For the past month and a half, I have been living with only a humble netbook as my primary link to the digital world. For an IT/computer nerd like myself, this is a big deal. I am in a transition stage from my trusty, beastly PC mid-tower powerhouse to a desktop replacement laptop (eventually). It seemed like the most economical thing to do in the meantime, especially since I didn’t want to move my truckload of PC equipment across the country for school.
That said, I am surprised…
I first imagined this time to be a period of pure suffering — no high-end PC games, no DVDs and no huge computer screen. Sure, I can’t wait to get some real PC power back when I find a laptop with the specs I want, and occasionally I mournfully eye my software shelf, but as it turns out, I have survived pretty well! This particular netbook (a Toshiba NB205) seems to handle all the essentials. Especially after upgrading to 2GB of RAM, I can open all the browser windows I need while still using iTunes, a word processor, a programming IDE and even watching Netflix with little to no slow-down.
Mobile computing has hit a bright spot in history up to this point. No, I won’t be moving to an iPad anytime soon, but now after this experience I will never doubt the usefulness of normal computers’ little brethren. Hey, even Windows 7 Starter isn’t that bad. Okay, so they took out way too many features, but it gets the job done!
