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My Turn is Low End Mac's column for reader-submitted articles. It's your turn to share your thoughts on all things Mac (or iPhone, iPod, etc.) and write for the Mac web. Email your submission to Dan Knight .

Yet Another Reason to Get a PowerBook

2001.01.31 - Dave Beekman

There are a number of reasons why a PowerBook is the perfect computer for writers. Some of the advantages are obvious. The portability lets you take it to places where your creative juices can flow, like the trendy coffee house with the hotties behind the counter or the only quiet spot in a house full of kids - that would be up on the roof, next to the chimney. (Thank goodness for AirPort!)

The small, intimate size is an advantage too. A 500 MHz Power Mac G4 with a couple of 19" monitors is just the thing for page layout or Photoshop, but it's a little intimidating and writer's-block-inducing for banging out columns or letters - kind of like composing haiku on the side of a building with spray paint.

Then there's the coolness factor. What PowerBook owner doesn't like to whip his or her unit out in a public place and start pounding away on it? People cast envious glances at our equipment, PowerBook G4 even if it's only a 540 with a mere 9-1/2 inch screen. If it's a well endowed Pismo, look out! We won't even consider the Unobtanium G4 'book!

Those are all great reasons to own a PB, and any one of them should be enough to compel you to whip out your plastic.

But there is another advantage that's rarely spoken of, and it's not given the credit it deserves. I'm talking about how well a 'book accommodates those among us who are, shall we say, keyboard challenged. We're the ones who took typing in our sophomore year because we heard there were girls in the class, and then managed to spend an entire semester not only not learning how to type, but also getting nowhere with the girls. Then, by faithfully applying that same kind of discipline after high school, we managed to use up all of the free synapses in our brains on other manual skills, so that now there is absolutely no chance of our ever internalizing the dexterity needed to navigate a keyboard.

Those of us in this elite cadre practice what is known as "hunt 'n peck" typing, and we're proud to be called "hunt 'n peckers." But along with our glacially slow WPM (words per minute), we also suffer from an occupational disorder known as "hunt 'n pecker head," which is brought on by constantly having to look up at the screen and down at the keyboard. The primary symptom of this dreaded condition is a pain that begins at the base of the neck and eventually works its way around your entire head until your eyebrows hurt.

If this sounds familiar, help is on the way. Just plop a PowerBook onto your lap, prop your chin up on a Coke can, and get ready for hunt 'n peck nirvana. The screen and keyboard are both right there in your field of view, needing only a slight flick of the eyeballs to take in. Now you can work for hours without your neck giving out and your head rolling onto your left shoulder. You may even be able to keep at it long enough to get a case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, just like a real typist.

If your lack of typing skill has always been a pain in the neck, you now have all the reasons you need to get a PowerBook.

Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.

Recent My Turn articles

Using Low End Macs for Internet Radio, 08.18. When the local public radio station moved classical music to HD radio, it was time to find another way to listen. An old iMac with iTunes solved the problem.
'That's Not a Computer', 07.30. Salvaging a broken PowerBook by turning it into a desktop computer.
Upgrading a Digital Audio G4 to work better in Leopard, 06.02. In its original configuration, the dual 533 MHz Power Mac G4 was slow with Mac OS X 10.5, but add the right upgrades, and it runs Leopard quite nicely.
My 4 favorite PowerBooks, 05.28. The PowerBook 150 has a big screen for a vintage PowerBook, the 165c has color, the 100 is diminutive, and Lombard has USB and a great keyboard.
More in the My Turn index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 'WallStreet' PowerBook G3, May 1998 - WallStreet offered 3 screen sizes and CPU speeds from 233 to 292 MHz.
Group of the Day: Mac UK is for Mac users in the United Kingdom.
February 9 in LEM history: 00: Think choices - Promoting the Macintosh - 01: Apple vs. Mac clones - 05: Apple and the $100 laptop - Yojimbo - Core Duo vs. G5 - 07: The story behind After Dark - Microsoft Office 2007
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