[TriLUG] Advice on an ultra-light notebook

[Ritesh Kumar]

On Jan 16, 2008 3:03 PM, Brian Daniels <bitmage at pobox.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Jan 16, 2008 at 11:49:43AM -0800, Kevin J. wrote:
> > For about $80 more you can get the Nokia 810 with a touchscreen and
> built-in GPS: http://www.nokiahowto.com/link?cid=PLAIN_TEXT_607318
> >
> A cautionary note - I have an N810.  It's a great pocket web browser, a
> usable
> SSH terminal, and a _terrible_ GPS.
>
> The GPS chipset is slow (5-10min) to lock unless you're not moving, the
> map app
> is sluggish, and if you want routing and speech (but no spoken streets),
> that's
> a $129 extra.
>
> The map app could always get better, but the internal GPS chip is
> unfixable.
> Maybe the next revision will have a SirfStar...
>
> Fortunately I bought it for the web/ssh features and have no regrets
> there.  But
> I wouldn't recommend it if you need a GPS.
>
> --Brian
>

I recently bought a Nokia n800 for $230 something from amazon. I didn't need
a GPS and didn't mind the absence of the keyboard. I found the on screen
keyboard (both by stylus and by touch... different UIs) very usable.
It might not be very useful if you want to spend most of the time on the
command line, but it truly rocks for tablet like usage. It has bluetooth if
you absolutely must type large amounts of text on it. Nokia did a very good
job with the software too... checkout http://maemo.org

However, depending on your needs, if you need a laptop then you need a
laptop. Nokia n800 doesn't have a video out so it doesn't substitute for a
presentation device. Its screen resolution it 800x480 with a UI which is
definitely not as good as a full fledged laptop screen. It it doesn't pack
the compute power of a core 2 duo either.

_r