New Laptop

[bjarvis]

My old Asus EEE PC netbook is still working well, but it's gradually showing its age (four years). Being a netbook, it was always a tiny, light-weight little worker: the screen was unusually small (600x1024), the keyboard reduced enough to make typing a challenge and it has only 2GB of RAM and a 900MHz CPU running Windows XP. At home, I connected it to an external monitor to make it a bit easier on my eyes.

The greatest thing of this little beast is that it travels like a dream: it's so much smaller than any other laptop I've ever had. For my regular trips to/from the data center and occasional trip to the corporate overlords in California, it's been fantastic.

The new machine is an Asus X501A. 15.6" screen, a full keyboard, 2.3 GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, 320 GB hard drive. It's not a top-of-the-line model by any stretch but it's the same weight as my old netbook while three times more powerful. And it cost about $300, more or less the same as my netbook four years ago, a price point at which I consider the machine to be essentially disposable.

The new beast is running Windows 8, which has been a bit of a pain. The OS itself isn't too bad --it feels a lot like Windows 7-- but they've slapped on this top-coat of pain called "Metro," their user interface which replaces the old Start button & menu. Flipping between apps & screens is an enormous pain compared to the old stalwart versions of Windows but I'm gradually (and grudgingly) getting used to the interface changes. The extra hardware speed has helped persuade me to keep plodding through the Win8 suckage.

All of my regular apps have been successfully transferred to the new laptop, including Vic Ceder's CSDS application used for my square dance calling, including Winamp and Pacemaker, the plugins which control MP3 playing. My VPN to the office is working well so I can travel with the new machine as needed. Printing is working as it should too.

The only thing left to tackle is some form or version of MS Office, although I'm probably going to go with some Office clone rather than experiment with the latest cloud-based or subscription-based versions of the original package. I'm open to suggestions!

Comments

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I spotted the typo just after I posted it, and almost went back to make a fix. Then I thought, Gee, I think my subconscious is trying to make me a more honest person, so I left it.

[abqdan.livejournal.com]

I thought you meant exactly what you wrote - indeed, it made complete sense when I read it.