Wombat Diet

My first portable computer

The New York Times has a nice article on evolution over the last 40 years.

I’m thinking about a new laptop. Here’s how mine have evolved over 25 years.

First, I had a PC like a sewing machine — in 1983, before the IBM PC took off. It weighed 10 Kg, had 64k memory and twin 5¼” floppy drives, and a 7 inch diagonal green phospor screen. A bargain at $1,595–if pre-ordered. For a student that was a lot of money! Now your average $5 calculator is more powerful and runs on solar power.

My dissertation was only the 2nd word processed thesis submitted in the department. (The 1st one was finalized and printed on the same machine one weekend when the university computer labs and its Apple II PCs were unavailable.)

My first real portable

In 1996 I switched to using a laptop as my main PC when the Digital HiNote Ultra II was launched. It was so expensive that the only other person I knew who had one was a vice president of a bank (The World Bank!). Of course, there was no way I’d ever get one at work.

HiNote with docking station

I sold it 3 years later, which I now half regret. It was such a nicely engineered machine. It would be fun to see it running Linux, which it would do easily I’m sure, though it was never exactly fast running Windows NT.

One of the things I liked about it was its little trackball, which meant that a mouse wasn’t needed. As you can see from the photos, it could be separated from a base station which contained speakers and a CD drive to make a very slim, lightweight unit. (No such thing as DVDs then, or wireless networking).

I continued to use a laptop as my main computer thereafter, until about a year ago. Daily, I brought one to and from work, with a docking station, monitor, mouse and keyboard, and of course the Internet, at both ends. I never had to worry about synchronizing files between home and office computers, since I only had one. I just had to stay backed up.

It’s over a year now since I turned in my employer’s laptop. Suddenly I have a yen to have a neat little machine again. However, looking at the pictures I reflect that, if history is any guide, the vendor will become as extinct as Telcon (Zorba) or Digital.

Asus EEE pc 1000

Asus EEE pc 701

“All” I want is something like the Asus EEE PC 1000. The original Asus EEE PC 701 (left) is now selling for £179 (that’s $350, including tax), or £5 more with double the memory (4Gb). Alas, the keyboard is just too small.

The later 901 model, which has a bigger screen and uses the new energy-saving Intel Atom processor, is the same size.

The latest model, the 1000, which is essentially the same machine internally, but bigger and with a hard disk, is not available yet. At twice the price (for a slightly higher specification), it’s no bargain. Unfortunately, neither Asus nor competitors rushing into the £400-or-less bottom end of the market can keep up with demand.

Until today I thought I was waiting for a machine with

• a price of £400 (maximum)
• a usable keyboard
• an Atom processor (= long battery life; c.8 hrs)
• a 1200×600 pixel resolution screen, or better
• built-in wireless networking
• no hard drive; just solid state drive (memory)
• the ability to run Ubuntu (and the “netbook remix” version later)
• stock available NOW, not to pre-order for delivery in a few weeks

The MSI Wind and the Acer Aspire One are close but not close enough. So, I’ve been waiting a little grumpily.

My next PC?

Then, today, I came across this article and the photo — a rumour that Apple’s next MacBook would be a machine with an on-screen keyboard.

Shortly afterwards I read about the development of a virtual tactile keyboard, which persuades me that whether Apple does it or not that what’s pictured will be here soon. Perhaps not by September, by when Apple are due to make some supposedly game-changing announcement, but soon.

The concept illustrated here looks too big to me. For me an agreeable size means, first and foremost, a usable keyboard (in future, presumably, a virtual keyboard — while traveling). The smallest keyboard I can type on comfortably is 26cm wide. 28cm is better if Home, PgUp, PgDn and End are on the right hand side. Give or take a little on each side and you have an A4 size computer.

Make it fold in half like an A5 notebook and give it a leather cover and it would be unimprovable, physically, but that will take a while longer. 15 years? I doubt it.

When the keyboardless tablet PC finally ships it will almost be easier to enumerate what it’s not than what it is (computer, phone, iPod, GPS etc.). The convergent evolution we’ll have seen in less than a human generation will seem almost unbelievable, but our expectations will more than keep pace, of course.

I learned to type on my first PC while “taking breaks” (i.e., procrastinating) when working on my first thesis. Odd that QWERTY will outlast physical embodiement and that an ability to type will will still be useful on an entirely virtual keyboard.

Tags: Evolution, laptop