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A Few Baaaaaad Apples
SONET writes: "Why aren't all laptops made like this? I'm always putting my lappie in my otherwise empty briefcase. Even if it's just Photoshop/GIMP vapor, I really like the idea of a more rugged shell ... and the design is exceptionally clean. I know there are ruggedized laptops for the military and the like, but they really aren't for the average consumer as I envision something like this could be. The page is in Japanese, but the images really speak for themselves." I'm assuming it's just a mockup, the nicer to be proved wrong about ;) For the Exacto knife-and-firesale crowd though, an anonymous reader whispers that "Some guy modded his G4 Cube to have a Propaganda tile mapped inside the case. Looks excellent. That it does.
And in complete opposition to recent trends in car manufacturing. Huge-assed gas guzzling SUVs anyone?
Feel free to moderate me off-topic :-)
Go to a frys find a titanium and gently press on the back of the monitor while it is on. You'll see the screen deform, the titanium is so thin that just light pressure bends it, that can't be good, and definitely isn't rugged. 1/16" of titanium isn't that strong
Photos.
I kicked myself when I bought my iBook SE (lime green - 340MB RAM, 10 gig HD, OSX) because Apple came out with the next generation iBook soon after. I would have really liked to have the bigger screen and external display support. But after working with it for several months I was consoled. This thing is rugged and convenient! Rubberized case and a reinforced handle make it quite close to what this fellow has mocked up.
I stand firm behind my assertion that Apple makes the most durable and usable consumer grade notebooks available. OS X is still a little rough around the edges, but to have Mac classic and BSD running at the same time without major hakkij you can't beat it.
Yes, it does function, and yes, I can read Japanese.
/. incapable of doing anything but bashing Apple?
But seriously, WFT is that "Bad Apples" story title? Seems to me this is a GOOD Apple, or is
Don't be a moron. The PowerBook G4 is very fragile. I own one. I've had it since February 2001 and I always treat it with kid gloves. So far, I've smashed the screen latch by simply picking it up with one hand instead of two, I've ripped off all four rubber feet by dragging it a little ways across a tabletop, and I've nearly ruined the screen by grabbing it too hard. The PowerBook G4 is so flimsy that you can cause a short on the motherboard by lifting the machine in a particular way, and if you pinch the right side of the machine while a CD or DVD is spinning, you'll scratch the disc.
A one word solution to your problem that guzzles less gas and is safer and more suitable to on-road conditions:
Minivan
The iBook already has the option of including a wireless networking card, as part of the "air port" system.
The iBook also has USB and Firewire built in. I don't really know what an iBook would need a PC card slot for.
It seems to me that the PC card has been used mainly to cope with the inadequacies of PC laptops, such as the lack of 10/100 and 56k. I think that some of the VAIOs still don't have 10/100, or else they need a dongle.
I'm not so sure that I'll suffer for the lack of a PC card slot. Much more important is the slowed down bus.
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