I’m a little torn here, so I’m in need of some good comment-based advice — it’s regarding my impending purchase of a laptop, or should I say, a palm-top. I work from home, however I do travel 3-4 times per year to conferences and whatnot, and when I’m there I end up needing something to 1) surf the internet, 2) blog with, and 3) check Bloglines. I normally don’t do any real work at conferences besides soaking up all the information and rehashing it into weblog entries, so I used to own a bottom of the line, small, iBook G4, and that was perfect. The problem was, I never used any applications on it besides Safari or Mail, so the ~$1,000 purchase seemed like a bit of a waste to me. SXSW is coming up fast and since I sold that iBook a few months back, I’m now in the market for “something” to surf the web and blog with. And therein lies the dilemma 😉
Fancy Gadgetry
I’ve known about the Nokia 770 internet tablet for awhile now, just because when it launched it soaked up a lot of gadget blog press. I just read a 9-page review at MobileBurn and it seems like a cool little device: Bluetooth, Wifi, a Linux-based OS running the Gnome window manager, a big screen, a nice web browser, and lot more stuff. Pair it with a slick Bluetooth fold-up keyboard and I might have a winner!
The small number of actual applications for it is not really a problem, considering I can write & save text and keep track of stuff all from within a browser. 770 + Bluetooth keyboard = around $500. Cheapo Mac laptop would be a few hundred more, and possibly worth it if I used it more than a week or so per year, but the coolness and form-factor of the Nokia internet tablet might take the cake. Plus can you imagine somebody chilling with a 770 and a Bluetooth keyboard at your local coffee spot? It’d be the sickness!