Me too. I have a 'better' laptop. But the one that gets used a lot is a 1.1Kg PII300. (CT3300) It's just handy. I can comfortably lie down with it on my chest, or hold it in one hand at a comfortable angle to read. Not to mention that it, 3 batteries, charger, 12V adaptor, headphones, mp3 player,.... all fit in a 28*23*9 aluminium case, which full weighs about the same as some heavy laptops.
I have measured several power supplies, using 2 different models of mass-market power supplies.
Compared with actual measurements with a scope, they read high by 50-100%.
Looking at the waveforms on the scope, they were really strange, with the current resembling a
sharks fin, with a really sharp attack, and a slow decay.
It's solid sapphire in mobiles/watches. If you put a.15mm coating on a screen, then all you end up with is a horrible crazed mess. The sapphire can't flex at all, and the plastic can't support it well enough to stop it cracking. (not to mention that there are technical problems with depositing sapphire on plastic. Solid sapphire is not actually that expensive. But. It takes quite a thickness to make it as resistant to stress as a plastic screen. The plastic screen can flex a bit, and that absorbs a lot of energy, the sapphire (or glass) one cannot, and smashes.
I can't seem to find more details than are on the webpage, just a short list of features, and nothing else.
Where can I find details?
Some questions that arise: Is that 'USB2' port just a cardreader for the SD card, in which case I'll probably leave it on the shelf, or is it a full USB2 host port that I can connect (externally powered) keyboards/mice/hard drives/... to?
Can it supply any power?
What's the power consumption idle with screen on, idle with screen off, idle with external screen on, playing mp3, or playing movies?
What does 'ebook' mean?
html, lit, rbf, pdf,...
Can it show encrypted.lit et al?
Mention has been made of wireless using a wireless SD card, which is pretty useless if you've got to swap it for your storage.
Is there any likelyhood of an enhanced model with wifi?
I used to do the dead tree thing.
However, this all changed when I got a cheap small (486/75) laptop, weighing in at about 1Kg, and with a 8" screen.
Before that I would occasionally read a book on a monitor, but it was rare.
The laptop (now upgraded to a PII300 10" 1.1Kg) was light enough to hold in one hand while reading, and easy to read from in most lights.
80x25 suits for most occasions, whether I'm lying down with the laptop open on my cnest, or the laptop is lying on its side on the bed.
Combined with a trivial script to take any format of ebook and throw out a html document hyperlinked so that names not occurring in the last 50 lines link back to the first definition, this makes it vastly easier for me to read than trees.
I don't have to worry about storing the books.
I can take the next book in a series, and use the back referencing hyperlinks to refresh memory.
There is no hand strain due to the compromise between breaking the spine and reading easily.
If I want to read at a greater distance, I just bump up the text size.
Combined with a wireless mouse with a scrollwheel, this makes it easy to read in bed without having to have a hand outside the covers, or to read while excersizing.
Oddly, a tablet might not suit quite so well.
I find the keyboard at a right angle to the display to be very convenient when it comes to resting it on things.
Power is an issue of course. If I was without power in many locations, my attitude may be different.
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Me too. .... all fit in a
I have a 'better' laptop.
But the one that gets used a lot is a 1.1Kg PII300. (CT3300)
It's just handy.
I can comfortably lie down with it on my chest, or hold it in one hand at a comfortable angle to read.
Not to mention that it, 3 batteries, charger, 12V adaptor, headphones, mp3 player,
28*23*9 aluminium case, which full weighs about the same as some heavy laptops.
Wifi and bluetooth are relatively expensive, and bulky.
However, there are other alternatives.
IR however (one-way) can be done for well under $2 or so, in bulk.
Batteries - as always are a problem.
I haven't seen a power consumption figure.
If you're willing to accept a lump, rechargeble alkaline AAA cells are one way to go.
(cheaper, lighter, and less toxic than other rechargables) Li-poly is quite expensive.
However.
If you are willing to accept the same format as a book, then putting 3-4 books on it is not a problem, with relatively little outlay.
Pumped into a capacitor from a diode looks like a clipped sine.
Like (drawn from memory) http://www.mauve.plus.com/sine.gif
Not http://www.mauve.plus.com/shark.gif .
Which is quite different.
The meters both read the first correctly, but were unable to accurately integrate the second.
Compared with actual measurements with a scope, they read high by 50-100%.
Looking at the waveforms on the scope, they were really strange, with the current resembling a sharks fin, with a really sharp attack, and a slow decay.
It's solid sapphire in mobiles/watches. .15mm coating on a screen, then all you end up with is a horrible crazed mess.
If you put a
The sapphire can't flex at all, and the plastic can't support it well enough to stop it
cracking.
(not to mention that there are technical problems with depositing sapphire on plastic.
Solid sapphire is not actually that expensive.
But.
It takes quite a thickness to make it as resistant to stress as a plastic screen.
The plastic screen can flex a bit, and that absorbs a lot of energy, the sapphire (or glass)
one cannot, and smashes.
Where can I find details?
Some questions that arise: Is that 'USB2' port just a cardreader for the SD card, in which case I'll probably leave it on the shelf, or is it a full USB2 host port that I can connect (externally powered) keyboards/mice/hard drives/... to?
Can it supply any power?
What's the power consumption idle with screen on, idle with screen off, idle with external screen on, playing mp3, or playing movies?
What does 'ebook' mean?
html, lit, rbf, pdf, ...
Can it show encrypted .lit et al?
Mention has been made of wireless using a wireless SD card, which is pretty useless if you've got to swap it for your storage.
Is there any likelyhood of an enhanced model with wifi?
How much ROM/RAM is there?
Is there a URL for the SDK, before buying?
I used to do the dead tree thing. However, this all changed when I got a cheap small (486/75) laptop, weighing in at about 1Kg, and with a 8" screen. Before that I would occasionally read a book on a monitor, but it was rare. The laptop (now upgraded to a PII300 10" 1.1Kg) was light enough to hold in one hand while reading, and easy to read from in most lights. 80x25 suits for most occasions, whether I'm lying down with the laptop open on my cnest, or the laptop is lying on its side on the bed. Combined with a trivial script to take any format of ebook and throw out a html document hyperlinked so that names not occurring in the last 50 lines link back to the first definition, this makes it vastly easier for me to read than trees. I don't have to worry about storing the books. I can take the next book in a series, and use the back referencing hyperlinks to refresh memory. There is no hand strain due to the compromise between breaking the spine and reading easily. If I want to read at a greater distance, I just bump up the text size. Combined with a wireless mouse with a scrollwheel, this makes it easy to read in bed without having to have a hand outside the covers, or to read while excersizing. Oddly, a tablet might not suit quite so well. I find the keyboard at a right angle to the display to be very convenient when it comes to resting it on things. Power is an issue of course. If I was without power in many locations, my attitude may be different.