I'm slack

Wow, haven't posted here for a bit.  Chances are I'm the only one who notices, but I notice.  :)

 

Well, news of the week is the latest federal budget, which nicely screws me over in terms of being able to get laptops on the cheap:  http://www.budget.gov.au/2008-09/content/bp2/html/revenue-07.htm

 

The Government will tighten the current fringe benefit tax (FBT) exemption for certain work‑related items (including laptop computers, personal digital assistants and tools of trade) by ensuring the exemption only applies where these items are used primarily for work purposes. The FBT exemption will generally be limited to one item of each type per employee per year. The measure will apply to items purchased after 7.30 pm (AEST) on 13 May 2008.

 

Lovely... so not only and I screwed, but I am screwed retroactively.  The upshot is no new laptop every year, which is more of an annoyance than anything, but will ultimately cost mo money, which is always annoying.

 

I don't find myself using my current machine much, (nice Core 2 Duo with 2Gb RAM and all fuit etc) - frankly I don't need a powerful laptop anymore since I gave up LANning with them, and even the current Asus 13.3" widescreen chews batteries to fast for my liking.   All I really need out of a laptop is portability, mail/net/media and decent battery life.

 

I had a good look at the new Asus EeePc 900 (released next week), and I must admit they are impressive - clocked back up to 900MHz, 1Gb RAM standard, get the Xandros based unit for $649 with a 20Gb SSDD, then blow it away and reinstall with XP.  8Gb more SSDD and $150 less than the factory Windows version.

 

the problems with the units are that I simnply can't take them seriously.  the keyboard are just too small for anything other than very casual use, the storage is still very limited, even the new 1024xwhatever screen is still small, and the worst problem is the battery life - they have not upgraded the battery from the 701 series, so you're realistically looking at about 2 hours life.  bleh, that's inadequate for a device designed to be extremely portable.

 

I ended up buying a Dell Latitude D410 12" ultraportable laptop - 1Gb RAM, 80Gb HDD, DVD burner etc - $550.  for this I get serious batteries, a decent sized keyboard, a mousing device that WORKS (the one on the EeePC is crap), and genuine application compatibility - all for under a kilogram.

 

sorry, world - but I'm not sure the UMPC concept is a goer yet.  the sheer number of EeePC 701s for sale shortly after purchase is a clear indicator of "cool factor" rapidly failing in the real world.