Law Technology

Can a Netbook REPLACE Your Workhorse Laptop?

By Ross

You’ve all seen me write about my netbook experiences, from my very first Asus EEE PC 701 to its successor 1000H to my current Lenovo Ideapad S10. In my October Technolawyer SmallLaw column, I talked about how my 2.5 decade long uest for the “perfect laptop” was finally realized - carrying TWO laptops - my dedicated Thinkpad T61 workhorse (now upgraded BTW to a total of 750 Gb of internal drive space!) and the Asus 1000H i used for a few months.

But now I’m gradually rethinking this. I’ve now traveled a full week away from the mothership WITHOUT my Thinkpad. Instead, I’m traveling with my 2.2 pound Lenovo Ideapad S10 and a tiny, super-light Buffalo 320 gb USB drive with ALL my documents, PSTs and other data files on it. So . . . the verdict is . . . haven’t missed my full-size Thinkpad one-bit. The Intel Atom N270 brain in these little wonders continues to impress me. I’ll be damned if it doesn’t feel every bit as zippy when 3 or 4 big apps are open as does my Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 equipped Thinkpad. And that miraculous ability to start up and shut down in what feels like a quarter of the time my big iron takes.

Could a $379 netbook be someone’s sole machine? Docked in the office via a universal port replicator (i.e. from Targus with VGA support), connected to a full-size display, keyboard and mouse? At first, the thought never occured to me . . . but now I’m rethinking everything . . . more on this as my thoughts and experiences accumulate, but I think you can see the conclusion I’m likely heading towards.

I’m betting my Thinkpad T61 and 13″ Aluminum Macbook have been pretty lonely this week.

Full post as published by Ross Ipsa Loquitur on February 06, 2009 (boomark / email).