to netbook or to not-book

this weekend, i almost impulse-bought myself a netbook.  as a professional who uses computers constantly for work and play, a netbook seems a great compromise between capability and convenience.  much of my job is creating documents like proposals and design documents - work that doesn't demand a lot in the way of memory or computing power, and often, i wish that i could just pick up and work from anywhere at any time.  i have a fantastic laptop that i use as my principal work machine, but at 7 pounds, it's just a tad on the heavy and large side to toss into my daypack and take on my bicycle or for a longer walk.  i have an equally fantastic smartphone on which i certainly COULD write and edit large documents, but its little screen/keyboard are just a little too awkward for extended sessions.

i was at future shop on sunday browsing the various models with their various assortments of capacities and capabilities.  on the cheap side of the spectrum are extremely basic models with 1GB of RAM and minimal features, but they're cheaper than the cost of my iPhone.  what they offer is a fairly effectively-sized keyboard which would make slamming out words effortless compared to my phone, and at just two pounds, they are way more portable than my laptop. on the high end, and this was REALLY mouth-watering, 3GB of RAM and a luxurious 250GB hard drive, the device almost seems to whisper promises of the ability to run development tools and graphics software, which would really seal the deal.  even at $500, it seems to offer a very viable option for a transportable device that i could use at a starbucks or on the subway or my bedroom when i need to escape my cats' relentless attacks while i work.

i was all set to pull out the credit card and run off with this puny powerhouse when i thought about what the hell i was doing.  i have an ultraportable, ultralight, ultrasophisticated smartphone on which i can do almost everything that i can do on a netbook.  i have an ultrapowerful, ultrasexy mac book pro that has been my faithful and fashionable workhorse for a year and half that shows no signs of becoming outdated or outclassed by any device that i've seen since i got it.  all i would be buying for my $500 would be a middle-class device that would make all the features of my smartphone redundant, and would frustrate me for its limitations when it came time to do some actual work. 

so i decided to not purchase a netbook and sealed that open question until i had a better reason  to get one.  what i decided instead was that if i really needed a quick and portable way of capturing my thoughts, i would resort to the time-tested and true method of writing in a (paper) notebook.  my moleskine notebook never runs out of battery power, and it's good in low and high light conditions.  it's surface offers nearly limitless levels of stylus-pressure-sensitivity.  it's good for text and graphics alike.  while it's storage is limited, and has no search capability to speak of, it is cheap to extend and never makes me wait while it processes some background request.

i'm not saying that this is the only answer to the question of "to netbook or to not-book", but i'm pretty glad that i didn't give into an artificially-created consumeristic
trigger to buy something that i really didn't need.  i think that i might finally be showing a sign or two of maturity!

- g