laptop
In which writing and sound reasons for wanting a laptop computer are discussed.
Ok, I’ll admit it. I want a laptop. Or notebook, or whatever you want to call it. This year is about writing for me, among other things. With several ongoing writing projects, including my two blogs, two books, and various short stories, I’m rather busy, as you can imagine. When I’ve written in the past, I’ve preferred pen and paper over electronic means every day of the week. There’s something more human about it, I think, and definitely more portable. No worries about various file formats or software versions or compatibility - pen and paper is always compatible with other pens, other paper. I don’t have to worry about running out of battery power or who’s computer it’s been on, as any personal project on my work computer become property of my employer. While they’re not in the publishing industry, that’s a battle I’d rather not fight, especially since i know I’d lose. Then there’s the matter of transferring the file between computers depending on whether I’m at work or at home.
Pen and paper solves these problems neatly. Portability? Just take it where I want to go. Compatibility? Check. My paper so I own it? Check. Work on it on my time only? Check. so my writing isn’t encumbered by anyone else - it’s mine. Those arguments have gotten much more tenuous over the last few years. Portability? Ues a thumb drive. Compatibility? Just make sure I use a plain text format, or load each pc with OpenOffice. The big issue is still portability, to some degree though. I can’t haul a desktop setup outside and run power lines wherever I want outside my property.
The other drawback to pen and paper is its offline nature. Yes, it’s everything I described above, but why would I want to write my blog entry twice if I don’t want to? I type decently enough that this is now a faster method of writing than pen and paper, something not true when I started those years ago.
Enter the notebook. They’re now light enough that my pen and paper weigh almost as much, and are approximately the same size. With the appropriate caryring case, I could take it with me, blog from the gardens if I can piggy back wireless access, and put my thoughts into final form directly instead of using the paper as an intermediary. Although, perhaps I should go back to using pen and paper for some things anyway, and take it with me, so I won’t forget to write things down when the inspiration hits, rather than relying on memory. I could dump my pictures from my digital camera to the pc as well, and not have to worry about available card memory.
I realize I sound pretty on the fence about it, but I’m really not. I’d like to have a notebook to carry with, it would make certain things significantly easier. Although my chance has passed for now, I wanted to get my hands on one of the OLPC XO notebooks, which would have been ideal for me. Since that chance has come and gone, I’ll just have to keep my eye out for a refurbished laptop that I can afford someday. One that can run Linux of course. I run it at home, I’ll be damned if I’m going to run MS on my laptop just because it was loaded on there already.
Oh well, in the meantime, there’s always notebook paper. I’m just getting tired of killing the trees I love in order to do something else I really enjoy.