows up on the screen means less distractions.
- The pairing between bluetooth keyboard and device is a little flaky. Sometimes the keyboard doesn’t like syncing, sometime a glitch of some sort causes keys to “stick” leading to unintended repeaaaaaaaaaating letter s. I’ve had one situation where the only fix was to shut down keyboard completely and then re-pair it with the device.
- Thus far, I cannot use Vim on Android other than by using SSH to travel to a Linux server. I am taking steps to remedy this.
- I have not tried to hook up a bluetooth mouse, and I’m curious to see how that would work, if at all. I will say that tapping the screen to move the cursor around (due to a lack of arrow keys on the software keyboard) makes it extremely difficult to edit text with any sort of speed. The external keyboard helps with this, but because of this limitation, I’ve come to refer to my tablet as a first-draft device, meaning that I have to edit on my netbook if I want to make significant progress. This might change as I get used to working on the tablet; we shall see.
- Gaming is out, natch.
- Skype is tenuous.
- Audio recording and editing for podcast is not possible.
- It is a fantastic media-consumption device; I use an excellent RSS reader called Pulse that links into my Google Reader account and makes reading the news truly enjoyable; it has become my morning newspaper. For reading books I still prefer my Kindle (backlit screens are hard on the eyes), but for short stints, the tablet does the job admirably.
As part of the Google I/O experience we will all be receiving a Chromebook, and I’ll report how that device enhances my laptopless existence. The Chrome operating system should be interesting to play with, but as a command-line guy at heart, I remain somewhat dubious.
Do you have a tablet? How do you use it? How have other devices replaced a desktop or laptop in your life?
I’m one of those guys who’s been waiting for a tablet device for years. I got a convertable laptop tablet HP several years ago and had fun with it, except it was so dang heavy. I just didn’t use it as a tablet very much after the first few weeks, but it’s still my only computer at home.
Then I was able to get my hands on the first gen iPad and I’m in love. Maybe a little heavy, but still very very usable. I consume a ton of media on it (Netflix, comics, ebooks, etc) and have even started writing with it via a bluetooth keyboard. I’m not a coder or computer nerd, so most of the things I can’t do on I wouldn’t do on my laptop anyway.
This is a well-timed article, as our family has also just made the switch. We have all moved to the tablet form and frankly are not looking back. I still have a laptop issued for work due to security concerns for IP, but I leave it at home and can log into it remotely if absolutely needed. I also do a lot of writing, and have found simply using the tablet to be very comfortable and natural and I back data up to WebDAV (yay cloud!).
Seriously, not looking back – we’re all-tablet now.
Oh, and did I mention that it has dropped our power consumption through the floor? Just sayin’…
[...] things might be worth buying to someone who already has a lot of machinery, and Overlord Miller has examined his experience trying a tablet to completely replace his laptop. Offsite, one of many examples is Mur Lafferty’s reasoning on actively reducing her number of [...]