Computing Magic: Look Ma, No Wires!

Quite simple to understand. Win XP is until now the most stable windows platform ever. I have a desktop that has passed away from multiple hardware failure. And a Dell notebook that has been being carried by me for more than 3 years of loyal service. Have heard some painfull stories from my more $$ backed-up colleagues with vista. Ans have suffered enough dealing with Win 9X platform. Will keep my good old XP. My next desktop is a mac. As another friend said - there's no way back.

My next desktop is a mac. As another friend said - there's no way back.

Mine will probably be a Mac as well... although I have planned this for quite a while (a decade or two), and it hasn't happened. The last time my desktop machine had a major malfunction, I said, "Well, I'll replace the main drive, and if that cures the problem, I'll keep using it." The new drive worked, and here it is several years later...

The IPad looks pretty nice, and would lend itself to the same setup I have with my netbook. The price is fairly reasonable, even in comparison to my Acer netbook. (... although for anything that is keyboard intensive, the screen real estate for display would be too limited for many of my uses -- my netbook is thicker, but has a relatively large keyboard and display screen, rather than having to use a large part of the display screen for a virtual keyboard.)

At one point, I was seriously considering using my cell phone (PDA) as I use my netbook*. However, I couldn't find a way to use a large monitor (but could find folding Bluetooth keyboards). For these devices, one of the best "keyboards" would be one that allows you to type on any flat surface, with the device scanning your finger movements. (There are other brands of these, I believe.)

A projector was under consideration for the IPhone, (and I have a portable projector the size of a thick cell phone) so with the virtual keyboard capability and image projection capability built in, you could put your cell phone on a table or desk near a wall, and have a full-function computer, with full sized screen and keyboard.

* The phone came with functional excel/powerpoint apps that can read those files and create them (albeit with some difficulty). Like most of these devices, you can think of it as a computer that happens to make calls.

Blink-

Many years ago, I started using a Palm device (long before the Blackberry craze and the trend to cram everything into one unit!), originally as a replacement for my old Daytimers notebook. It came with an infrared folding keyboard (a bit small for intense typing, but fine for field notes, etc.) It also came with software to convert Word, Excel, *.pdf files, etc. to a format that could be read on the device. As time went on, I was able to develop apps for downloading data from some of my field T&M equipment, which meant I could get the information back to the lab without having to tear down the setup and lug several pounds of equipment through roadless jungle...

Some versions of this device had WiFi (mine was limited to Bluetooth, which worked for my equipment interfaces), and they all had a touch screen. I understand that they even had e-book capabilities, before the e-book formats were well-established. Unfortunately, Palm seems to have missed the boat, as they slowly sink into obscurity while the rest of the world starts hyping all the technological "advances" that have been available for well over 10 years (my first touch screen computer was actually an IBM, about the size of a paperback book, that I purchased back in 1992)...

Such is progress.

If thats what gets you your rocks off, may I suggest buying the "desktop expansion port" for your notebook (if its a good one, this will be an option).

I bought the port for my Tecra at the same time, got an attractive offer/deal from the shop. This allows me to just basically drop the notebook onto it and this connects up my external USB bits and pieces, a screen and a mouse and keyboard, plus various other port types all in one simple action....

Look here for some more details:-

http://www.geek.com/laptop-expansion-port/