Re: [tlug] Netbooks

[Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>]

On 2010-02-01 09:58 +0900 (Mon), Darren Cook wrote:

> The kindle is too expensive for something so specific, the iphone is
> too small to read A4 PDFs on....

The Sony Reader is somewhat cheaper than the Kindle, with a PRS-300
currently going for about $199 US, is a lot more open in terms of
formats and usage, and just happens to run Linux as well, in case you
ever want to hack it.

That said, 600x800 screen has too low a resolution to be able to read
most A4 PDFs as they are. Zooming often works, but is rather slow and
a pain (and may be available only on the more expensive touch-screen
model). Just hitting the font button to read it as text brings the size
up to something readable, but the line breaks are a huge mess if the PDF
document wasn't specifically made reflowable.

For reading other things, however, it's fantastic. It might be worth
looking to see if you can find a way to convert the A4 stuff you need to
read.

> and so I'm now drifting towards netbooks.

Well, these are going to be considerably more expensive than a dedicated
reader, and also less portable. The screen resolution for them may also
not be high enough for what you need, depending on the documents you're
reading. (If they're standard LaTeX scientific papers using 9-point
text, I'd definitely try before you buy.) Even if it does work, you may
want to consider carefully how much you're going to make use of the
extra capabilities, and whether the loss in portability is worth it.

> In particular when bought with a 2-year emobile contract the netbook
> hardware is very cheap [3], and the monthly fee is a reasonable 3-6000
> yen [4].

Note that's somewhere between 72,000 and 144,000 yen over two years. If
you're already planning on getting emobile anyway, the netbook is a nice
sweetner, but otherwise you're paying a lot more than you need to.

I've found personally that the combination of a compact "real" laptop
(Lenovo X61 as of a couple of years ago, but there are faster and better
ones out there now) and a Sony Reader works better for me. 

Unlike a netbook, the Sony Reader fits into a largish coat pocket or
the back of my waistband, so I need to carry a bag when I carry just
that. (It also has a considerably longer battery life: many dozens of
hours.) If I'm going to carry a (smallish) bag anyway, it makes little
difference whether it contains a netbook or a much more capable compact
laptop, and having the larger screen and desktop-class CPU and memory
(Core 2 Duo CPU, 4 GB RAM) lets me do real work on it.

cjs
-- 
Curt Sampson         <cjs@example.com>         +81 90 7737 2974
             http://www.starling-software.com
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism
by those who have not got it.    --George Bernard Shaw