This Months Calendar, Posts for the current week, All Archived Posts
Twitter, Netbook, and A little one
So my twitter experiment started out as something a bit useful and interesting, but I just don't think I have the blogger's gene. Its hard to maintain a schedule and it doesn't seem to hold my attention very much.
I recently bought a netbook, specifically the MSI Wind U210 for $480. Correction, its not actually a 'netbook' its an 'ultraportable'. This is an important distinction... to someone. Its got the new AMD Neo processor. The point of the Neo is small and fast. I wanted to get something I could do development on anywhere. Say the 40 minutes a day I spend on the bus.
Most netbooks powered by the Intel Atom struggle at certain tasks, like flash video. My Wind can play you-tube size videos no problem, but struggles at larger videos, like you get from fancast or the tv network websites. I was slightly concerned that it might struggle to support a mysql server instance, the mongrel web server, many editors open, and a couple browsers. I am very happy to report that it takes all these things in stride, and I don't notice anything sluggishness at all.
Another plus is the Wind has a ATI Radeon X1250 graphics chipset, that gives it some 3D functionality. I actually played the fps game Portal without any hiccups until the end when you defeat GladOS?. This makes me think that for any modern game, it'll still be inadequate.
Another plus about the Wind is its size. My whole purpose in buying it was to facilitate working on programming contracts while on the bus, or anywhere else. I need to be able to take it places without needing to do a cost benefit analysis of carrying something heavy and bulky, but I also needed adequate screen real-estate and most importantly, a comfortable typing experience. The wind is a 12.1 in netbook instead of a 10 in, which makes a difference. The screen resolution can reach 1366 x 768, while smaller ones are capped at 1024 x 600. And the typing experience is very pleasant. The keys feel firm, and have a statisfying click when typing. The website talks about how the keyboard has a lot of nifty design touches designed to make it comfortable, and its true. My wrists are prone to being sore if I use them un-ergonomically, and my work and home computers are carefully setup to be natural. I've spent a lot of time typing on the Wind, and its not caused any problems.
Of course, there is a gotcha. With the bigger screen, more powerful processor and graphics card, the battery life does suffer. By suffer I mean you get an average of 4 hours out of it if you turn off the wi-fi and be conservative. Still beats many laptops, but lags behind the 7 hours of its smaller weaker siblings. Reviews indicate that under load, ie watching full screen movie, it lasts about 2 hours.
I highly recommend the Wind.
The other bit of news: Jana & I are having a baby! We found out 3 weeks ago, and will be due in June. We are both very excited, and a little worried about it. Morning(aka most of the day) sickness is not fun, but we hope it passes soon.
See you in another 7 months.... maybe.