| Wednesday, May 31, 2006 |
16:38 - Maybe everyone's not insane after all
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I'm not even sure why now, but I've always tended to look askance at the idea of having a laptop as one's primary computer, or making a "desktop replacement" out of it. The whole idea seemed like accepting too much sacrifice in favor of a mobility that never appealed that much to me: smaller and slower hard drives, more limited expandability, lower-power screens, cramped keyboards, and unavoidably lower performance than a tower machine. Plus there was always the generally higher price. I gave away my iBook a couple of years ago; I found I was just lugging it around and not even opening it up, most of the time, and it always felt way too limiting for the tasks I require of a computer.
Well, for some reason I never really considered how easy it is to hook up an external monitor to a laptop, like my 22" Cinema Display from six years ago (still visually the equal of any brand-new monitor on the market). Or the external FireWire hard drive that I already have, which I mostly use for backups and as a second OS installation for when I need to boot into the next-generation system to write a book on it. Or, as seems stupidly natural now, an external keyboard and mouse.
Considering that my G5 tower is three years old now (which seems bizarre, as Apple is still selling the exact same machine brand-new for $2000), I've been eyeing the upcoming Intel-based towers with the intention of upgrading within a year or so. But now that the Macbook line is fully established, I'm thinking a nice modest 15-inch laptop—which I could hook right in to my existing setup with a few plugs and hubs—might be just what I need. If, as seems likely, the MacBook Pros won't even need to lag much behind the towers in CPU speed, there doesn't seem much of a performance penalty, especially if I get the higher-speed hard drive, or rely on the external one for most of my data and scratch space; and what's more important for me, as a dweller in a house that attracts a lot of dust and a workspace that collects a lot of daytime heat through its west-facing window during the summer, it would be just as well to have a laptop for its quieter operation and lack of giant intake fans. The G5 is supernaturally quiet when it's cool, but when it's hot it spins up and makes a hell of a lot of noise.
Perversely enough, one thing that always seems to make me shy away from the desktop-replacement thing is that my desk has a nice ready-made cabinet for the computer. I feel like it's almost a shame not to have a computer to put in there. Even if it has no ventilation and turns into an oven in the summer months. Yes, it's completely stupid, but that's how I've felt.
So maybe that's what I'll do when I'm next in the market for a new machine.
Unless, of course, the Intel towers are just too cool to resist.
UPDATE: Reader Michael M. adds:
I did that years ago when I replaced my 400 mhz G4 tower, with a 1 ghz TiBook. It works, the only problem being is that I now never unplug my laptop. I got so much junk connected to it, and I hate the screen resolution changes moving my windows around, that it hasn't been off my desk for months. The last time being when I visited my parents last summer.
So I am actually going the opposite direction then you. I am eagerly waiting for the new Intel towers to come out so that I can unplug my laptop, and surf the web while watching TV as God intended. =)
Great, now it'll be even harder to decide.
Ahh, these terrible hardships we face...
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Brian Tiemann
