soliciting writing advice

[zanzjan]

My laptop died, and it's killed my ability to get any writing done. My old laptop also weighed close to 10 lbs, which greatly interfered with me taking it anywhere else to write with even when it was working.

So, I'm looking at buying a new laptop. I want something lighter, and I refuse to run Windows Vista. I'm looking at basically two models: the Lenovo IdeaPad S10, and the Lenovo 3000 N200.

The differences: the Ideapad is a "notebook", smaller than a full-size laptop, weighs around 3lbs. No CD/DVD drive. Keyboard is smaller than usual. The 3000 N200 is a full-size laptop, weighs 6 1/2 lbs, has the CD/DVD and all that comes with a regular laptop. Battery on Ideapad lasts two to three times as long. I could put linux on either if I wanted to, but both currently come with XP which is not especially objectionable. Price difference is about $120, which is for the purposes of this purchase fairly insignificant. Both are reasonable in terms of hard drive, cpu speed, i/o, etc.; since all I want to be able to do is run Word, I don't need massive power. The lighter weight of the notebook really appeals to me, but realistically even the 3000 N200 is significantly lighter than my old dead Dell. (Dell also makes a mini but it appears to be distinctly inferior.)

So, the question I don't have an answer to is, if I got the Ideapad, would I be more encouraged to take it places and write? Or would I regret not having all the other bells & whistles of the regular laptop? Anyone out there in FLland using a mini laptop for writing or other tasks and want to weigh in on how useful they've found it?

Comments

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

My experience with mini-notebooks and various other devices is they're great for the initial blast of text when you're out and about but fall short when you need to do editing and revision.

I used to do a lot of writing on a PDA and folding keyboard, as well as a Toshiba Libretto. Of the two, I liked the PDA better for battery, convenience, and fast boot; in fall and winter the whole package fit into a jacket pocket. However, with the form factor you could never get enough screen real estate to really look at a piece and it made cut and paste precarious because you were scrolling all over to move chunks of text. These days I just lump it and carry the full-sized laptop.

[shana.livejournal.com]

Well, I have a regular laptop, but I couldn't resist getting a 10" Eee this summer. [I hugged it and sqeezed it and called it George.]

George is light enough that I take it more places. And it's got a nice long battery life (with the monitor brightness down to a bit less than half, and bluetooth and webcam turned off.)

The one quibble I have with him is the right shift key is in a bad spot, I don't have as much trouble as I used to, but I still find myself hitting the enter key or one of the arrow keys by mistake.

I suspect that the lenovo won't have that problem.

And if you need an optical drive, you can always get a usb one.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

One thing you might want to test is the comfort of the keyboard. I can't use the minis between my large hands and crappy wrists.

[zanzjan.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately nobody seems to have any of these actually in a store near me, so I'm stuck with ordering online and not having the chance to really field-test the keybaord at all. )-:

Keyboard size really is my primary reservation at this point.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

Crap. Well, one thing you might do is print out a picture of a keyboard that's the right size and practice typing on it to see if it's cramped or comfortable.

[aliettedb.livejournal.com]

I use a 10" eeepc, like slrose. It's comfy and has got great battery life. I'm not using it as my main machine, though (primarily because my main 15"4 laptop is still kicking), but I owned one similarly small machine a few years ago and didn't miss the big-sized one (I have a USB CD/DVD reader to install any software I need).

The only caveat is that the eeepc screen is not very high, and that it sometimes slows me down in editing. You might want to see how much height you need to be comfortable with.

But it is very easy to take along with you.

[kirizal.livejournal.com]

I've been using mini-notebooks for years. The form factor is way convenient--it fits in a reasonably sized purse!--and the light weight doesn't suck, either. Well worth the compromises in performance (though my machine, the Fujitsu 1510, is a fairly full-powered, full-featured, and full-priced laptop).

Downsides:

No OS X.

Keyboard--didn't have problems with my old netBook, but I've never fully gotten used to the Fujitsu keyboard. Sounds like the s10 is going to have a much better keyboard than usual for a little machine, though.

No OS X.

Screen real estate--workable, but you're not getting a full page of text up there.

Did I mention no OS X? I want Scrivener, damn it! Not so much an issue for you--but it's the one reason why I'd consider going to a full-sized laptop. And I'd miss the form factor the entire time.

[anghara.livejournal.com]

Two words: baby vaio. It's a mini notebook, weighs practically nothing at all, fits into a (largeish) purse in its case without the need for any other carrying devices, full size keyboard or damn near, has a CD/DVD drive built right in, and has a fabulous battery life. Since I've had it I've actually TAKEN it places as opposed to my previous laptop, a full-size Dell which looked gorgeous and had a nice big screen but weighed a ton and was a royal pain at airport security stops.

I love the Vaio. I would recommend it in a heartbeat. It isn't the cheapest option out there but it's by far the best I've found.

[prusik.livejournal.com]

As jenwrites suggests, try out the keyboard. It's 85% regular size. If you're not comfortable with the keyboard, then the rest of it doesn't matter.

My Tablet PC (from 2004) doesn't have a CD/DVD drive either. I haven't missed having one all. When I'm not at home, I never do anything that requires the CD/DVD drive. However, I do have a USB DVD drive that I keep at home. I plug it for those rare cases when I have to install software (or reinstall the operating system) from CD/DVD. That's about the only reason why I use the DVD drive with the laptop. (e.g., I don't watch movies or the like on my laptop.)

I use my laptop for a limited number of things: writing, web browsing, Chinese handwriting recognition, annotating PDFs (and playing bridge). It wasn't considered all that computationally powerful in 2004. It doesn't have a CD/DVD drive. And that's ok. (However, it's a full sized 12.1" laptop. So it has a full sized keyboard and a high density display. 1440x1050)

The difference between 3lbs and 6lbs is huge. (Yes, I realize you're coming from 10lbs.) If you find yourself carrying the laptop around a lot, you will likely notice the difference. If you don't need the extra computing power, you might as well spend your money on something that's lighter with longer battery life. (Again, test drive the keyboard first.)

Having said that, what I discovered about myself is that unless it fits in my pocket, I won't be encouraged to take it with me anywhere. I own a Newton. It's useless for web browsing, but it's a pleasure to write and edit with. (The handwriting recognition works surprisingly well.) It's about the size of a VHS cassette and weighs two pounds. Despite being so small and light, I still don't take it with me anywhere. My moleskine notebook, OTOH, fits in my pocket and it's always with me.

However, that's me. I know people who take their full sized laptops where ever they go. Certainly, I know people who swear by their mini-notebook.

If you're only ever going to use the laptop for writing, I don't think you'll miss the bells and whistles. Or at least I haven't yet. However, you may want to make sure that you either never have to install anything from disc, or have access to an external DVD drive when you need it. If the keyboard works for you, giving up some computational power which you weren't going to use anyway in favor of a lighter computer with longer battery life is really tempting. (Again, try out the keyboard.)

[invisible-hoser.livejournal.com]

My wife has done some trouble shooting/repair work on notebooks. She had a problem that required her to boot the computer from a CD in order to fix the problem. While the notebook had a peripheral CD drive, the problem it had prevented the notebook from accessing it. So, a problem that would have been relatively trivial for a normal laptop proved fatal for the notebook. Unfortunately, I don't remember the brand and this problem may or may not have been specific to that brand.

[prusik.livejournal.com]

JKOnTheRun has a Picture Tour of the Lenovo S10 netbook. I don't know if this helps you any. They seem to think the keyboard is fine for touch typing. Of course, keyboard preferences tend to be very personal.