Laptops for traveling
From the article by notebookreview: "A recent survey of U.S. adult computer users, commissioned by Intel Corporation and conducted by Harris Interactive, reveals that 34 percent of respondents or their families have taken a laptop PC with them on vacation and half (51 percent) of all respondents are likely to take a laptop PC on a future vacation. Of all those that took a laptop on vacation, here are the top uses:Checking personal e-mail (72%)
Enjoying entertainment such as movies, music and games (56%)
Gathering trip information online (45%)
Checking and sending work related email (43%)." Full article here.
The fact that half of all respondents to the survey are planning to take a laptop on their next vacation should be proof enough that laptops have solidified their place as 'another one' of the many electronic devices we carry with us when we travel. In my view, this has a couple of important implications: battery life and weight.
I used to have an Alienware Area-51 laptop (before the on-board ATI vid card expired, but that's a story for another day) and the thing was heavy. A 10 pound desktop-replacement laptop is just not really suitable for the teensy trays in an airplane's tourist section. But the point is moot, since the battery died two hours into the flight after a full night's charging. This specific trip lasted 10 hours, so the whole argument about 'laptops are a good thing to carry when traveling' to "Enjoy entertainment such as movies, music and games (56%)" is crap. Yes, I understand that Alienwares are not really the best suited for battery-operated laptop use, but the fact that most manufacturers gloat about a '3.5hour' battery life should prove my point. It just so happens that the battery is the single heaviest component of a laptop, which just means that a) all fingers point to the batteries and b) the work for engineers is cut out in front of them.
What do you think? What are your experiences with laptop batteries while traveling?
posted by daniel @ 6:23 AM
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