Netbooks at a local Starbucks

[SDGuy]

MacArtist wrote:
...The Mini 9 would be perfect for surfing the web out in public. Small footprint. Large enough screen to actually read comfortably.

no...No...NO...

All anyone needs for portable websurfing is an iPhone or an iPod Touch - so sayeth the Leader, and members of this Forum. :villagers:

[Black]

Mini-hijack--
I was at a Starbucks over the weekend-- they had coffee, and they definitely had a full chest of ice . . . but I heard them tel someone they were out of iced coffee when they tried to order some.
How does that work?

[Robert M]

Guitarist,

Oy! Are you serious? You lack the observational skills to gauge the general mood of people who are sitting a few feet away from you? We're not talking rocket science here. Smiles and laughter are dead giveaways.

Robert

[DharmaDog]

SDGuy wrote:
[quote=MacArtist]
...The Mini 9 would be perfect for surfing the web out in public. Small footprint. Large enough screen to actually read comfortably.

no...No...NO...

All anyone needs for portable websurfing is an iPhone or an iPod Touch - so sayeth the Leader, and members of this Forum. :villagers:
I think the Dell mini 9 faction of this forum may be larger than the iPhone/Touch faction.

I may start a poll.

[Robert M]

SD,

I've used a netbook and an iphone and an ipod touch. There is absolutely no chance an iphone or an ipod touch can take the place of a netbook for mobile computing, i.e. email, browsing the web, etc. Just as there is no chance a netbook can take the place of an iphone for making calls and taking photos. Just as a neither a netbook nor an iphone is going to take the place of an ipod touch for very portable multimedia and games. The primary market for each of these devices is different despite an overlap in features in many areas.

Robert

[SDGuy]

Robert M wrote:
SD,

I've used a netbook and an iphone and an ipod touch. There is absolutely no chance an iphone or an ipod touch can take the place of a netbook for mobile computing, i.e. email, browsing the web, etc. Just as there is no chance a netbook can take the place of an iphone for making calls and taking photos. Just as a neither a netbook nor an iphone is going to take the place of an ipod touch for very portable multimedia and games. The primary market for each of these devices is different despite an overlap in features in many areas.

Robert

Oh - I absolutely agree, but there actually are a few induhviduals out there who DO have that viewpoint. Whether they're sincere or just trying to be gadflys is the $64,000 question.

[guitarist]

SDGuy wrote:

Oh - I absolutely agree, but there actually are a few induhviduals out there who DO have that viewpoint. Whether they're sincere or just trying to be gadflys is the $64,000 question.

Really? I'd offer the opposite presumption. There are a very few people who don't have this viewpoint. Of those who have taken a moment to consider it, or who have experience with these devices, it's not exactly a minority point of view, it's pretty common, isn't it?

Doesn't make it true. How people relate to consumer devices is subjective by nature, and endlessly arguable. But I suspect it is the view that's commonly accepted. Not doubted as untrustworthy, unexpected, or disruptive to the status quo.

You see it as a minority viewpoint? And further, you doubt the sincerity of people who hold this view? Suspecting they might be pretending to think so just to be flippant, or stir up controversy?

Re: the unholy pair of cliches that concludes your message, 1. thanks for making me look up "gadlfly", first time I've seen it used in text since about the 19th century. 2. "The 64,000 Dollar Question" hasn't been on TV since 1958.

I can only assume you mean: a lot is at stake for companies like Apple and its competitors. Fortunes could be made or lost on outcome of this question.

I'm inclined to agree.

It's one of those things we won't know until this unseen device is in circulation, and we can see the patterns, how people adopt it, if it creates a popular new category that doesn't currently exist. I think the market for portables is still very fluid, consumers wants and expectations aren't completely fixed yet, and we are interested and willing to adapt to and try better solutions as they are offered.

Apple has been better than most at anticipating those desires, and creating new kinds of consumer devices, we'll see if it works again in this developing category.

[guitarist]

"They all seemed to be very happy with their computers"

Oy! You could tell it was their computers they were happy with, really? Not the caffeinated beverages, or companionship, weather, or the new underwear they had on? Or their comfy shoes? Or the orgasm they had an hour before going to Starbucks? Or a pretty picture of a chimp with a balloon on their screen? Or the content of an email they were reading? It was definitely their computers that they were happy about?

"...and those with netbooks appeared to have no trouble whatsoever slaving away at the keyboards."

Enslavement and happiness...and unlikely combination...but leaving that aside...

I guess I have to question your expectations. It seems as though you expected that someone in a coffee shop using a notebook with a small keyboard would be more likely to be displaying visible signs of computer-related distress, appearing frustrated or unhappy, right before your eyes, at the moment you happened to look over. And you were interested to find they weren't frowning, as you expected they might be!

They weren't even scratching their heads, sighing, or pounding on their notebooks in despair. They actually....seemed....happy. And it must be because they liked their computers! What other reason could there be? That's it, it has to be the only reason!