Thread

Anybody have an opinion on the mini laptops the ones that come in at like 9” screen size, they are too small right?
Working through some stuff here lately, I’m using all of my screen real estate as it is on a 19” desktop. EEscreencasts in one quadrant, notepad++ in another, EE control panel, and one to spare.
As an only laptop, since I don’t currently have one, I’m thinking 8.9 inches is a tad bit small, and they don’t put much RAM on the small ones either. I’m thinking the 15” size is ideal?

As a fan of the ultra portables I think it’s super important to distinguish why you’d want one.  For instance, when I was at school, I was carrying a 2lb notebook (before ultra portables were so widely available and affordable) as well as 10-12lbs of textbooks.  Size and weight were paramount to me, along with battery life.

However, as someone that occasionally goes to a friend’s house with a Macbook or to a coffee shop, a little extra weight is absolutely fine.

So - why are you interested in the minis?  Is there a pressing reason to have one?  Do they have the processor power to meet your every day computing needs, if you intend this to be an all day/every day machine?

My desktop at home is getting a little feeble, more RAM would probably help, but it’s 6+ years old now.
I wanted a laptop then. If I ever get into freelancing, I’ll need portability.
That maybe answers the question, showing clients something on a 9” screen would be a tad small then, like a mockup or prototype?

That’s what projectors are for; but to be completely honest, you don’t want to do serious web design on a small monitor. These machines are meant for people that are lugging them around everywhere and still need internet/word processor.  If I were you, I’d get a Macbook or Macbook Pro.

Anybody have an opinion on the mini laptops the ones that come in at like 9” screen size, they are too small right?

Better than an iphone, but too small as an “only” machine.

Working through some stuff here lately, I’m using all of my screen real estate as it is on a 19” desktop.

I hear you. I have a tri-monitor setup, never been happier.

Anybody have an opinion on the mini laptops the ones that come in at like 9” screen size

Having read through the thread, now my curiosity is piqued. Where are they offering them that small, and for how much?

I’ve been thinking about a PDA, but the screens on those are way too small for what I would want to do (my wife has a Palm, and browsing the internet on it is a joke).

Actually, it was Asus which started the current “Netbook” craze, but the market is becoming quickly saturated.  Googling should help.

Having read through the thread, now my curiosity is piqued. Where are they offering them that small, and for how much?

If you are in the states and you’ve heard of Wallie Werld, you know the place w/the smiley face. Do a search for acer mini. The keys are almost full size (about 3/4 maybe?), most stores might have a demo. They are about $350 bucks. It’s about the size of those little portable DVD type players to get an idea on the screen size. Most of these have win xp, atom processors and 1gb ram maybe. IT would be ok for coding on the go, then maybe not full-blown design work it sounds like.

Still time to win a mini on GearLive…;)

Personally for me smaller is better. My desktop has dual 22” monitors so for me the laptop is all about portability.

Unfortunately I ended up getting a 12” (far too large about a month before the minis became widely available here.

I do a lot of traveling and I find having a “Netbook” to be a great thing.  I don’t really do any heavy duty web development on it.  In the office, I have a proper desktop and laptops to test/play on.  The “Netbook” is key for it’s portability.

For the tasks that I do while on the move—surfing the web, emailing, watching movies, word processing, using powerpoint—I find that I don’t really need a 15+ inch screen to be successful.

As Lisa said, it’s important to get your reasons straight.  I would 100% recommend a Netbook as a secondary/traveling machine but would not as a primary one (especially for any serious web design/development).

Still time to win a mini on GearLive…;)

Unfortunately, I don’t Twitter.

Occasionally if I’ve had a little too much to drink I might snicker or even chortle, but that’s about it.

Having read through the thread, now my curiosity is piqued. Where are they offering them that small, and for how much?

If you are in the states and you’ve heard of Wallie Werld, you know the place w/the smiley face. Do a search for acer mini. The keys are almost full size (about 3/4 maybe?), most stores might have a demo. They are about $350 bucks.

Hmmm. I wonder if I could convince my wife and mother-in-law to pitch in together to get me one for my birthday? Thanks.

Anybody have an opinion on the mini laptops the ones that come in at like 9” screen size, they are too small right? Working through some stuff here lately, I’m using all of my screen real estate as it is on a 19” desktop.

It’s all about needs and screen real estate. It’s tough to do any kind of web development work on a notebook after using a 24-inch display for awhile. I had a 17-inch PowerMac for 5 1/2 years. It was the most dependable computer I’ve ever owned; hardly ever turned it off, even when traveling. Still, 17-inches is cramped compared to a desktop.

I like the look and feel of the new all aluminum MacBook models, but I tend to think the value is in size; email, browsing, some odds and ends work, but the screen is waaaaaay to small for any serious time at the keyboard. My understanding is that the new NVIDIA chip in the MacBook will run Apple’s new 24-inch displays.

That sounds good.

OK, hey thanks for the comments everybody, I was busy yesterday, hooking up with Santa so he could hand me the keys to my new brick ranch 1-story, thanks Santa you are as fat and as jolly as ever (you might of took the time to spruce it up a bit though fat b@$t@rd) lol!
How to I link a specific entry on Twitter to enter the contest, not figuring that one out?
http://twitter.com/Crssp
-ty