Soon, I will be going to Europe on a vacation, and at present I do not have a portable computer that I could take away with me. Last year I went to Chile without one and suffe#FF333 the use of decade-old computers that would take ten minutes to load up gmail.
I decided not to make that mistake again. Yes, I can assume that France and Spain will have more advanced computers than Chile, but there will still be a difference with carrying my own computer around. For example I can take the computer to use with local Wi-Fi networks, or add photos if and when my SD cards fills up.
But what to buy? There are now three distinct forms of personal computer (with the exception of smart phones).
Firstly there are the traditional notebook computers. As an Apple fan the new MacBook Pro has caught my eye. Yes the MacBook is now similarly specced, but for an extra $200 you get double the RAM, an aluminium shell and a backlit keyboard. Those add ons make the cost worth it to me. I would be purchasing the extra RAM in any case so the difference ends up at $78 - less than the price of Red Dead Redemption.
Secondly, there are netbooks. Netbooks continue to sell well and despite Jobs’ assertion that they do nothing better than notebook, they are smaller, lighter and thus more portable. They are also ridiculously cheap. The cost difference between a good netbook and the MacBook Pro is $1000. ASUS continue to lead in netbook design, and after having an eeePC701SD for a number of years I can attest to their quality. The 1005HE looks good, and boasts the standard netbook line up with a much improved battery.
Thirdly, there is the iPad. What more to say about this ‘magical, revolutionary’ device? You can google it if you have lived under a rock since January. Having not used an iPad, my decision will not be made up until I use one. From what I have seen though, and the applications I already have that are iPad compatible, I am impressed.
These three categories present me with a wide choice to buy from. They represent not only difference technical specifications, but difference philosophies of portable computing, and computing more generally. What to do? Create a pretty table of course. In the table below I have focussed on the technical specifications, for I cannot rank or make a qualitative decision about differing philosophies of portable computing. Each one is right in its own way. I have looked at price, processor, battery life, screen, RAM, storage, OS, Wireless Networking, Webcam, Optical, Weight and the devices' (subjective) Cool Factor.
| Variation | Netbook | iPad | MacBook Pro |
| Price | 471 | 1049 | 1440 |
| Processor | N450 1.66GHZ | Apple A4 1GHZ | Core 2 Duo 2.4GHZ |
| Battery Life | 9.5 hours | 9 hours | 10 hours |
| Screen | 10" LCD | 9.7" IPS | 13" LED |
| RAM | 1GB | 256MB | 4GB |
| Storage | 250GB HDD | 64GB SSD | 250GB HDD |
| OS | Windows Starter 7 | iPhone OS 3.2 | Mac OS X 10.6 |
| Connectivity | Wifi b/g/n + Bluetooth | Wifi b/g/n + 3G + Bluetooth | Wifi b/g/n + Bluetooth |
| Webcam | Yes (1.3MP) | None | Yes (0.3MP) |
| Optical | None | None | CDRW/DVDRW |
| Weight | 1.45kg | 680g | 2.04kg |
| Cool Factor | Not Cool | Cool but Wank | Cool |
| Total Red | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Total Orange | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Total Green | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Rank | 3 | 2 (tentative) | 1 |
The netbook I am looking at undoubtedly offers great value for money. It has some pretty decent specs with some seemingly-out-of-place value for money. For example, it comes with a 250GB HDD. The MacBook, at $1000 more, has the same drive. You can say that that is the Apple tax, which is true, but nevertheless this represents a good size HDD for something that will video and photos of across Europe. I would feel “safe” knowing I had this amount of storage at my disposal. The netbook also comes with a great webcam, again beating Apple’s iSight in its MacBook Pro (which as far as I understand is still 0.3MP). Also of note is the very long battery life. Battery life is extremely important to me, as I will have limited opportunities to recharge and will need long battery life for all the train trips I am going to make. However, carrying around one of these instead of an iPad or MacBook Pro is definitely in the “not cool” area. The industrial design just doesn’t compare.
In the end the netbook comes third, but it is much cheaper than the others, so even though it has come last, it might still be the item I purchase.
The iPad is the hardest item to judge in this comparison, namely because I have not been able to handle one myself. Partly this is why I am going to wait until I have used one myself before making a final judgement. However I can say a few things about it.
Firstly the technical side. Whilst the battery on the iPad has been lauded by all, the Wi-Fi+3G iPad is shorter because of the demands of 3G. If I buy an iPad I plan to turn off 3G unless I need it but I know that it will still have an impact on the device. So perhaps surprisingly the iPad’s battery comes in last. Also, the RAM on this device is plain scringey. With multitasking heading to iPhone OS 4, and the increasing demands of the latest applications, Apple should have included 512MB RAM. Silly Apple. Also, the SSD is large for an SSD yet it is still not a lot if you have music, movies, photos, applications and application data. Lastly, the lack of a webcam is or camera is surprising and a little stupid on Apple’s part. This device would go great with a 5MP camera to take HD video and photos. The iPad is however the lightest and the most portable, two big pluses on its side.
It might be a little unfair to compare a Netbook and an iPad against a MacBook Pro, and in a normal situation I might agree. However this is only a personal comparison and these are the computers I am presented with.
The MacBook Pro ends up winning comfortably with both the largest number of greens and the least number of reds. There’s really not too much to say except this is of course the least portable device, but the one with the longest life span. My current MacBook has lasted me since 2006 and is going strong. It can also act as my primary computer, allowing me to sell my MacBook and potentially make back some of the money spent buying the new computer. However it is the most expensive device by about 40% and is about 300% the price of the netbook. These are all important issue
The answer? I don’t know. I hadn’t seriously considered the MacBook Pro before but they are versatile machines with a great battery life. The netbook is functional and cheap, which should never be underestimated. The iPad is a new computing paradigm. In addition, I already have many many applications that would work with it in a great OS thanks to universal binaries of iPhone apps, something I would struggle with with the others. It might not be as practical as I like though, and when I am spending $1000+ it needs to be practical as well as cool. All are great computers and I don’t think any is “better” than any other. My decision will come down to my philosophy of portable computing, which will either change or remain unchanged once I use the iPad. It is the red herring in this equation, for if it is good, the decision will be from among all three, which is difficult. The decision between the MacBook Pro and the netbook in this context is easy - the netbook wins for its portability.
Hopefully you have found this interesting and maybe it will even help you make a decision
Let me know your thoughts in the comments or at hello@edwincrump.info.
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