On Sat, 17 Oct 2015 15:07:52 -0500 rlhar...@oplink.net wrote: > On Sat, October 17, 2015 2:48 pm, Joe wrote: > > I have an Acer Aspire One, unfortunately with the original very slow > > 8GB SSD, but it runs Debian unstable usably. It has wifi ... > > I have a slow laptop, but closed it measures 10in x 15in x 1.5in and > weighs 6 pounds. The large screen is nice regarding visibility, but > the machine is too big and too heavy for use in the car, even if the > passenger is willing to hold in in his/her lap. And the first time > you hit the brakes and the machine slides off the seat onto the > floor, the machine likely gets damaged. And even if the car is > stopped on the side of the road or in a parking lot, it is difficult > for the driver to reach over and pick up the machine. And even if he > can reach over and pick it up, the steering wheel prevents the > machine from being placed in the lap of the driver. > > But a machine about the size of the eeePC should be usable in the car. > > > > Netbooks do still exist, but cost as much as real (15"+) laptops. > ... > > something I could carry all the time. With, as you say, an entirely > > separate and definitely extremely stupid phone. > > A simple but usable machine which is with you all the time can be > worth infinitely more than a better machine which is not practical to > carry. >
Exactly. I take the netbook on holiday and to the pub and hardly notice the weight, there's no way I would carry my full-sized laptop any distance. I'd just like one which fitted in a jacket pocket, but had a big enough screen to be useful for something more than three-line emails. My daughter has an iPad which is very nice, but it's still a hand-carry job rather than pocket-sized. And the OS... Windows is rapidly heading down the walled-garden route, not yet quite insisting that you need a Microsoft account to use it, and must use only MS-approved software, but it's not very far short of that... I don't think Google is any better, and we know Apple isn't. It really has to be proper Linux. -- Joe
