I’m mulling this one over and I can’t decide. So, I decided that are all smart, insightful people (why else would you be reading this here blog?) who, of course, would just love to help me out with this difficult question.
Namely, which of my laptops should I bring with me to France?
I realize that having this particular conundrum (too many laptops, a free trip to France) probably has you gnashing your teeth a la the Wild Things, but I would still appreciate it if you could help a girl out.
I have a small form-factor Thinkpad (an X60, for those of you who are technically inclined) and a MacBook Air. Both are awesome laptops, but they each have their own advantages. So, do I bring the Thinkpad? Do I bring the Air? Do I bring both? (Ouch! My back!)
Thinkpad Advantages:
- Multiple USB ports
- Has the software (Ghost Console) that I need to image the computers while I’m there
- Less of a shiny temptation for would-be thieves
- Better battery life (me lubs my extended life battery)
MacBook Air Advantages:
- External CD/DVD drive is smaller, more portable
- Lighter, so much lighter
- Shinier, so much shinier
- Has better software for editing photos and updating my website
- Has all of my bookmarks on it, for reading all of your wonderful blogs
- Can be used to add songs to my iPod and download new podcasts
The Air has the advantage in sheer numbers. The Stinkpad had the advantage in the biggest factor (that Ghost Software).
I can use one of the PCs that’s there already to image. And I could bring both if I decide that I hate my back and I want it to hurt. Badly. They’re both small laptops, so it would be akin to lugging around one really big, honking laptop.
If I could trust the sanctity of my luggage, I would carry on the Air and check the Thinkpad. But, that’s just asking for trouble.
What would you do?
Both. You need the shiny for all the photos you will inevitably take. You’ll prefer the stinkpad for whatever windoze application you need to run (Ghost Software). Alternately, take the macbook pro with bootcamp installed.
I was going to say Macbook Air, just cause it’s cool, but it sounds like the Thinkpad is the one you actually need. 🙁
So the only answer is to bring both.
“Has all of my bookmarks on it, for reading all of your wonderful blogs” – you use offline bookmarks? D: put those blogs on google reader, del.icio.us, or at least upload them to google bookmarks with gears.
also booo optical media! rip that shit to iso’s and run a virtual drive! i haven’t had a computer with an optical drive since like 2005.
i wouldn’t recommend carrying both if you just had knee problems, for reals. realizing heavily biased, i vote tpad. put picasa on that sucker for photos, the picasaweb or flickr plugins are just as easy as iphoto/mobileme/.mac/whatever it is. plus lan port! and vga out! both might come in handy with actual work, without extra dongles or whatnot.