[Duo2400] Re: New G4 Powerbook vs the 2400

[Andrew W. Hill]

>on 1/7/03 11:35 PM, Andrew W. Hill at jessicat at jmug.org wrote:
>
>>  Doesn't this just fix the problem that we don't want to stoop to
>>  buying a consumer laptop?  We still can't plug our flash cards in,
>>  and we can't sync our palms.  Sure, perhaps little things, but those
>>  were our biggest complaints; or so it seems when I look back to the
>>  new iBook.  I was real excited and checking my savings account, until
>>  I saw the lack of PCMCIA.  This really isn't any better of a
>>  replacement than the iBook was a few months ago.
>
>But all the *cool* people are syncing their Palms via Bluetooth, right? :-)

Here comes another gripe = can't find a Palm I like with Bluetooth. 
All these color-mp3-photo POSes.. I mean, they can crash, the 
batteries run out in a few days etc.  That's why I was all happy on 
my Palm Personal after using a Newton.  Sure, it doesnt do all the 
stuff, but it goes 6 months on a set of batteries.


>I imagine you sync the Palm the way everyone else does, via a USB adapter.
>And as for PC Cards, I'm not sure what the concern is.  What's the reason
>for a PC Card slot when all that you'd use a PC Card for is built-in.
>Except for media cards from digicams, but the universal USB widgets for that
>are pretty cheap.

Here's my uses for a PCMCIA slot:
USB, Firewire, Ethernet, modem, wireless, external video (clumped 
together cause the tibooks got em).
GPS card.
Camera media cards
Something that ain't been invented yet (they didn't have 802.11 in 1997)

Sure, USB widgets are cheap.  But they're not small.  If I havbe a 
flash card reader in my computer, I don't even know I'm carrying it. 
I can just stick in my photos at any time.  When I take my 2400 
places, I don't take anything else.  Usually no AC adapter, 
occasionally a wireless card.  Wetsuit 3.0...


>To me, the big drawback for the iBook was always the lack of second monitor
>support.  As soon as someone makes a little docking station, the 12" PBook
>becomes a true desktop replacement that is also a true laptop.  To my mind
>that's the real reason why I look at the 12" as *finally* a Duo replacement.

Yeah, I don't believe in desktop replacements.  My desktop is a 
G3/450 with three internal SCSI drives and a cheap ATA drive, CD-RW 
(ext), DVD-RAM, 2 Zips (one internal, one external), 2 MO drives (230 
and 1.3), Floppy and extra CD-ROM (both external), two monitors and 
all RAM/PCI slots filled.  There isn't any laptop that's gonna 
replace that, or at least an equivalent system.  Perhaps close, but 
with a whole bunch of external enclosures and a lot of $$$.

That's why I love subnotebooks.  I don't need anything in em, because 
I do my crunching at home.  My laptop is for on-the-job stuff, which 
rarely amounts to anything more intensive than a crop & optimise in 
photoshop.  Of course=, the UNIX base would help a lot, but G3 vs 
G4...  I'd pay the $400 or whatever the difference is, but yeah...


Peace
Aqua