supersonic feet

Having practically just burned myself, here’s a (potentially quite obvious) tip for laptop owners - make really sure the laptop has actually turned off before putting it in your bag. I usually set it shutting down, close the lid and start packing up.

I just went to get my laptop out of my bag (4 hours after leaving work) and though my bag felt warm, but was a bit confused as it wasn’t next to a radiator (and really, with the weather we’ve had it wouldn’t be on anyway). Reaching in to lift my laptop out of the pouch built into my backpack is the point I came close to a burn. Seriously. The laptop had failed to shut down (one of those ‘program not responding, end now?’ messages) and in the closed confines of a backpack there was no route for hot air to escape at anywhere near an acceptable rate - cue one VERY hot laptop.

Luckily no damage seems to have been done. It was still running - impressive by itself given it’s been 4 hours since it was unplugged - and has logged back in fine. Here’s hoping I don’t make that mistake again

I just got an email from Dell announcing their new XPS range of computers, including the XPS M2010, a 20.1″ widescreen ‘laptop’. They’re fortunately not (as far as I can see) trying to suggest you carry this beast with you on the move, rather that it’s an ‘entertainment’ machine that you can relatively easily move around your house.

It’s got a pretty good spec and the 20-inch screen would obviously be nice for watchng movies, etc. but I’m not sure how useful it is being able to move your computer around the house when it’s so large. I recently bought a 20″ widescreen TFT for my desktop and I can’t say I’d fancy moving that around the house, let alone if it was attached to an over-size laptop body.

Moving your computer with you around the house is great - I can sit with my family while I tap away on my laptop, which is at least marginally more sociable than being upstairs on my desktop in isolation. I can sit outside on sunny days and get a tan while I type. I can’t imagine sitting watching TV with a 20.1″ mega-laptop on my lap.

This thing is likely still going to need a desk or some other flat surface to sit on, which isn’t generally available in all rooms of a house (unless you want to lie on the floor). It does have a removable wireless keyboard/touchpad much like the wireless keyboard/pad you get on media center PCs like the Sony Vaio, so I imagine you’re meant to set it up away from you and sit somewhere with the keyboard only.

The only real differences to a normal media center PC seem to be that it has a battery so it can be moved more easily and that it’s tied to the screen it comes with. The first bit will last you a couple of hours I’d imagine before you need to plug it back in anyway, so it’s not a huge bonus from what I can see. The second means that even if you hook it up to a big 32″ LCD TV, there’s still the 20″ one on the machine itself doing nothing. Why not buy a smaller laptop (e.g. my current object of desire, an Apple Macbook Black), a TV tuner and a 32″ LCD TV? With the money saved, you could potentially even get a 20″ widescreen as well and not go much over the £2k mark.
I’d better stop my rant here. I don’t see the benefit of being able to lug your media centre from room to room (or at least not enough of one to shell out two grand), but presumably there must be people who do.

It’s a really nice idea, but I think after a week or two the novelty would wear off and it’d probably just start sitting in one place like a normal PVR/Media Center.