One of the things I don't talk about nearly enough is my love for technology. When it comes to laptops, I've always felt that the smaller it is, the better--the point of the damn this is to be portable, right?
More to the point, I've ALWAYS wanted a cheap writing tool. I am a child of the information age and, as such, am far more at home on a keyboard than with a pen and paper. For the sake of money, I've tried to make do (my paper of choice is yellow legal pads), but I've always wanted something more efficient.
One of the first setups I had that provided any sort of satisfaction was a Handspring Visor and a Stowaway Keyboard. Of course, this setup wasn't perfect ... but then I wasn't writing as heavily back then as I do now. While the PDA offered excellent battery life and instant-on and instant-save, the fact that keyboard/PDA combo had to be setup--on a flat surface, as well--ended up being a bit of a hassle.
Skipping over the iBook (G3, 900 MHz I think) as one of my best writing machines, I'll jump straight to the Cingular 8125. I got this smartphone from my sister ... she had bought it for the keyboard, but the whole thing ended up being too much phone for her. I traded an iPod video for it. Believe me, it was worth it. That little sucker had a great keyboard on it and I found myself using it most before work and on breaks. I still have the phone, although I don't use it for service.
Despite these gadgets, my desire for the perfect writing device still ran strong. For the longest time, I've wanted to get my hands on an Alphasmart which I had convinced myself would have been perfect. It is little more than a keyboard with a small screen attached and an app on it that's simply for writing. The machine gets outstanding battery life due to its narrow purpose (and it runs on AAs!!!) and is sturdy as hell due to the fact that it's designed primarily for the educational market. I've never been able to get over the $200+ pricetag for such a limited-feature gadget ... and the few times I did, the online shopping cart was glitchy.
All the while, I longed for a laptop built around yesterday's technology, and offered up at the fraction of the cost of normal laptops.
And that's where the Asus EEE PC came in. As soon as that bad boy hit the scene, I was keeping a close eye on it. One day, when I had some extra cash, I ran to my local Best Buy because I had heard they were stocking a Windows XP version of the diminutive EEE (this was back in April of this year). My goal was to just play with it, but ultimately I walked out of the store with it.
I've used the EEE periodically since then ... sometimes a lot and sometimes very little. Since I do so much video editing, I generally stay on my production machine ... another drawback to the EEE has been really bad battery life.
Another drawback--for the writer in me--would have been the keyboard. It's damn tiny. But I've adapted to it quite well (when I use it frequently) and am able to touch type fairly easily. What I tell people (if you're thinking about an EEE PC--hell, even Target sells them now!!!) is that when it comes to the keyboard, if you want to, you can get used to it.
You know, just like people got used to the iPhone keyboard.
I've recently been working on a couple of tweaks to get the most out of my little EEEsteban. First was earlier this week when I scored the super-extended battery for $50. It hasn't arrived yet, but when it does it will give me on average about 5 hours of battery life, taking care of one of my primary gripes about the laptop.
The other thing I've done has been to forgo the use of Firefox (which I'm missing the spellcheck right now--I'm writing this on the EEE) in favor of Google Chrome. Chrome takes up far less screen real estate and although Firefox has a full-screen mode (F11), it's annoying to flip in and out of it. A gripe about Chrome has been that it takes a while to pull up a page after I type the location in. All other surfing is as responsive as expected. A plus about Chrome is that it scrolls through web pages like all computers should ... meaning that when I use Firefox, sometimes there's a small lag. Not a big deal, and partially expected when considering the low end hardware powering the browser. But when Chrome suddenly starts flying through webpages, you notice a huge difference.
One of the biggest tweaks has been a tiny thing. I've grown to despise the little balloon notifications that there's new windows updates or that I've successfully reconnected to my network. Not only are they annoying, but they take up very valuable screen real estate. A quick google search and I found out how to disable them completely. (And is it me, or is it hilarious that this solution was found on Microsoft's website??)
In the end, as I wait for my extended battery to arrive, my thoughts about the EEE PC are positive. If you write a lot or spend a lot of time online, having a netbook like EEE can change the way you compute--having the extended battery in it and being able to keep the laptop with you at all times will virtually change the way you THINK about computers.
That's the gadget I'm digging pretty hardcore right now ... what gadget are you loving? And as a part 2 to the question: what gadgets do you have that better facilitate your creativity?
Video to come ...
RSS Feed