These new netbooks are driving me mad with desire. Whenever I get excited about something new, I go through this line of reasoning:
- A Two-machine Setup.
- PIM functions.
- Writing and Editing.
- OS.
- Apple options
I have a suddenly out-of-date 2006 Macbook Pro that is due to be refreshed from the University next year. The hard drive is too small, the RAM is too meager, and the battery lasts about 40 minutes. My thought is that I could tether this machine to my desk, with its external monitor, wireless keyboard, and array of disk drives, and next year replace it with a Mac Pro.
If I do that, I would need something portable that can meet the computer needs I encounter at home, in coffee shops, and in class.
One advantage of a netbook is having email, internet, calendaring, and needed documents close at hand. My iPod Touch already handles these things very well. I don’t need something else really tiny to keep in my pocket. So, a larger netbook or small laptop with a good keyboard would be the best thing.
The main use of a portable machine in my case is to work on papers, lectures, handouts, and other manuscripts that I produce in my daily routine. On my Mac, I have gotten used to using Scrivener for short pieces, OmniOutliner for lectures, MarsEdit for blogging, and Mellel for serious writing, especially anything that involves Hebrew. The only way to integrate a non-Apple portable machine into this workflow is to use text files that I can import into these programs on my Mac. Certainly doable, but messy to keep up with.
This is not to mention the way that Accordance has worked its way into my life. I have spent lots of money on upgraded modules, and it doesn’t make sense for me to carry around a machine without those resources on it.
Which brings me to a central question of whether I like being forced to have Mac OS X on all of my work machines to simplify my work flow. If I move to a two-machine Apple setup I will still need to worry about sync issues, but those are much easier if they only involve copying files rather than importing content.
This is the downside of software lock-in, but at this stage in my life, that just means “sticking with the tools that work for you.” There is no platform independent way to do what I need to do with original languages. I wrote my dissertation [PDF link] in LaTeX, which is as close as you can get. However, what I am doing now on the Mac is so much easier and more inter-operative with the outside world (e.g., publishers) than LaTeX.
So, the only way that a netbook or other sweet portable would be really helpful to me is if it ran OS X. There are OSx86 hacks floating around, but I’m not sure I have the energy for that kind of thing anymore.
So, what about the Apple front? The three options are the 1) Macbook, 2) the Macbook Pro, and 3) the Macbook Air. The advantage of each is, respectively: price; power; and weight. The Macbook Pro is pricey and larger than necessary. The Macbook is of decent size and cost, but I can get the same amount of power in a very portable form factor in the Air, which is too expensive. Since neither the Macbook or the Air have Firewire any longer, I won’t be able to use them with my firewire drives or with the audio interface I’d like to get for recording podcasts. The Macbook Pro still has Firewire and is powerful enough for whatever I might try to do with video or audio. But, it’s too probably too expensive for me to buy one out of my own funds.
And around and around we go. At this point, I start thinking I should just get Macbook Pro school machine and keep doing what I do now: using the same computer on the road and on my desk, plugging and unplugging peripherals as necessary.
But where’s the fun in that?
