Its Sunday afternoon here at the KnightsCastle, and as we mellow down and chill out on the couch, I’ve plopped myself down at the kitchen table with my Macbook Pro. I’m not in my fortress of solitude ( see KW006 ) because that room is currently occupied by Nyana’s baby sister who has come down for a few days to study for her exams. Yep ! We have a guest for the holidays, a lodger, an exchange-student from not so far away. In short : We have company.
As a result I have gladly vacated my office, together with its powerful 24 inch Imac and have gone mobile just using my macbook pro to do the stuff one needs to do. And to be very honest : I think it works great ! Don’t assume Mac-Fanboy-ism. Just common sense and use of existing technology.
As I’m typing away I’m watching some classic Dr Who ( "The death of the Daleks" ), updating a virtual ubuntu machine, chatting away on Google Talk and visiting several websites (not to mention I’m in the process of downloading an episode of another TV show ) And all of that on this one little machine. This is one of these instances where processor power and the addition of 4 gigs of ram does make a difference. Most laptops sold on the market these days are sort of like this configuration. And looking at the general use they get, they are monstrously overpowered. ( You need a sluggish overblinged OS like Vista to at least use up some of these superfluous processor cycles).
And just think about it. Up until a few years ago laptops where "underpowered alternatives" to desktop computers. These days most laptops are equally powerful and per formant. Zdnet even reported that laptop sales are outgrowing desktop sales this year and expect an even larger decrease in desktop sales for the coming year. So the question is : Is the desktop dead ? Is the next generation of the mobile road warrior going to be the "road warrior with the portable super-powered workstation like laptop ? " Is the next pixar movie going to be edited and rendered on a laptop while the owner is having coffee at starbucks ? Certainly its going to be an interesting year. The ultra portable desktops are gaining in popularity (also concidering their low price point) UMTS coverage and the sales of UMTS modems for laptops is on the rise.
Are we growing towards a world where the average joe has constant connectivity to the internet, carying around a pretty powerful laptop and being able to do .. well, what actually ? Mobile journalism ? Web 2.0 presence ? Is this new evolution, combining connectivity, portability and affordability going to be a pivot point for citizens of the web ? Who knows.
Meanwhile its time to move on with the things I still need to do and enjo some quality laptop-time.