From: Riccardo Mori (rick_at_poc.it)
Date: Thu Sep 23 2004 - 05:10:33 PDT
David Deranian wrote:
> ...
>
> To put it in more literal terms, for those of us that are heavy Mac
> users AND heavy Newton users, suppose you had to make a choice between
> using only a Newton and your desktop machine for the next 3 years or a
> 12" Aluminum Powerbook with Panther or Tiger and your desktop machine.
> Which combo would you choose? Would the form factor of the Newton
> versus the PowerBook be a major issue for a lot of you? I'd like hear
> if any of you have been having similar thoughts and how many of you use
> your Newton as your main computer or main portable computer?
>
David,
your considerations are quite interesting and i'm really looking
forward to seeing other responses to this thread. as for me, i think
that putting in comparison the latest powerbooks and the Newton is like
comparing apples and oranges (or, rather, "greens" if you mind my pun).
it's true, the aluminium family of powerbooks and the beauty of Mac OS
X create a powerful and effortless combination, but i believe that
Newton is really something else, which, today, is hardly comparable
with anything else.
i heard people comparing it to other palm-like devices, but despite the
similarity in purposes, i still think that the Newton is something
else. my position might sound a little radical (it's not, truly), but i
looked at the various palm devices, the various iPaq, Clié, Handspring,
etc, etc. the palm tungsten is a neat device. they have faster
processors and brighter screens and a better connectivity interface
than the Newton -- this is undeniable -- but... but i write better on
my Newton. the screen is larger, the handwriting recognition is better,
and i am even more comfortable when i use the Newton as a word
processor, with the external keyboard. in this regard, other and
smaller devices have tinier screens (i'm short-sighted and all this
miniaturization and gadget-full trend of palm-like devices and
cellphones is somewhat killing me) and are a bit uncomfortable to use
with a keyboard exactly because, in my humble opinion, are... too tiny
and it's hard to find a balanced position when writing.
as you said, the Newton is 7 years old. or rather, if we consider the
first appearance of a Newton (1993, if i'm not mistaken), it is 11
years old. in the computer world, any 11-year old machine is considered
almost prehistoric, and when i look at the Newton, i am simply amazed
when i think that it's still alive and in rather good health. and this
is another thing i like about it: it gives way to development, it's an
"open" machine. while i find other palm-like devices still a bit
"close" for my tastes.
but i'm digressing and i'm being WAY long now. in short: i see your
point, i still use my Newton instead of my powerbook (G4 12-inch) in
many occasions since, as someone else pointed out, it's still more
practical to take notes with and to take it out/put it away, and it's
smaller and handier than any powerbook for this.
finally, i can't really answer to your question ("which combo would you
choose?"), because my current combo is a little peculiar: i have a
clamshell iBook G3 (466 SE Firewire) as my "desktop machine" (after the
death of my CRT iMac G3), a new powerbook G4 12-inch as a portable
solution, and of course a Newton MP2000 for a, um, more portable
solution ;)
apologies to all for my verbosity.
kind regards,
Rick
-- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/ WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
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