[Shacs] mini-laptops, Re: Mac discussion

Wed Jan 16 22:09:01 CST 2008

As an alternative to paying an extra $999 for a flash hard drive (et al),
you may instead offer YOUR VERY SOUL!

Or you can pay ~$300-$400 for an Eeee:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC 

Or you can pay ~$400 for an OLPC, $200 of which is a donation:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC 

Has anyone messed with either of these low-end mini laptops (no, I'm not
talking about the Mac)?

-- 

Peter

peter at pseale.com

-----Original Message-----
From: shacs-bounces at shsu.edu [mailto:shacs-bounces at shsu.edu] On Behalf Of
ekeown at swbell.net
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 8:02 PM
To: shacs at shsu.edu
Subject: Re: [Shacs] Apple Releases World's Thinnest Notebook Computer

I can't believe I missed this comedic gold earlier:

<< Take the new MacBook Air for what

 it is, the ultimate portable, sure there are pc (and macs) where

 everything is replaceable and modular, but can you jog with them??? >>

The image of Kyle jogging with a laptop in my head.  I don't know which is
funnier picturing him trying to jog with a laptop, or just picturing him
trying to jog.

And just for the safety of the laptop, if anyone on here decides they want
to take their MacBook Air jogging, you should opt for the 64GB solid state
drive  (add $999) instead of the standard 80GB PATA drive.  

----- Original Message ----

From: Kyle Patrick <kyle at kylepatrick.com>

To: ekeown at swbell.net; shacs at shsu.edu

Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 10:53:29 AM

Subject: RE: [Shacs] Apple Releases World's Thinnest Notebook Computer

To pull an old SNL Counterpoint reference "Jane you ignorant XXXX".....

I of course take your review for what it is, since you still haven't

 seen

the light and bought an iPhone yet.  Take the new MacBook Air for what

 it

is, the ultimate portable, sure there are pc (and macs) where

 everything is

replaceable and modular, but can you jog with them???   I would have

 loved

back in school to slide this computer between two spiral notebooks in

between class, and not feel like I hauled shingles to the top of a roof

 at

the end of the day because my backpack weighed 200lbs. Complaining that

 it

doesn't haven't enough ports and yadda yadda yadda is the same to me as

 the

people who complain about a Dodge Viper not having air conditioning and

 a

radio.

Kyle

-----Original Message-----

From: shacs-bounces at shsu.edu [mailto:shacs-bounces at shsu.edu] On Behalf

 Of

ekeown at swbell.net

Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 10:34 AM

To: shacs at shsu.edu

Subject: Re: [Shacs] Apple Releases World's Thinnest Notebook Computer

Ouch...I didn't realize that there was only one USB port.  Apple is

 already

selling two USB devices specifically marketed for the MacBook Air, an

external optical drive and an ethernet adapter.  So, you can't use both

unless you also have a USB hub; that sure sounds like a lot of stuff to

have/carry around for an ultra-portable device.

Also it's going to cost $129 to get the MacBook Air's battery replaced

 and

it has to be installed by Apple, but the installation is free...or

 rather

included in the price.

    Eric

----- Original Message ----

From: Byron Ray <bray at conroeisd.net>

To: ekeown at swbell.net

Cc: shacs at shsu.edu

Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 9:00:46 AM

Subject: Re: [Shacs] Apple Releases World's Thinnest Notebook Computer

Don't forget only ONE USB port and NO optical drive.

****************************************************************************

*********

Byron Ray                                    Technology Department,

 Conroe ISD 

Email and Web Security Analyst  3205 West Davis #C208  

Tel:   (936) 709-7626                   Conroe, TX 77304

Email: byron at conroeisd.net 

****************************************************************************

*********

ekeown at swbell.net on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 11:00 PM -0600 wrote:

> 

>It's very cool and light, but three quirks they fail to mention in the

> sales pitch:

> 

>It's factory sealed, meaning:

>1) You can't replace or upgrade the hard drive

>    - OK, not a huge deal because if you use all the hard drive space

> on a machine that is no means meant to be a desktop replacement (it

> doesn't have an optical drive) it's probably old and therefore by

 Apple's

> standards out of date, and two they offer pretty good service on

 their

> machines if you don't mind going to an apple store or sending it off.

> 

>2) You can't upgrade of replace the RAM

>    - This is a bit of a bigger issue to me because while we all know

> that laptops aren't generally upgrade friendly, it's nice to know

 that

> you can always add more RAM to get a little more performance out of

 the

> machine.

> 

>3) You can't replace the battery

>    - This is the biggest issue for me.  The battery is internal and

> therefore sealed...so no spare battery, and worse, when the battery

> decides to loss it's charge capacity, you have to be without your

 machine

> while Apple get around to replacing the battery for you.

> 

>As I mentioned there is no optical drive which isn't that big of deal

> since there is always the option to use an external drives, and they

> have a piece of software you can put on other machines so the MacBook

 Air

> can use their optical drives.  Also the machine excluded a network

 port

> choosing to go exclusively wireless.  Again these are both very minor

> issues, especially compared to the whole factory sealed issue.

> 

>To me, these factory sealed issues are the kind that should be found

 in

> something like the OLPC XO-1, not a system you paid $1800 for.  Thin

> is neat and compact is neat, but to me they shouldn't sacrifice such

> common features, at a premium no less.

> 

>Eric

> 

>----- Original Message ----

>From: Dr. Tim McGuire <mcguire at shsu.edu>

>To: shacs at shsu.edu

>Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 3:36:54 PM

>Subject: [Shacs] Apple Releases World's Thinnest Notebook Computer

> 

> 

>This is one sleek computer.  The question is: "Is it usable?"

> 

>http://www.apple.com/macbookair/guidedtour/

> 

>-- 

>Timothy J. McGuire, Ph.D.

>Department of Computer Science

>Sam Houston State University

>Huntsville, Texas  77341-2090

>(936)294-1571    mcguire at shsu.edu    http://www.shsu.edu/~csc_tjm/

> 

> 

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>Shacs mailing list

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> 

> 

> 

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