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Laptop /w Wireless LAN |
For decades I had held the opinion that a laptop computer had little place in my life. In my employment as a government contractor a laptop was never appropriate because of security considerations. At home, I had more powerful non-mobile systems than would be practical with a laptop, and there seemed little need to take a computer on vacation. But now I have become a convert. (One might say I have seen the lite-weight)
I still have no need for a laptop at work, but on the personal side, the importance of email continues to escalate, and surfing the web and news groups is almost an addiction, so a vacation computer became a real possibility--but this is not what tipped the decision. It was mobility in the home that converted me.
First, moving to a new house, I found that my available computer space was dreary, and I didn't want to spend too much time there. Also, I enjoy combining TV-watching with web-surfing. There is considerable interaction between the two media beyond monitoring tv schedules and checking web-sites that appear in commercials. Spousal constraints meant there could be no computer desk in the living room. A laptop seemed the ideal solution. I would still have to sneaker-net printing, scanning etc, but a laptop in the living-room had promise. And then I had the epiphany--a wireless connection.
It took a while to firm up the architecture, but this is what works for me. A previously existing tower PC in the basement, with a big disk drive, hooked to the printer, scanner, cable-modem, and CD-burner. The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 7500 ($1800 reconditioned--works super! On the down side, it is still almost 2X the price of a comparable desktop) Between the computers is an ORiNOCO 802-11b 11Mbps wireless LAN. The RG-1000 plugs into a small hub (along with the cable-modem and the tower system), and the PCMCIA card plugs into the Dell.
I am now free to roam the house. I can chat/newsgroup/web-surf from the living-room, listen cross-country to my favorite FM station from the bedroom. Download recipes while in the kitchen. Program from my easy chair. Email from the patio (in good weather). When I download large files, I just save them to the large drive on the basement system. I have to plug-in now and then to recharge the batteries, but otherwise, I am wireless.
I average 4+ hours per day on the computer(s), but I find that I only go to the basement "computer center" maybe three times a week--pick-up a printout, burn a cd, scan in a photo. Oh, yes, it is also convenient to be able to carry the laptop to the basement next to the tower for LAN setup and tweaking. But for the last month, less than 1% of my computer time is spent on the fairly nice PC in the basement. I am even getting to like the touchpad vs mouse.
The Inspiron 7500 is a little on the heavy side, even to just hold on your lap, but it is a fairly complete PC, and the display and keyboard are both satisfactory. I got one that was a little short on memory, and added 128MB (standard Kingston laptop memory from BestBuy, $80 after rebate) Wireless LAN adds about $400 to the total system cost (from Enkay, a good supplier), and it requires a lot patience and some determination to install, and a little experience with hooking computers together helps. (I was short on experience, but I was determined.)
There are a lot of factors that I would have to rethink in this setup if it were a question of a laptop "replacing" the desktop, but since the question is usually "instead of another" desktop, I vote overwhelmingly in favor of the laptop. It cost more, but it does a lot more. It has improved my computing experience very significantly. |
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