While it depends on what you do with your portable computer, my
ideal laptop has yet to come along.
While I have found other things that are ideal (or close to it),
I have yet to find a laptop that has the features I want in a small
sized case.
The new Apple iPod MP3 player is great. I got mine the other day
and have been using it extensively over the past few days. The size
is perfect for me, and the fact that it feels solid and has easy to
use controls makes it what I might call the perfect MP3 player.
5 GB is plenty - I am only using 1.4 GB of it for MP3s; the
rest is empty. I'm listening to it on the plane back to New York (I
was away over the holidays) as I write this article.
Before I left, I transferred a CD that I just bought onto the
iPod. It transferred from my computer to the iPod in about 5
seconds. The sound quality is better than if I were playing the CD
on my portable CD Walkman. Apple always somehow manages to be
innovative. In a few months, though, the market will be flooded
with MP3 players from other companies with a similar feature set to
the iPod for a lower price.
My Power Mac G4/400 is also
almost ideal. At 400 MHz, it is fast enough for what I do and is
able to run the applications that came before it as well as ones
that came out more recently with no problems. The tower case is
nice; I like the extra drive bays. I have added a second hard drive
and someday may add another. The other option was the G4 Cube, and while that is also a nice
machine, I now know that it would not have been what I needed.
My PowerBook is nice, but it
isn't perfect for me - or even close to it, like the iPod or my G4.
The screen is 
nice; 14" is a good size
for me. I don't really like the trackpad button (I much prefer the
one on the 1400), and the keyboard
feels sort of cheap, even though it is pretty comfortable to type
on. I don't like the location of the power button; I much preferred
when it was with the rest of the keyboard. And while the rubber
coating on the outside of the case has survived very well, I can't
say much for the plastic. It has been scratched and worn away in
several areas - and I think I treat my computer pretty gently. It
is also too easy to accidentally pull the lever on an expansion bay
and release the battery or CD drive.
But at this time, my PowerBook G3/333 it is the only thing with
the features I want.
What would be ideal for me? I would like something with a
smaller case - not much bigger around than what the screen takes
up. On my PowerBook G3 there is about 1 cm too much space around
the screen. I don't want a bigger or smaller screen. Bigger means
it is too hard to carry around, and it turns into more of a desktop
replacement computer. Smaller means I can't see what it on the
screen, and I have to lower the resolution - making text blurry and
giving me less desktop space.
I would like a stronger keyboard. My top complaint about the
iBook, PowerBook G3 and G4, and new iBook is the keyboard. It isn't
made well enough and is too easily broken. I would also like the
power key back on the keyboard and the volume and brightness
controls off the keyboard and possibly above it. I would
also like a better trackpad button - something that "clicks" more
when you press on it.
A slot-loading CD-ROM drive would be nice. I don't need DVD or
CD-RW; it would be nice if this were optional to reduce cost and so
I don't end up with something I won't be using.
PCMCIA card slots are a must - not that I use the one I have in
my G3, but I like them there in case I ever want to add a
capability to my computer (I may consider adding something like
FireWire to my G3 at some point).
I would also like RAM expansion to 1.5 GB or more, and while
hard drive size doesn't matter (10 GB is fine), I want it easy to
access in case I want to replace it with a larger one in the
future.
Pretty much any current G3 processor is fast enough for me. 500
or 600 MHz would be great. I also want a graphics chip that has a
decent amount of VRAM (at least 16 MB) and is accelerated when
running OS X. Since OS X is accelerated mainly for the
G4, G3s really do run more slowly, and a fast video card helps
improve performance.
Right now, my G3 should last me about two more years. I know I
need to buy a larger hard drive. My 4 GB drive is almost full
and also occasionally makes some noises that annoy me, not to
mention that the drive had some corruption problems which came back
several times, until finally with OS 10.1 they seem to have
disappeared (so far). I also need more RAM; 192 MB isn't enough to
run OS X well.
It's a never-ending upgrade cycle, and in six months, my "ideal"
laptop will no longer be ideal.
