Dear God

Dear God,

Mea culpa: because one of the Garage portfolio companies, FilmLoop, wrote a Windows version of its product before a Macintosh version, I’ve had to use a Windows laptop for demos. It is one of those tiny Sony Vaios—I don’t even know the model number because I didn’t bond with it.

This is the first time I used Windows for more than fifteen minutes at a time, and the experience has made me a better Macintosh evangelist. I simply cannot comprehend how people put up with Windows—but ragging on Windows isn’t the topic of this blog.

I must admit that the Tiny Vaio did remove the scales from my eyes about what a Tiny Laptop can do. (I owned at 12 inch PowerBook, so I thought I knew. Silly me.) Here’s what I liked about the Tiny Vaio:

• It weighs nothing. I have cell phone adapters that weigh more.
• Its battery lasts forever. Five hours is not unusual. It should come with the same FDA warning as Viagra: If you have an erection that lasts more than four hours, seek medical attention.
• A drop-dead beautiful screen.
• A PCMCIA slot.
• A CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive.
• It doesn’t require a special dongle to drive a monitor or projector.

We’re about a week from Macworld Expo, and I am not privy to any confidential information because I’m a has-been in the Apple world. (For example, like any schmo, I stand in line at the Apple store and pay full retail.) But, dear God, here is my dream PowerBook:

• Real-world battery life of five hours where real-world is defined as sitting on an airplane answering email as fast as you can.
• Run Windows XP. Running simultaneously with the Macintosh OS would be sweet, but I’m not greedy; I'll reboot if I have to lower myself. However, God, if you want Apple to ever penetrate big companies, this would sure help.
• 150 gigabyte internal drive. Thanks to Aperture, I’ll be shooting RAW images, so don’t blame me for my larger storage needs.
• Tiny where tiny = under three pounds. The Tiny Vaio is just about the right size and weight for a road/presentation warrior—not everyone has their own Gulfstream.
• PCMCIA slot. This slot is very useful for card readers to upload digital photos and for EVDO cards. The Tiny Vaio has it, so should my next PowerBook.
• Super duper drive. The Tiny Vaio has it, so should my next PowerBook.
• Two USB ports: one for a mouse and one for a thumb drive because both are needed at the same time.
• Firewire port so I can back up rapidly.
• Bluetooth so I can synch my Nokia phone. Too bad Nokia doesn’t believe Macintosh users synch up their phones, but that’s a minor detail.
• Ethernet and built-in 802.11 for obvious reasons.
• Use the same power adapter as the current PowerBooks. Some sadist at Apple changes the adapter every few models—this means that people like me have to buy two new adapters: one for the office and one for the briefcase. Three if you count the one I will lose. Changing is fine if the new adapter works twice as fast or something like that, but otherwise, slide “the rest of us” a break.
• No requirement for a monitor/projector dongle. The aforementioned Apple sadist also forces me to buy four dongles: one for home, one for the office, two for my briefcase (because I must carry an extra one when I make presentations, and you never know when you'll lose one like the time a speaker at the Craig's List NFP bootcamp swiped mine). Make it five if you count the one I will lose.

I’ve been good this whole year, so God, how about it? The Christmas rush is over.

Written at Ilikai Hotel, Honolulu, Hawaii

Comments

[Mike Johnston]

Other than losing things I believe the new powerbook's accomplish most of that "dream list". I would think that once Apple releases the Intel based models this year; you may get your dual-boot OS wish and the rest of the world will finally understand the power of Apple.

Awesome presentation yesterday. Need any help in Hawaii?

[Mike Johnston]

Other than losing things I believe the new powerbook's accomplish most of that "dream list". I would think that once Apple releases the Intel based models this year; you may get your dual-boot OS wish and the rest of the world will finally understand the power of Apple.

Awesome presentation yesterday. Need any help in Hawaii?

[jarkko]

"Bluetooth so I can synch my Nokia phone. Too bad Nokia doesn’t believe Macintosh users synch up their phones, but that’s a minor detail."

Syncing a Nokia 6630 with iSync has worked flawlessly since 10.4. It's a one-click process and includes both calendar and address book.

[Matt Johnston]

Apart from the real world limitations (hard drives only come in 120 GB versions) and the video out thing (do we want to use plain old analog VGA?), I agree with everything you say. Combo drives though are so plebian. Dual layer superdrives should be standard.

What size was the screen on that baby?

[Paulo Maia]

Well, I still need a windows computer because my homebank does not run in any other system. I'm expecting the macintels will boot both systems and I will be able to save space in my table and let the PC go.

[Peter Quodling]

It's a culture shock isn't it. We have been a PC household (since about G3-G4 transition time) bu my son needs a Ibook for the video stuff he is doing at College. Must say, that it took 5 minutes to get the Ibook, up and running, it automatically prompted for software updates, and the Tiger UI is much sweeter.

But, if you are looking for sexy PC's apart from the Vaio's, then check out Fujitsu Lifebooks, or for top of the line intel "alienware".

q

[Mathieu Nouzareth]

But why do you need a CD/DVD drive by the way ?

I whish my laptop comes with no CD drive. I realized I use it once or twice a year, just to install some software that don't come come by download (usually Mac OSX updates).

I never watch DVD, all the movies I have are downloaded from the net. I never listen to CDs anymore (all Itunes/Ipod). I use USB keys if I need to transfer big file with no network.

I whish the next Powerbook will have no CD drive so that it can be smaller and weighs less...