Am I a Laptop Guy?

It’s been over a month now since I got an iBook. I’ve had old PowerBooks before, but they were never that portable (meaning they had almost useless batteries, and no wifi.)

So, having a working laptop is an interesting thing. I know, some people live by their laptops, but I’ve always been a desktop guy. These are my observations so far on carrying around and using an iBook.

• It’s heavy. Even though it’s a 12″ iBook, and it weights just 4.9 lbs, carrying it around is an effort. I put it in an over-the-shoulder bag I have that also carries the power supply, and other misc. stuff like a webcam, ethernet cable, Moleskin notebook, pens, etc.
• Wifi is awesome. Mac OS X makes wifi pretty seamless. I remember trying to help a friend set up wifi using Windows, and we couldn’t figure it out.
• It’s nice to have with you. But should I take it everywhere? Over the holidays I skipped bringing it somewhere and once I was there realized I really should have brought it. So it still requires thought as to whether I should lug the thing along or not. At least I have the option of lugging it and having it available to use instead of one of the Windows machines that seems to be everywhere.
• I still don’t think of it as a main machine. To me my desktop Mac will always be my “homebase” computing machine – the powerhouse – with tons of RAM and disk space and running as a server, while a laptop is the portable solution to connecting and working.
• Sitting on the couch reading my aggregator while watching TV is very relaxing.

Those are my notes so far. I’m sure I’ll have more as I go.