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Due Next Year: Dell's 19-inch Laptop
WheelRunner writes "Engadget is running a story about Dell's new 19-inch laptop. Sadly, it's too late for the only lap that could hold it, Marlon Brando's." Maybe if Apple would put a keyboard-containing lid (and a briefcase-style handle) on the 20" iMac, a market for car-battery backpacks would emerge.
Imagine some cretin in the cattle-class seats on a jet trying to open one of these things up.
"Excuse me, mind if I take over some of your very limited personal space?"
"No, mind if my baby pukes on you keyboard?"
At some point I expect these things to come with telescoping legs so you could actually use it as a portable desk.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I don't think you'll see many road warriors adopting 19-inch laptops any time soon, but that's not the intended market.
This laptop is designed for people who need casual portability, like taking the machine home with you at night or on a weekend.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Hey- I thought it was funny.
Marlon Brando was one of the young, tough, sexy heros of American cinema in the middle of this past century.
The fact that he ballooned up like a huge, over-inflated (yet not too tight) beach ball gives hope to men all throughout America.
It also depresses the hell out of the women.
No reason to lie.
I think Dell's going by the military's definition of "portable" which is any piece of equipment that can be moved by two soldiers. It's also sometimes used to refer to any piece of equipment that can be moved by a HMMT. You know, like a portable PATRIOT launcher.
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
Nothing builds character like a heavy duty Sun workstation carefully balanced on one's lap. To say nothing of more resilient balls.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
"Excuse me, mind if I take over some of your very limited personal space?"
"No, mind if my baby pukes on you keyboard?"
It's especially fun to recline your seat when someone has one of those open behind you and is going on about how important he is.
Crunch.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The ratio of wallet thickness to waist size should remain constant, or preferably increase, to keep them happy.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
On a side not who the hell needs a 19" laptop. why not buy a seguay(spelling) and just pack a desktop around?
"Laptop" is a misnomer, and technically it's not even what Dell calls these things. It's a notebook. Notebooks and laptops are not the same thing and this is a perfect illustration of the distinction.
A laptop is a computer you put on your lap.
A notebook is a computer with a screen that folds down over the keyboard (with a form factor like a paper notebook, hence the name).
A laptop may or may not have a folding screen (the earliest models didn't). A notebook may or may not be "lappable" - i.e. it may or may not be small enough, cool enough or light enough to hold on your lap.
A 19" notebook is a portable PC, but I wouldn't call it a laptop. There's nothing wrong with this category of machine, IMO - I personally keep my notebook on my coffee table 99% of the time, and only carry it with me to a place (in other words, I don't have a need to bust it out in-transit on a train or a bus, I take it out on a corresponding desk or table somewhere else).
Laptops are perfectly fine if you want a real go-anywhere computer. But this is not a laptop, and not everybody needs that amount of portability. Some people just need a machine to act as a desktop most of the time, but that still doesn't take up a lot of space and can be moved around easily when needed.