Originally published on October 13, 2008 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.
Having long advocated mobile lawyering, I have struggled with the endless quest for the "perfect" laptop. To say the marketplace is cluttered with a dizzying array of laptop choices would be as much of an understatement as saying there's been a "little inconvenience on Wall Street lately."
The essence of my struggle to find the ideal mobile platform is that I've tried to find a single machine to adapt to all my varied usage situations.
For years, I've sought out machines which I refer to as "powerlights" — laptops that strike a solid balance between maximum specification and reasonable weight and battery life. For me, powerlights have generally been IBM ThinkPads, now Lenovo ThinkPads. Today, it's a T61 machine, clocking in at a reasonably svelte 5 pounds with a very quick Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, the Centro vPro platform, dual hard drives for nearly 600 GB of capacity and the obligatory extended 9-cell battery. It's a wonderful machine and has that inevitably magic ThinkPad keyboard and my cherished "pointing stick," the TrackPoint in addition to its touchpad.
So if it's "wonderful," why would I still yearn for something else? Because a standard-sized and shaped laptop presents some practical issues. These include:
- Weight: 5 pounds might not sound like much, but with the nearly 1 pound power brick, it all adds up even inside my wheeled Victorinox bag of choice.
- Startup: With XP Professional, it's still an irritating couple of minutes — impractical when trying to catch a plane at a distant airport gate. And similar shut down times.
- Size: On the rare occasions when I fly and don't get upgraded to First Class, I inevitably find myself stuck behind a chronic "all the way back seat leaner" — making it impossible to open my display fully and get any work done.
After considerable thought, I realized what was nagging at me was not that I needed a different laptop. But rather, that I needed *another* laptop. A much smaller laptop, a lighter laptop, a laptop that started up and shut down in a flash ... but not a $3000+ ThinkPad X300 or a tiny, pricey Sony Vaio and certainly not a functionally challenged MacBook Air. All too costly to reasonably justify.
In steps the netbook category. Growing out of the Negroponte-inspired One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) international initiative and initially addressed by Taiwanese PC maker Asus with its ground-breaking EEE series, this newest of laptop segments has exploded, literally out of nowhere in less than a year.
On third and fourth generations, netbooks have overcome their initial functionality challenges: too small to be useful, too little storage capacity, Linux OS, open source apps that are poor substitutes of familiar Windows apps. After experimenting with a first generation, Linux-powered Asus EEE 701, I realized I bought too soon.
Rather than be discouraged, I tried again. With the introduction of HP's Mini-Note 2133 series, a new netbook era had arrived. Following the smaller-than-ultralight original Netbook form factor, this machine arrived with a larger keyboard (keys are 92% of standard size, although closer together), larger screen (8.9" v. 7"), Windows XP and 80, 120, or 160 GB hard drive options — while still tipping the scales at only a touch over 2 pounds.
Enthusiastic about Netbooks again, I was literally about to click and order an HP Mini-Note, when I read a review of Asus' 3rd generation 1000H model. Sporting a 10" display, 1 GB of RAM, 80 GB hard drive, a larger keyboard and Windows XP, with a promotional price from Newegg.com at the time of $549, my lack of any sense of impulse control took over. Two days and 549 frequent flier miles later, my netbook arrived.
Now after three months of use, I can say that I made the perfect decision. I use my Asus 1000H netbook every time I travel and even around the house in the evening. This diminutive, Intel Atom-powered machine has many benefits:
- Quick startup and shutdown times.
- Amazingly (and this really shouldn't be the case), it feels faster than my Intel T9500-powered ThinkPad.
- The keyboard is just large enough to be comfortable for my fingers. I can type at my regular, reasonably quick pace.
- Battery life is very good — around 3 hours typically.
- The screen is small, but exceptionally bright and easy on the eyes with 1024x768 resolution.
I sync several document folders from my ThinkPad with the Asus — ensuring I have the work product I need always available (via Mobiliti's Network Unplugged). I also use it as an iTunes platform with a subset of my podcasts and music to keep me sane on the road.
So now I travel with both laptops. My ThinkPad T61 fulfills its primary mission as a powerful workhorse with huge storage to maintain my mobile office. The Asus 1000H netbook serves as its friendly little sidekick — an adjunct to the primary system that comes out on airplanes, in airports and anywhere I need quick Web access and some polishing of documents. I think of them as the Lone Ranger and Tonto, or Batman and Robin, or perhaps Penn and Teller.
In the end, I failed to find the perfect laptop. Instead, I found two laptops that work perfectly together.
Written by Ross Kodner of MicroLaw.
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