"Want the smallest most portable device you can get away with? "
"Want to be always connected to the Internet? Sure you do;"
"Just try opening a laptop on a crowded subway train or bus."
Someone needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around.
If you are so overloaded with work, or so keen at your work, or so behind in your work, that you need to open your laptop on the train and start tapping away then some part of your work-life balance is in serious need of adjustment.
If you're THAT valuable to yourself or the business that you MUST be hunched in front of the keyboard, or online, every waking moment then why are you on a train? Your value/benefit demands that you be driven everywhere so you can work in the back of the vehicle and that you have a PA to handle messaging. Right?
I am an IT Manager for a high-tech company. Here's my solution, based on my personal values and my value/responsibility/benefit to the business:
Samsung Galaxy Note
It's a stupidly-big phone AND a moderately-sized tablet. I can keep in touch with emails, speak to people(!), do video calls and Skype/VoIP, check messages and do remote support via RDP/VNC/SSH/OpenVPN if there's a serious crisis when I'm on the move. If needed (rare), I can use the phone for reading/editing documents and PDFs, minor coding work and, if I really want to fill another pocket, it will work with a bluetooth (or miniature USB wired) keyboard.
Acer Aspire 5735 laptop.
It's a dual-core, 15.6" screen model, about three years old. The laptop comes with me very occasionally when I need it for a meeting or if I need to hook up to some kit when I'm on site. As it happens, the Galaxy Note has an MHL (HDMI) video connector and so I can use it for meeting presentations anyway. Laptop for use on a train? Maybe - on the extremely rare occasion that I need to type up a report on the way back home as it's needed first thing the next day. Typing stuff on the way TO work or site? That was done in the office the day before, or maybe at home if things get sprung on me at very short notice. If I don't grab the laptop, an original Acer Aspire One AA150 netbook comes with me.
In a nutshell, I have boiled down my tech-demanding activities to:
Desk-based: Use a conventional PC, or my laptop, or my phone (for calls and simple networking diagnostics)
On the move: Phone for about 95% of the time. Take laptop or netbook if needed.
Considering that the phone is always with me, that means I'm automatically setup for almost all my work and personal tech needs all the time.
Would I consider buying a UX31A or similar ultrabook (or a tablet for that matter) - sure, if cost/benefit was not an issue, but the device would probably spend most of its life on a desk, and all the things that make it what it is (size, lightness etc.) would be wasted - unless of course, I turned things on their head and altered my work/lifestyle to fit around the technology - mind you, that would mean taking the train to work instead of driving - and, no, I don't have a chauffeur!
Train rides are kind of boring. Why wouldn't I get out my laptop on a train? I did, recently, to add depth-of-field compensation to a blurry image detector I'm writing for my own amusement. I don't think that would be nearly as fun on a stupidly-big phone.
> Someone needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around.
I work on my laptop on my commute on the train. This saves me two hours every day and allows me to live in a beautiful place.
Someone does indeed needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around, Mr. IT Manager For a High Tech Company with a ridiculously giant phone, a netbook, a laptop and a PC.
A lot of people I know have 40 minute train rides each way. If they can get work done on the train, they can leave early and have more time for their family.
There are plenty of use cases for a portable computer. Moving to New York for 3 months for Hacker School comes to mind (it starts next week). I want the lightest one that works well. The End.
I see more and more galaxy notes here in China, even in the hands of tiny girls. They hold it under the armpit, like a bag. Own one myself and rarely power on my pc when back home.
I wanted to buy a new windows laptop that was light, strong, and looked good. I really, really did. Then, because of work reasons, I ended up getting a MacBook Air instead.
Now, I've been dead-set against switching to a Mac for a long time, because I am incredibly invested with Windows, more so than almost anyone I know. I didn't want to have to relearn everything, plus rewrite all the scripts I have on my Windows machine.
Still, I'm pretty happy with the switch so far. The laptop is everything you could want - small, fast, amazingly easy to pull out and turn on for quick use. I haven't actually tortured the laptop with too much programming yet, but OSX has a lot of small advantages over Windows. I'm not finding it too hard to switch, much easier than I thought I would find it.
I can't help feeling that, unless the hardware makers get their act together, I'll never be going back to a Windows-based laptop. The MacBook is just too good.
Ironically, in the 'other recommended articles' section of Atwood's post, there's a 2006 article entitled "Apple Laptops: Good, Cheap, Fast—Pick Three"
He couldn't have been more right, but somehow he never caught on even after 6 years of constant improvements, and the introduction of the Air. His quote "Sure, you can find a few edge cases where Apple loses, such as the ultraportable category" would elicit laughter these days.
In my (and many others') opinion, apple makes some of the best laptop hardware around. It's hard to argue otherwise. Just look at Atwood's complaints about the Asus' trackpad—a defect almost inexcusable in this day and age, especially given that the Mac trackpads are so damn good. Put OSX, Windows, or Linux on it, whatever you want, it's still extremely well made hardware and will be durable, usable, and hold resale value better. Indeed, other manufacturers are simply trying to play catch-up, and cloning the style and being forced to emulate the build quality (albeit unsuccessfully) of Apple laptops. This is not opinion, this is not zealotry, I have no horse in this race—it's simply appears to be true at this point. It's even hard to argue on the economic standpoint with the price of the base 13" MacBook Air being $1199.
Like I say, I have no horse in this race; I don't care what Jeff Atwood prefers in his computers. It simply seems that there's an interesting faith-based exclusion being made, and I would warn others against making the same conclusion without using facts and experience of their own.
About three years ago, I purchased my first Mac. It was an early 2009 iMac. Before then, I had only owned a Windows machine, and like you, I was also incredibly invested in Windows.
But when I got my Mac, I just found doing simple things a challenge, and the various interfaces not powerful enough. To this day, I still struggle using Finder, mostly because there's no (native) way of browsing folders and files separately like in Windows.
But that's just one example, and I really don't have time to list the many other ways I found the switch difficult.
So again, I'm curious to know your secret. I don't know, maybe I was even more invested in Windows than yourself.
i work with multiple monitors and always hated this on OSX. The Menubar is only on the main screen, no matter where program is located (there are tools to replicate it to the second monitor but still) and i hate the OSX dock. The windows taskbar with a multimonitor enhancement like UltraMon or DisplayFusion is just unbeatable when having many open windows imo, on OSX it always takes more time/clicks to find the windows i want which is annoying...
As a Developer currently working mainly with C#, no Visual Studio on OSX is a big pita since MonoDevelop is nowhere as good...
I still have a Macbook Air for toying around on the go, holding presentations etc. Its a very nice consumer device but i still prefer Windows as my main work enviroment.
There's a Microsoft store three storefronts down from an Apple store in our local mall (Bellevue Square, near Seattle).
I looked at the Asus UX31, wrote down its specs and went to the the Apple store. Nearly exactly the same specs for an Air, but the UX31 was about $400 cheaper.
(The UX31 didn't come with any crapware, either).
I'm somewhat disappointed with the keyboard, but other than that it's a great little machine.
This very much reminds me of the Steve Jobs quote that in the future, laptops and desktops will be like trucks. They will always be around for those who need them, but most people don't need trucks.
Personally, I don't quite see that yet with today's hardware and paradigms. The processing power is certainly getting there. My tablet today is significantly more powerful than my laptop in 2006 but still not quite fast enough for compiling stuff etc. Also, tablet user interfaces are still a bit too unwieldy and rigid for programming work and there is something to be said for huge monitors.
But then, Windows 8 looks like it could be the solution: A tablet that can run Windows on the go, but transforms into a regular desktop when connected to a keyboard/mouse/screen. The future.
> My tablet today is significantly more powerful than my laptop in 2006 but still not quite fast enough for compiling stuff etc.
What kind of laptop did you own? If you've got an iPad 3, any Tegra 3 or Exynos 4412 powered Android Tablet known to my knowledge you have in no way the processing power of a 2006 Laptop. To remind you, a reasonable Laptop in 2006 had a Core (2) Duo CPU, discreet graphics aside. I've used such a Laptop until 2011 to work flawlessy with Eclipse, Photoshop and even older versions of Premiere.
Performance-wise the current ARM CPUs still are lagging behind anything the Desktop had roughly ten years ago.
It's only their power consumption that made them interesting for Apple and only that only with the uprising of very power efficient gpus aswell so the iPhone 1 could have that level of responsiveness at basically no cpu power.
And it's not a fault of X86, which is shown by the newest Intel Medfield CPUs which are starting to outperform the ARMs at the same level of power consumption. At these levels of engineering it boils down to physics. ARMs CPUs aren't just more "cleverly" designed, they had a different scope, different instruction sets and therefor different power specifications.
You can only get so much CPU Speed from a CPU at a certain NM scale with a certain intructionset at a certain power level, and if it's arm or x86 doesn't change that.
ARM should start to feel Intel's breath in their neck, since ARM doesn't have nearly the kind of spending power Intel has to strongarm(no pun intended) the technology beyond the reach of ARMs financial possibilities(The NM race is becoming exponentially more expensive with each iteration...).
Motorola has started to build the RazrI which will be very interesting to watch in the market.
> And even programmers, the audience who would most need all the power and flexibility of laptops, are switching to tablets.
programmerS? the link is the only guy I heard of so far, and I even know die-hard ipad fans who laugh at the idea of a tablet being a serious workstation.
Just looking at his setup gave me back pain. I mean, why settle for a small tablet screen with a separate keyboard when you can have several huge screens giving you so much more screen space? What is the point there?
Of course a portable device is great to use when I'm away from my desk, but that's the exception not the rule.
I quite agree with Derbasti; my dream device would be a tablet that I can dock at my desk and have it transformed into a full blown workstation. Even better, make it a phone with a large-ish screen.
I would never consider working on a tablet, even if it could perfectly run my development environment. I absolutely need a keyboard, and I might as well take the laptop if I'm going to pack a keyboard with the tablet.
Several people have told me they do the same. It might not be thousands, but there are programmers out there working like this.
It works for programmers because the iPad isn't your workstation, it's just your connection to a remote workstation. I'm not sure this is applicable to e.g. graphic design.
Interestingly, I'm having the opposite thing happen. Due to this MacBook Pro Retina (I have the fully spec'd version), I firmly believe that my Mac Pro will be the last desktop computer I own.
While the Mac Pro (about a year old) still smokes this laptop in a lot of areas, it's not enough smoke that I find myself turning it on half as much as I used to after I got this laptop. Occasionally, if I'm doing some heavy duty OpenFrameworks hacking, I'll switch over.
I've moved almost all my video editing to the MBP, mostly because I went with the G-RAID thunderbolt RAID (wrongly assuming they'd introduce a Mac Pro line with Thunderbolt sometime soon). And render times aren't so bad that I miss it all that much, though when I do I will begrudgingly shuffle some files around and fire up the Mac Pro. (I do video installation art as a hobby).
I think I will miss how warm the Mac Pro keeps my office in the winter though.
I also can't wait to see what next year's line refresh brings.
Along with this, I'm considering the Thinkpad X1 Carbon or the Samsung Series 9 -- they're all advertised as lightweight, powerful, and with more vertical resolution than the usual piddling 768px. Anyone tried them and want to weigh in?
I'm leaning towards the Thinkpad since I get the impression Thinkpads usually go well with Linux. (I might need to run Windows too, alas.) This will replace a Mac laptop.
It is possible that a better future tablet would have good enough programming tools - it will be fun to wait and see.
I got rid of all three of my desktop systems (1 Mac, 2 dual Linux/Windows boxes) a few years ago. I don't plan on buying any more Apple gear, but will use what I have until it needs to be replaced: MacBook Pro running Ubuntu, Air 13', a Toshiba laptop Linux/Windows, and a iPad 2. My wife and I live in a very small house in the mountains and not having as much computer clutter is great.
The biggest recent technological change in my work/life mix has been the purchase of a Samsung Galaxy III S super sized phone (1280x720 screen resolution). I am amazed by how much I use this device: for just about everything but coding and writing. I do most of my programming in Ruby and Clojure so I don't need much horsepower on my development systems so I can imagine a future where a more powerful phone with a docking station might cover most of my work, writing, and entertainment needs: skip the tablet!
All that said, I am likely to purchase a Surface when they are released and the early adopter bugs are ironed out. I used to have fun bashing Microsoft but there are a few things that have softened my view: Bill and Melinda Gate's good works for making the world better, the fact that the surface would fit my needs, and I still have pleasant memories of writing a Windows 1.03 app (the SAIC ANSim neural network tools that had a nice UI for managing training, etc.)
I get what you're saying, but I don't see why adding an affiliate link to an honest endorsement makes it any less honest.
While I don't agree with everything Jeff has to say, I wouldn't call him a shill. His reviews have always seemed perfectly honest to me. I've even bought products he's recommended and agreed with said recommendations - not caring whether or not he made a dollar off said purchase.
Isn't that the underlying reason for affiliate links? No doubt, they've obviously been bastardized in thousands of ways, but the initial reason for them was to make linking to a product mutually beneficial.
I thought it was parody, myself, because the bottom half of that laptop looks exactly like a MacBook Air, down to the arrows, slot ordering, and specs, and yet not once does he mention the "elephant in the room" of how it compares to the MB-A.
Same feeling. I hate apple, but recommending a MBA clone + win8 preview is very weird. Especially the win8 part, the author didn't tell any feature that makes it a big improvement over win7. Perhaps this is not about software after all.
yep, definitely an affiliate link. in previous posts atwood would disclose the affiliate links in the post (not sure why he didn't do so this time). amazon usually pays 4% on referrals (in this case 42$), so depending on the loyalty of his readership this "review" might be moderately lucrative.
He has a desktop computer with a bunch of monitors, so I guess his laptop is mostly for email, entertainment and web browsing. Of course a tablet can do that just fine. If you're using a laptop as your main machine, you have different needs.
Personally I am planning to retire my desktop computer and buy an ultrabook, probably a Samsung 900X3C. The Samsung is tinner and lighter, and I read it's a bit more solid in the build than the Asus.
Anyone tried both the 900X3C and a UX31A? Anyone tried Linux on them?
I've been considering both the 900X3C and 900X4C myself, but Linux support isn't quite there yet. The most annoying outstanding issue (maybe the only one when Ubuntu 12.10 hits) is a nasty ACPI bug that causes Linux to fail to recognize when certain events take place, like lid close/open and battery charge/discharge, both pretty much show stoppers for a laptop IMHO. It seems to affect lots of Samsung laptops, not just the series 9. Here are a few useful links if you want to keep track of the overall issues:
If they ever get the ACPI bug worked out, I probably wouldn't go for the X3C. Even though it has a better display (IPS) and is slightly thinner the RAM isn't upgradeable at 4 GB, unlike the X4C which comes with 8 GB and is upgradeable to 16 GB.
Edit: Forgot to mention that you need Windows installed in order to upgrade the BIOS.
I have been using the Ux31 (previous version, only 1600x900) on Arch and Windows 8, and I am quite impressed too.
I have been a heavy Thinkpad (T42 and T61p) and Macbook Pro user, and I had the chance to test other Ultrabooks, like the Samsung S9 and some cheap Acer. I was quite prejudiceed against Asus, but this machine is really the best I had so far.
He does bring out a point about something I have never understood: why does the PC industry love putting stickers on laptops? It is a really annoying and ugly practice.
I'd assume the small "Intel inside" and "Designed for Windows" ones (as well as the "X recommends Windows Y" notices on product pages) are in some extent considered paid advertising, as they ate part of pricing agreements.
IIRC it involves money. And the Wintel manufacturers have a lot of history in distinguishing on price, so they'll gladly gunk things up with stickers in exchange for some bucks off of the components.
I don't see myself typing long texts on a tablet or phone in the foreseeable future. For consuming on the road, it turned out the 10.1" tablet is actually too big and the phone is sufficient.
What about the Asus tablet with the detachable keyboard? I saw it in a shop recently and it looked surprisingly solid.
Another, perhaps stupid thought: with screen resolutions blowing up, could it become possible to use glasses to see a phone display in a size equivalent to 27"?
I have considered Zenbook over my MacBook Air but I have not changed yet. I am somewhat reluctant moving back to Windows but in the same time I am not much of a Apple fan either. I guess I am on deadlock here, waiting a linux miracle. So, it all boils to software.
But you can run both on the Mac, at the same time too. I do a lot of OpenFrameworks stuff for in-store retailing (touch screen, interactive displays) and I can run opengl openframework apps in Parallels 8 at 60 fps no problem in coherence mode (WIndows apps run in windows integrated with your mac desktop). They aren't exactly trivial apps either (some run at 2560x1440 and are doing Kinect processing + OpenCV + 3D). I develop with XCode, flip over to Visual Studio to recompile and debug (we dev on macs, deploy on Windows).
Guess he didn't look very hard for the specs he's quoting. I had a Dell Dimension D430 which was awesome a few years ago (actually it was great until a few weeks ago when I dropped it) and got 6+ hours of battery life easily, and the Z-series Vaio I'm typing this on are just a teeny bit heavier than what he's talking about and also get similar battery life. Plus, for longer times without access to power outlets, there's always the second battery. Better to go from 5 to 10 hours by taking a second battery than going from 5 to 7 by adding extra weight that most of the time you don't use, imo.
It is a bit strange that there is a differentiation between battery life and portability. As far as I'm concerned portability is (battery-life * (1/weight)), assuming that you give them the same importance.
It seems he wants a super-powerful tablet. That'd be reasonable for on the go. He'd have a good docking system at home to connect to proper monitor and keyboard, with big storage. There'd be a portable keyboard too, for proper work on the go.
He'd still have to take a phone.
And, of course, he'd have a struggle with OSs not knowing if they were using horrible tablet interfaces or desktop interfaces; and having to adjust between mouse and touch all the time.
My conclusion of this article is that even after so many years, it is still not possible to find a decent computer that fits normal needs even when money is not the issue.
I completely agree with the needs of the article: something usable in a subway, with a good screen, 10 hours of battery life, a descent CPU, an (optional) keyboard for productivity and a descent OS.
[+] [-] linker3000|13 years ago|reply
"Want to be always connected to the Internet? Sure you do;"
"Just try opening a laptop on a crowded subway train or bus."
Someone needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around.
If you are so overloaded with work, or so keen at your work, or so behind in your work, that you need to open your laptop on the train and start tapping away then some part of your work-life balance is in serious need of adjustment.
If you're THAT valuable to yourself or the business that you MUST be hunched in front of the keyboard, or online, every waking moment then why are you on a train? Your value/benefit demands that you be driven everywhere so you can work in the back of the vehicle and that you have a PA to handle messaging. Right?
I am an IT Manager for a high-tech company. Here's my solution, based on my personal values and my value/responsibility/benefit to the business:
Samsung Galaxy Note
It's a stupidly-big phone AND a moderately-sized tablet. I can keep in touch with emails, speak to people(!), do video calls and Skype/VoIP, check messages and do remote support via RDP/VNC/SSH/OpenVPN if there's a serious crisis when I'm on the move. If needed (rare), I can use the phone for reading/editing documents and PDFs, minor coding work and, if I really want to fill another pocket, it will work with a bluetooth (or miniature USB wired) keyboard.
Acer Aspire 5735 laptop.
It's a dual-core, 15.6" screen model, about three years old. The laptop comes with me very occasionally when I need it for a meeting or if I need to hook up to some kit when I'm on site. As it happens, the Galaxy Note has an MHL (HDMI) video connector and so I can use it for meeting presentations anyway. Laptop for use on a train? Maybe - on the extremely rare occasion that I need to type up a report on the way back home as it's needed first thing the next day. Typing stuff on the way TO work or site? That was done in the office the day before, or maybe at home if things get sprung on me at very short notice. If I don't grab the laptop, an original Acer Aspire One AA150 netbook comes with me.
In a nutshell, I have boiled down my tech-demanding activities to:
Desk-based: Use a conventional PC, or my laptop, or my phone (for calls and simple networking diagnostics)
On the move: Phone for about 95% of the time. Take laptop or netbook if needed.
Considering that the phone is always with me, that means I'm automatically setup for almost all my work and personal tech needs all the time.
Would I consider buying a UX31A or similar ultrabook (or a tablet for that matter) - sure, if cost/benefit was not an issue, but the device would probably spend most of its life on a desk, and all the things that make it what it is (size, lightness etc.) would be wasted - unless of course, I turned things on their head and altered my work/lifestyle to fit around the technology - mind you, that would mean taking the train to work instead of driving - and, no, I don't have a chauffeur!
[+] [-] Zak|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Derbasti|13 years ago|reply
I work on my laptop on my commute on the train. This saves me two hours every day and allows me to live in a beautiful place.
Someone does indeed needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around, Mr. IT Manager For a High Tech Company with a ridiculously giant phone, a netbook, a laptop and a PC.
[+] [-] scottschulthess|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Bakkot|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] abecedarius|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gbog|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] keithpeter|13 years ago|reply
I use notebooks quite a lot as well (the paper kind). Planning/idea capture.
[+] [-] progrock|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] edanm|13 years ago|reply
Now, I've been dead-set against switching to a Mac for a long time, because I am incredibly invested with Windows, more so than almost anyone I know. I didn't want to have to relearn everything, plus rewrite all the scripts I have on my Windows machine.
Still, I'm pretty happy with the switch so far. The laptop is everything you could want - small, fast, amazingly easy to pull out and turn on for quick use. I haven't actually tortured the laptop with too much programming yet, but OSX has a lot of small advantages over Windows. I'm not finding it too hard to switch, much easier than I thought I would find it.
I can't help feeling that, unless the hardware makers get their act together, I'll never be going back to a Windows-based laptop. The MacBook is just too good.
[+] [-] calinet6|13 years ago|reply
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/05/apple-laptops-good-...
He couldn't have been more right, but somehow he never caught on even after 6 years of constant improvements, and the introduction of the Air. His quote "Sure, you can find a few edge cases where Apple loses, such as the ultraportable category" would elicit laughter these days.
In my (and many others') opinion, apple makes some of the best laptop hardware around. It's hard to argue otherwise. Just look at Atwood's complaints about the Asus' trackpad—a defect almost inexcusable in this day and age, especially given that the Mac trackpads are so damn good. Put OSX, Windows, or Linux on it, whatever you want, it's still extremely well made hardware and will be durable, usable, and hold resale value better. Indeed, other manufacturers are simply trying to play catch-up, and cloning the style and being forced to emulate the build quality (albeit unsuccessfully) of Apple laptops. This is not opinion, this is not zealotry, I have no horse in this race—it's simply appears to be true at this point. It's even hard to argue on the economic standpoint with the price of the base 13" MacBook Air being $1199.
Like I say, I have no horse in this race; I don't care what Jeff Atwood prefers in his computers. It simply seems that there's an interesting faith-based exclusion being made, and I would warn others against making the same conclusion without using facts and experience of their own.
[+] [-] jader201|13 years ago|reply
About three years ago, I purchased my first Mac. It was an early 2009 iMac. Before then, I had only owned a Windows machine, and like you, I was also incredibly invested in Windows.
But when I got my Mac, I just found doing simple things a challenge, and the various interfaces not powerful enough. To this day, I still struggle using Finder, mostly because there's no (native) way of browsing folders and files separately like in Windows.
But that's just one example, and I really don't have time to list the many other ways I found the switch difficult.
So again, I'm curious to know your secret. I don't know, maybe I was even more invested in Windows than yourself.
[+] [-] kayoone|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kabdib|13 years ago|reply
I looked at the Asus UX31, wrote down its specs and went to the the Apple store. Nearly exactly the same specs for an Air, but the UX31 was about $400 cheaper.
(The UX31 didn't come with any crapware, either).
I'm somewhat disappointed with the keyboard, but other than that it's a great little machine.
[+] [-] pmelendez|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Derbasti|13 years ago|reply
Personally, I don't quite see that yet with today's hardware and paradigms. The processing power is certainly getting there. My tablet today is significantly more powerful than my laptop in 2006 but still not quite fast enough for compiling stuff etc. Also, tablet user interfaces are still a bit too unwieldy and rigid for programming work and there is something to be said for huge monitors.
But then, Windows 8 looks like it could be the solution: A tablet that can run Windows on the go, but transforms into a regular desktop when connected to a keyboard/mouse/screen. The future.
[+] [-] Roritharr|13 years ago|reply
What kind of laptop did you own? If you've got an iPad 3, any Tegra 3 or Exynos 4412 powered Android Tablet known to my knowledge you have in no way the processing power of a 2006 Laptop. To remind you, a reasonable Laptop in 2006 had a Core (2) Duo CPU, discreet graphics aside. I've used such a Laptop until 2011 to work flawlessy with Eclipse, Photoshop and even older versions of Premiere.
Performance-wise the current ARM CPUs still are lagging behind anything the Desktop had roughly ten years ago.
It's only their power consumption that made them interesting for Apple and only that only with the uprising of very power efficient gpus aswell so the iPhone 1 could have that level of responsiveness at basically no cpu power.
And it's not a fault of X86, which is shown by the newest Intel Medfield CPUs which are starting to outperform the ARMs at the same level of power consumption. At these levels of engineering it boils down to physics. ARMs CPUs aren't just more "cleverly" designed, they had a different scope, different instruction sets and therefor different power specifications.
You can only get so much CPU Speed from a CPU at a certain NM scale with a certain intructionset at a certain power level, and if it's arm or x86 doesn't change that.
ARM should start to feel Intel's breath in their neck, since ARM doesn't have nearly the kind of spending power Intel has to strongarm(no pun intended) the technology beyond the reach of ARMs financial possibilities(The NM race is becoming exponentially more expensive with each iteration...).
Motorola has started to build the RazrI which will be very interesting to watch in the market.
[+] [-] zalew|13 years ago|reply
programmerS? the link is the only guy I heard of so far, and I even know die-hard ipad fans who laugh at the idea of a tablet being a serious workstation.
[+] [-] malaporte|13 years ago|reply
Of course a portable device is great to use when I'm away from my desk, but that's the exception not the rule.
I quite agree with Derbasti; my dream device would be a tablet that I can dock at my desk and have it transformed into a full blown workstation. Even better, make it a phone with a large-ish screen.
[+] [-] StavrosK|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] moconnor|13 years ago|reply
It works for programmers because the iPad isn't your workstation, it's just your connection to a remote workstation. I'm not sure this is applicable to e.g. graphic design.
[+] [-] jawngee|13 years ago|reply
While the Mac Pro (about a year old) still smokes this laptop in a lot of areas, it's not enough smoke that I find myself turning it on half as much as I used to after I got this laptop. Occasionally, if I'm doing some heavy duty OpenFrameworks hacking, I'll switch over.
I've moved almost all my video editing to the MBP, mostly because I went with the G-RAID thunderbolt RAID (wrongly assuming they'd introduce a Mac Pro line with Thunderbolt sometime soon). And render times aren't so bad that I miss it all that much, though when I do I will begrudgingly shuffle some files around and fire up the Mac Pro. (I do video installation art as a hobby).
I think I will miss how warm the Mac Pro keeps my office in the winter though.
I also can't wait to see what next year's line refresh brings.
[+] [-] abecedarius|13 years ago|reply
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/08/a-worthy-ultrabook-ap... (edit: previous discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4428262 )
I'm leaning towards the Thinkpad since I get the impression Thinkpads usually go well with Linux. (I might need to run Windows too, alas.) This will replace a Mac laptop.
[+] [-] mark_l_watson|13 years ago|reply
I got rid of all three of my desktop systems (1 Mac, 2 dual Linux/Windows boxes) a few years ago. I don't plan on buying any more Apple gear, but will use what I have until it needs to be replaced: MacBook Pro running Ubuntu, Air 13', a Toshiba laptop Linux/Windows, and a iPad 2. My wife and I live in a very small house in the mountains and not having as much computer clutter is great.
The biggest recent technological change in my work/life mix has been the purchase of a Samsung Galaxy III S super sized phone (1280x720 screen resolution). I am amazed by how much I use this device: for just about everything but coding and writing. I do most of my programming in Ruby and Clojure so I don't need much horsepower on my development systems so I can imagine a future where a more powerful phone with a docking station might cover most of my work, writing, and entertainment needs: skip the tablet!
All that said, I am likely to purchase a Surface when they are released and the early adopter bugs are ironed out. I used to have fun bashing Microsoft but there are a few things that have softened my view: Bill and Melinda Gate's good works for making the world better, the fact that the surface would fit my needs, and I still have pleasant memories of writing a Windows 1.03 app (the SAIC ANSim neural network tools that had a nice UI for managing training, etc.)
[+] [-] brador|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] damncabbage|13 years ago|reply
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/06/regular-expressions...
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/03/adventures-in-recha...
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/11/coding-its-just-wri...
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/09/lcd-monitor-arms.ht...
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/04/software-projects-a...
[+] [-] enobrev|13 years ago|reply
While I don't agree with everything Jeff has to say, I wouldn't call him a shill. His reviews have always seemed perfectly honest to me. I've even bought products he's recommended and agreed with said recommendations - not caring whether or not he made a dollar off said purchase.
Isn't that the underlying reason for affiliate links? No doubt, they've obviously been bastardized in thousands of ways, but the initial reason for them was to make linking to a product mutually beneficial.
[+] [-] SilasX|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chj|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jcfrei|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacobr|13 years ago|reply
Personally I am planning to retire my desktop computer and buy an ultrabook, probably a Samsung 900X3C. The Samsung is tinner and lighter, and I read it's a bit more solid in the build than the Asus.
Anyone tried both the 900X3C and a UX31A? Anyone tried Linux on them?
[+] [-] onosendai|13 years ago|reply
https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44161
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SamsungSeries9
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1737086&page=24
If they ever get the ACPI bug worked out, I probably wouldn't go for the X3C. Even though it has a better display (IPS) and is slightly thinner the RAM isn't upgradeable at 4 GB, unlike the X4C which comes with 8 GB and is upgradeable to 16 GB.
Edit: Forgot to mention that you need Windows installed in order to upgrade the BIOS.
[+] [-] john2x|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] ybother|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] madprops|13 years ago|reply
I think that until we get something that makes keyboards and screens obsolete there will be room for a laptop.
[+] [-] antihero|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jbk|13 years ago|reply
I have been a heavy Thinkpad (T42 and T61p) and Macbook Pro user, and I had the chance to test other Ultrabooks, like the Samsung S9 and some cheap Acer. I was quite prejudiceed against Asus, but this machine is really the best I had so far.
[+] [-] RexRollman|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rbanffy|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] egypturnash|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tichy|13 years ago|reply
What about the Asus tablet with the detachable keyboard? I saw it in a shop recently and it looked surprisingly solid.
Another, perhaps stupid thought: with screen resolutions blowing up, could it become possible to use glasses to see a phone display in a size equivalent to 27"?
[+] [-] jpkeisala|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jawngee|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] roel_v|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lumberjack|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanBC|13 years ago|reply
He'd still have to take a phone.
And, of course, he'd have a struggle with OSs not knowing if they were using horrible tablet interfaces or desktop interfaces; and having to adjust between mouse and touch all the time.
[+] [-] trotsky|13 years ago|reply
That's why it won't be your last laptop.
[+] [-] webreac|13 years ago|reply
I completely agree with the needs of the article: something usable in a subway, with a good screen, 10 hours of battery life, a descent CPU, an (optional) keyboard for productivity and a descent OS.