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I suggest wearing pants while wardriving. Or if that presents a problem, get one of these. http://www.roadtools.com/

... from Road Tools. Same price range. Durable as hell. Fits in your carrying case, and takes up less room than a foldable LapPad. Targus rebrands them and sells them in Staples, or you can order them online through the website above.

Guaranteed forever. Our family has two iBooks, each with a small CoolPad. My kids have managed to pop off some of the rubber feet and unscrew the rivet-and-screw that holds the two swiveling parts together. Sent email to the manufacturer, and they're sending me replacement parts, no charge. I'm definitely going to put a little thread lock on that screw...

My preferred laptop working stack is:

lap/laptop case/CoolPad/iBook

Raises the machine up to closer to eye level, the CoolPad lets air circulate under the iBook, and the whole rig is in my lap, so I can put it away and be ready to roll in 10 seconds or so.

Or the pad itself, which will dissipate out the top, or at least that's their claim. Personally, it looks overly bulky, complex and inefficient to me.

Personally I prefer this solution... it's cheaper, it's low tech, it's obvious in how it works, it fits in my laptop case and helps with a few other things as well.

Road Tools makes CoolPads that prop up the laptop to allow more airflow and they pivot.

Definitely one of the best purchases I have made. It lifts the laptop to a height that is better ergonomically and helps keep it cool (by allowing air to flow underneath). Here it is, and you can find it in most stores now...

I have a 500 MHz iBook, which can get warm if I use it on a surface with little air circulation (like on top of its carrying case on my lap), so I picked up a Cool Pad, which cured it completely, and is a neat swivel to boot.

A coworker of mine has a recent Dell laptop. I assume this thing is one of those "desktop replacement" atrocities, because it has two fans, each about an inch in diameter, firing out of the back of it. I've used them occasionally to warm my hands in cold meeting rooms. He only runs it on batteries long enough to find a wall outlet.

My iBook might have a fan - I wouldn't know, I've never heard it or felt any breeze from the vent holes near the screen hinge.

I use a PodiumPad with my PowerBook. I find that elevating the screen really helps, however I'm usually working at a desk.

I use a PodiumPad with my TiBook. It's a swiveling base which elevates the back of the computer, without attaching to the screen.

Brittle power supply connector: The AC adapter socket built into this seems designed to snap of. It's very tight and very brittle. Once I heard the motherboard creak a few times, I learned to be plus ultra careful plugging it in.

Do not use if you have a pacemaker: The case is electrically live when plugged into the wall. Go measure one, or if you are sensitive to 60Hz, just run your finger across the titanium surface of one that's plugged in. Wrote to Apple. Wrote to the US gov't agency that oversees consumer safety. No replies.

Excellent marshmallow toaster: WHen it was new, it was quiet. When it was less new (6 mos) it started to be very warm when running. Now it runs extremely hot - the fan comes on a lot. I bought these nice ventilation stands for laptops, and they help a lot (and swivel -too cool), but the whole heat up thing is screwed up.
heat

ln -s versus alias, what the hell? A minor point, or is it. If I `ln -s` to create a link, the Finder is perfectly fine with it. If I create an alias via the Finder, it puts the info in the resource fork rather than doing the Right Thing in the file system. What the hell is that all about?

And my battery died From the start, the promised 5 hours never materialized. Ever. More like 2 hours 45 minutes of runtime on a full charge. Then one day (after about 9 monhts) the battery decided that a full charge would mean 45 minutes of runtime, and that's how it stands now.

I am sending it in for warranty work next week. They can't promise it will come back with my data on it, so I have had to purchase an external hard drive to back it up to ($300) which sucks (yes, i was backing it up regularly to one of my Linux boxes via Retrospect, but I wanted a LIVE backup as well - this is my life and livelihood we're talking about!). It will be gone for a week. Not sure what I'm to do for a week while they have it. I hope that goes okay.

And I am going to have to purchase an Applecare warranty (another $300) for two more years of warranty coverage, considering the record of this thing.

In summary: Buy an iBook if you just want a nice portable computer that integrates nicely with *nix and other systems. Save the extra money for women, booze and Ticketmaster service charges.

it does heat up under the hard drive

I just bought a Traveler CoolPad and I'm really happy. The left side of the iBook stays much cooler, and the slight tilt is nice.

seriously. people may scoff at Apple, but i worked on a cube with an LCD monitor in a quiet room for a while and it was increadible! i'm one of those people who likes his workspace to be quiet (i don't listen to music while i work either) so it was a very refreshing change.

if you don't want a Mac then i would suggest a well designed laptop, like an IBM thinkpad (perhaps with an external monitor?). although you'd better get a pad for it that allows airflow underneath it or the fan will come on quite often (i use a RoadTools Pivot 360 at work).

it's a rough life for us obsessed with quiet. :) what's really strange though is that while i insist on near silence when doing computer work, my hobby is DJing at insanely loud raves and clubs! :)

- j