Due to my new job, I am in contact with every problem with laptops - all laptops.  All computers in general really , but over half of all the machines in my shop are actually laptops.  Because of this, I've been thinking about computers and the power of mobile computing and what people can get out of these new technologies. 

For example, the lowly PDA.  A Palm PDA by its self is a pretty DAMN useless device.  To get everything out of it that makes it a useful device requires that you connect it to a PC of some sort.  That's not quite good enough to really justify the time and expense to get one and learn how to use it.  I have a Palm, and I have to say, I'm not feeling it.  If you want to make your Palm more useful, you can get a keyboard that you can dock to it and some other devices that do help the functionality but do little for the actually ease of use. 

I have a full blown laptop as well.  While it's good for many more things than the Palm, it's truly a pain in the ass to use.  As a result I rarely take it with me anywhere.  The batteries drain rapidly while using the DVD drive and the LCD screen while nice and large, leaves much to be desired in terms of mobile computing.  It's more of a small and more portable desktop machine.  Then again, most laptops are. 

The only laptop makers than are really getting the mobile computing groove are Apple, IBM and Sony.  Look, I'm running a tech shop and we get in all kinds of laptops both PC and Macs...  We get them all.  There are systems from every maker in my shop right now.   Different machines are coming to the table with different strengths... so you have to give your self an honest appraisal about what you want to do with your machine.  Dell's and Toshibas are great for desktop replacements...  just as long as you are not getting your machine with the full strength desktop processor in it.  Get your laptop with a mobile chip...  The issue is simply one of heat.  Laptops don’t do well with hot desktop processors.  It's not an opinion here... that's just a matter of thermal-dynamics. Look at the desktop systems.  Count the fans in that thing.  Probably 3 or more.  This is to control heat and the airflow to channel it out.  Laptops only have one fan and no room for airflow.  It’s going to get hot in there.  Heat kills computers. Anyways, where was I?  Dell's and Toshibas are great.  I'd love to have either one.  I'm running a Compaq and it's just fine for my webs and writings, but that's about it.  Not quite up to the snuff for mobile gaming. For real mobile computing you need an IBM or a Sony.  They are smaller and lighter generally speaking than the other systems and have better battery life as well depending on the model.  I'm liking the small and light units. These tend to be much easier to pack around, and since they are running less hardware like drives and monitors, the batteries last a lot longer.  Packing that A/C adapter and power cord is optional.  Built in DVD is great, but I can do without.  I'm not really feeling the need to be watching flicks on small little screens - but sometimes it's cool.  DVD gives a practical advantage over CD-Rom due to capacity. 4 gigs on DVD vs less than 1 gig on a CD ROM.  Burning CD's is great, but unless you really have to do that – it’s something that’s best done on a desktop machine.  Let's leave that for the desk top machines or docking stations.  One unit I'm really loving is the Sony Picture book.  I can do without the small jizzy built in web cam... but the extremely small size and ultra light weight are fantastic.  It's not having all the ports and drives...  but it has what you need for the majority of a mobile machine uses.  The key board is about the size of a Palm's keyboard that can fold up... and the over all size is similar to a flattened Franklin Compact planner.  It's great.  The battery life with an “Extended” battery is over 9 hours!  The only problem is that it's a Sony and while it's a killer little system, Sony is just not impressing me at all as a laptop maker. Everything is proprietary and of all the laptops I have in my shop – most are Sony. Sony gets the small and light idea... they get the whole mobile mojo... but the cats at Sony are just not getting the whole mobile/rugged thing.  Sexy, but delicate - like the emotions of some girls I know.  That’s not what I’m spending my money on.  If I was to drop my jack on a new laptop - IBM has a very good chance of getting my duckets.  Here is why... the Thinkpad is a tough little bitch.  I'm loving that.  Sturdy, and potent while at the same time being smaller and lighter than most everything else out there. (other than the Sony things)   The only thing about the Thinkpad that I’m not liking is the little red nipple.  That little thing drives me nuts.  I'm all about the touch pads.  I guess I'm a bit more tantric than I thought.  Luckily Logitech has come out with a mouse that plugs into a USP port with the very nice feature of a retractable cord.  This allows you to pocket the mouse without dealing with the whole loose and knotting cord.  Oh hell... the Sony picture book is doing the nipple thing too.  Shiz...  where do I go?  Well, the reason for the nipple is a simple matter of size.  Touch pads make the notebooks that much bigger.  Not a great solution, but if you don't mind the nipple, then it's fine.  I'm note sure if there is a PC notebook small enough and featuring a touch pad that fits my bill.   Oh, wait, it does... it's right there in the Apple catalog.  A PowerBook G4.  Dayum.  That's the way to go.  So much for LAN parties... the PowerBook is not exactly friendly to LANing against a group of PC's.  Well, you can run WarCraft III and LAN, so that's cool.  but if you don't want to play that one?

Oh well.  Hmm.  So what does that leave you? 

I'm not sure of a make or model... but here is what I want in My Perfect Laptop:  Small and light.  DVD/CDRW Combo Drive  Lan Gameable.  Touchpad.  And a long battery life.  Long enough to watch all of Lord Of The Rings, Fellowship of the Ring.  Is that too much to ask?   Oh, lets add in some built in wireless like the new Toshibas are doing.  The new Toshibas, even if yours doesn’t have it per say... are coming with a built in WiFi antenna ... it's built into the screen.  Very nice.  Gimme some blue-tooth on top of that.  Maybe we can do some Compact Flash or Smart Media reader?   Firewire, USB2 would be great.  Any laptop like that?  I didn't think so – not yet.

The real power of mobile computing is its ability to be mobile.  Sounds simple until your having to actually go mobile.  It's going to do you no good if your having to leave it at home.  Right?  It's got to be small enough for you to actually take it.  This means we have to realistically go back to the PDA genre. 

The Pocket PC movement is growing... and that is fantastic.   I'd like to see the Open Source cats get into it with a Linux distro built for mobility.  I know there is at least one Linux PDA, but market penetration is not there.  Of all the PDA’s out there, I'm really loving the Compaq iPaq.  This is what I am using myself right now.  The Palm is sitting on my desk at work and will likely end up meeting the face of a sledge hammer, or see the bad end of my CZ-52 for the last time.  (Probably the later! Especially if we can get some digital photos of it’s destruction.)  The iPaq is a very good start at what mobile computing is all about.  The iPaq has built in Blue Tooth, Infra Red, and you can attach a unit that does Wi-Fi via 802.11B networking.  Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, there is a lot there.  All it needs is really a faster processor to handle the applications.  The screen is better than the GameBoy screens – the games are just not yet quite as good.  I was surprised as to the resolution and picture quality on the iPaq.  It’s not that great, but it was the best I’ve seen on a PDA to be sure.  What’s great is that it can slip into my front pocket – even in jeans. 

So, what is the ideal mobile computer? 

Probably an iPaq.  Seriously.  You can do most everything you really need on it, and your not going to be leaving it at home. 3000 bucks for a laptop? If you want to watch DVD’s on the go – you can get a portable DVD player/Viewer for under 500 bucks, an iPaq for under 500, and there you go.  You want games?  Get a GameBoy Advanced.  Let’s see, here you have just spend about 1 grand and you can take everything with you and your not going to be tempted to leave it at home because it’s all too heavy and too much a pain in the ass...  That and GameBoy has better games than what you can put on your PDA.  Solitaire?  Neat. 

On a related side note – MOST of the laptops I have in my shop are in due to heat issues that happen while watching DVDs – so your better off with the separate DVD Player anyways.

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