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> > From: chessie@megsinet.net (Dennis Pantazis)
I can't help but respond to your pointed opinions.
> > If you find yourself running multiple apps and using a laptop like a
> > desktop you are better off with a desktop. The premium for a laptop is
> > almost twice the cost of a desktop or more, save your bread, buy a nice
> > monitor and enjoy the comforts of a real chair. If you REALLY need to
> > carry the CDROM AND FLOPPY and an EXTRA battery to keep these devils fed
> > then somewhere you are doing something wrong.
No one is arguing about the price premium for a laptop. You're making the
wrong assumption that mobile users don't need desktop power on the road.
Maybe you don't, but others do. Your useless criticisms and sweeping
generalizations are unnecessary.
> > I can't begin to tell you all how many people I see on the train playing
> > freaking Solitare for their ride. Or better yet, using their CDROMS to
> > play audio CD's. Man if you are toting around a $4k deck of cards or a
> > really bad CD player, you probably have the quarter to buy a clue.
You need to buy a clue and realize that these people didn't buy their
$5k laptops for the sole purpose of playing solitare or their CD's on
the train. They chose to make secondary use of their laptop to pass
time instead of reading a book or staring out the window.
> > As an engineer, for the most part, the most strenuous duty I would ever
> > really expect my laptop to do is run video capture, data logging and
> > PowerPoint type presentations. The rest is Word and Excel to get a jump on
> > my day and make use of the hours that I spend commuting. Yes, I can run
> > things like Autocad on the go, there were few occasions where it was
> > 'handy' on my 701 but what a pain in the ass. I use little DOS
> > engineering analysis applettes, but for the most part my 'tools' are
> > spreadsheets and Mathematica workbooks on the go.
As an engineer, the most strenuous duty I would ever really expect my laptop
to do is run Linux or Solaris/x86 in an X-Windows environment, running
multiple sessions of Xemacs and software development tools to write
OpenGL software. The currently available, top-of-the-line laptop with
100MB of RAM is too small and too slow to load my typical datasets.
Yes, I can run Word and Excel on the road, but what a pain in the ass
to reboot into Windows.
Yes, I'm an exceptional case.
> > The laptop side of the computer industry is for the most part playing catch
> > up with the desktop market and battery technology. It always has, it
> > always will. You can not reasonably expect a laptop to really compete
> > against a desktop plugged into the wall. Period! We might see a PPro in a
> > laptop, or a Klamath, but you might as well save up for the Go-Go-Gadget
> > Pocket Fusion Reactor to keep those buggers fed as well.
The premise behind buying a power laptop is that the user needs it. You
are correct in stating that laptop technology is behind desktop technology,
but you are incorrect in stating that laptops cannot provide desktop
power. They can, but only at a high premium. If a user can afford the
premium, he/she will buy it.
The real point of your argument, which you didn't state, is that some
laptop users don't have a clue as to how much power they need. Sometimes
you see executives carrying around $8k laptops, because they can afford
it, not because they need it. I recommend directing your frustrations
at these people, not the majority of us who have real needs for premium
laptops.
Regards,
Dave.
--
Dave Ahn, ahn@vec.bgsm.edu "When you were born you cried, and the
ahn@indigo2.rad.bgsm.edu world rejoiced. Try to live your life
Virtual Endoscopy Center so that when you die you will rejoice,
Bowman Gray School of Medicine and the world will cry." -1/2 jj^2