Flash drives make laptops more mobile on London’s tube
Unusually, while commuting to the office on the tube yesterday, I used my laptop to work rather than my mobile phone.
Two things made this possible:
- My new laptop has a flash “hard drive” which means there’s no risk that bumps will damage it — really important on the tube — and also it’s fast to start up and put into sleep.
- This time of year there are seats available. Laptops don’t work standing up, unlike phones, unless someone knows otherwise?
The Psion series 5 (and previous models) were very usable while standing:
* Instant startup/shutdown with no spinning parts;
* UI design guidelines that encouraged keyboard shortcuts for everything, so you rarely had to use the touchscreen;
* Multi-day battery life so you didn’t need to worry about plugging it in all the time.
The series 7 is just barely usable hand-held, but it’s not easy or comfortable.
Sooner or later technology will regain the heights of ten years ago…
RogerBW
December 19, 2008 at 4:02 pm
There wouldn’t exactly be enough space for it on the tube during a typical non-holiday peak hour, but there is always the portable desk from ThinkGeek….
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/bags/a988/
andrew pascoe
December 23, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Andrew – that’s incredibly silly.
But…
Do you happen to know a good stand/contraption to make it comfortable to use a laptop while lying fairly flat in bed? ie when sick. Love to hear of ideas.
Ian Fogg
January 5, 2009 at 11:43 pm