Saturday, February 5, 2011

Closing in on the 21st Century

(Click on the thumbnail for the bigger, better version)

Believe it or not, The Husband and I have only recently entered the wireless world—with our computers, that is. Yes, we may be old fogeys, but we have had cell phones for some time now, thank you.  

Not being wireless in our office, had me tethered to my desktop computer. Unfortunately, that arangement is no longer practical. I am doing much better, but I still need to change my position frequently. The old game of settling in at the computer and losing myself for sometimes hours on end in photo-processing, or writing, is not an option. I needed to get my laptop into action.

The transition to wireless was a piece of cake. I confess that we both had been putting it off, because we know that, all too often, the simpler a computer task appears the more frustrating it can become. After sailing through the set-up, I can now take my laptop anywhere in the house and do a small portion of my computer business. Wow! This new-fangled stuff is great.

But, you know how things work in the wonderful world of electronics. One thing always leads to another and here I am thinking about a netbook. My aging laptop weighs a whopping six pounds, and the three-pounds or under specs on netbooks sound awfully tempting. I am amazed at how heavy six pounds feels on my lap. Of course, there is no way I would expect to process photographs on a netbook. Still, I wonder if I might use it for some writing and reading online. Anyone have first-hand experience?

Gee, trying to catch up with the times is tough.

6 comments:

  1. This is a beautiful photo, Jesse. The gold and red tones are just great.
    I have limited (and second hand) experience with netbooks because they seem more like a browsing machine that a work tool. There is one that I know of, the Lenovo ThinkPad X100e, is probably the most powerful netbook on the market. It would be a more productive tool than most netbooks or tablets because of the faster processor and 2G of memory and at 3.3 lbs. You could probably run Photoshop Elements on it and do some RAW processing. I know the iPad is very popular, but it's not a serious productivity tool (no keyboard or mouse). What fun you'll have shopping!

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  2. Ken - Thank you for the comments on the photo. I'm glad you like it.

    Also, I appreciate your helpful info regarding netbooks and tablets. Thanks. I have no illusions about processing photos on this lightweight device. I have Canon's DPP on my laptop and only use it when on the road. I use the combination to get a rough preview of what I have to look forward to. For one thing the display on my old Dell isn't wonderful.

    I agree about tablet devices without a keyboard. I can't see myself going that route. I thought I might use a netbook or tablet type device for checking blogs and leaving comments, responding to comments at my site, drafting a post, and answering e-mail. That's about all I would expect from the device. Plus, I would load DPP for travel use. I looked at a couple of reviews of the Lenovo that were quite impressive. Since I hadn't even heard of it, I am grateful you pointed me to it.

    I'll update on this eventually. In the meantime, let the shopping begin.

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  3. We went wireless last year and I have no idea why we waited so long!

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  4. Steve - Since installing was a non-event, I am now kicking myself for letting this get put off for so long. Thanks for letting me know that someone else only recently went wireless. Now, I don't feel quite as far behind the times.

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  5. Using a laptop in my living room the other day I could "see" five other wireless networks -- my neighbors. In some urban areas it's getting wireless crowded. I love the photo and your recent experimentation with this darker processing.

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  6. Earl - I can only imagine how crowded the wireless world must be if one lives in a large apartment building in a densely populated urban area.

    I appreciate your comments on the photo and the processing experiment. My processing techniques seem to be in constant flux. I keep learning and experimenting with new techniques, my tastes change, and then I want to go back and improve on old photos. Keeps me out of trouble, at least.

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