Laptops and Liquid Lifestyles
Nicholas McGill | Purchase, Uncategorized | Friday April 10 2009
I wrote this email of recommendations to a marketing director colleague of mine.
I love my netbook (Asus Eee 1000h), and if I were to ever complain it would be about the screen. Bare in mind that you can also connect the netbook to an external monitor, mouse and keyboards. The Dell mini 12- you can get the same functionality/mobility/battery life for a little more in price. The Dell mini 12 is a netbook w/ same 1.6GHZ Processor and specs as the others $529- plenty of cool colors and styles, very light and the battery won’t die quickly.
If you are replacing your entire @ home computing experience and still want to be mobile, then I’d spring for one of these laptops.
The HP DV310NR and the Dell XPS M1330 offer a nice weight and performance balance for a good price. Around 4-5lbs and can run Adobe Creative Suite. The HP DV310NR $1000 4.6 lbs 13 inch screen-great specs, glossy screen, 4.6 lbs which isn’t too bad. (Check this one out @ Best Buy). The Dell XPS M1330 4lbs and plenty of power- I upgraded the battery to a 6 cell. 13 inch screen and windows vista $779.
Dell Studio 15 – this is your standard solid running typical laptop but nice none the less. Also for the price of my 2 primary recommendations you can still get a new Macbook. If you are really mac hungry we can save you money and buy a used/refurbished one w/ an applecare warranty. I still love my Macbook- it required the least tweaking and allowed me to just work.
If life is more about uber mobility and battery life, then go with the ACER Aspire One or the Asus Eee 1000HE. They don’t disappoint and are nice to sit on the couch and chat away for hours without burning up your lap.
I hope this helps.
-Nicholas
Tips for a Liquid Lifestyle:
1. If you can afford it, treat Netbooks as a secondary, fun, efficient and expendable extensions of your digital lifestyle.
2. There is no such thing as a desktop replacement laptop. There are such things as heavy, immobile laptops.
3. Understand the Personal Digital Liquidity (PDL) model of computing- Mothership/Drone/ Syncrhonized on and offline.
4. When Buying a laptop- consider buying a netbook and a desktop for the same price. All the mobility and power, as well as a safe, secure and solid home base to return to.
Netbooks are excellent secondary home machines and I take mine on most of my dangerous, outdoor adventures. They require a more efficient approach to computing and will likely increase your productivity @ work if you learn how to master them. I keep a secondary monitor, mouse and keyboard at home when I want to click on to a larger screen. My best friend uses this as his primary setup. However, netbooks are not desktop/home server/primary computer replacements. Think of netbooks as a mobile port, a row boat, sister ship and extension of your digital lifestyle. There will always be times when you want to return to mother ship. When Buying a laptop- consider buying a netbook and a desktop for the same price. All the mobility and power, as well as a safe, secure and solid home base to return to.
Don’t buy a laptop as a desktop replacement. If it weighs more than your head (8lbs+)(I have a big head) then it isn’t something you want to haul around with you. Unless it is a part of your workout routine, heavy laptops are under utilized. Desktop units are cheap as well and provide you with more affordable upgrade and expansion options.
The modern personal computing model should be thought of as a mothership/cloud/drone relationship. The Work computer synchronized with home computer, houses all media, downloads and streams, and is in turn synchronized with the various mobile devices, laptops, netbooks, iphone, TV, what have you. Information is synchronized via the web but editable when offline. BAM! Understanding and utilizing this model will save you money and increase your digital liquidity.
