On May 27, 2006, at 10:27 PM, David Ecklein wrote:
I don't understand this fixation on laptops. These are commodities
for the
affluent, costing twice as much when new as desktops. They have
far less
upgrade capability, the screens are delicate and hard to repair,
the mouse
and keyboard are compromises. The cases are fragile and often have
proprietary form factors and parts, inhibiting inexpensive
repairs. The
sole asset of a laptop is portability, which many college students
have
found turns into a liability: they are one of the most stolen items on
campus.
The laptops of the MIT project don't have a lot of resemblance to the
disposable, fragile, overpowered 1st-world toys you find for sale at
the big box stores. Their design criteria lead them to choose the
laptop form factor. I haven't followed the project in detail, but I'd
suspect there were good reasons: portability for personal ownership,
minimal power consumption, etc.
Ted Roche
Ted Roche & Associates, LLC
http://www.tedroche.com
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