7. After Settling In

After settling in with my notebook - as well as getting a good workout from it whenever I travel - I'm quite happy with the package. She does what she's supposed to do, and the freedom to move out of the sometimes stifling conditions of my office in order to let the creative juices flow is an essential part of my working life.

My new notebook has a comfy home at last.

I'm happy with the leisure I can get out of the notebook as well, but still there is a nagging at the back of my mind. The portable computer market has split into two major segments - the lightweight and ultra lightweight portable laptops, and the meaty desktop replacement notebooks. My Inspiron 6000 is somewhere in between, and so to an extent I enjoy the best of both worlds, and yet I can't help but pine for one or the other, depending on the day.

When I'm traveling, an ultra-portable laptop would be brilliant. When I'm at home or going to LANs, a desktop replacement would save a lot of screen hauling and still do the job quite well. It would be portable enough to get somewhere without carrying more than a briefcase, and yet still run for an indefinite period of time by plugging into a wall socket.

This is a tradeoff we all have to make when purchasing mobile computers. Personally, I'm not above considering just buying two computers from now on... or maybe convincing the company to buy them for me... ["Ha. Ha. Ha. You're fired." - company accountant.]