Apple 17" Laptop

Anyone seen the piccies of this beast yet?
I wonder how viable a laptop that big is though, any comment anyone? I'm planning on buying one in a few weeks in Singapore. I'm willing to risk the size - i want a desktop replacement and the new/extra features the new ones offer over the old ones are worth the extra cash easily.

The latest in must have electronics is the tablet PC. One of our doctors just got one.

THIS is awesome. Handwriting recognition that ACTUALLY works!! Easy to use, and, if the doc is to be believed, strong enough to be used to fend off a mental patient (he takes his in to emergency commitment evaluations and writes up his evaluation as he goes.)

Originally posted by wolf
Easy to use, and, if the doc is to be believed, strong enough to be used to fend off a mental patient

Sounds like a good recommendation. Should we order a couple of dozen to fit on the Segway Battle Wagons? Or would that require adding a GIB to operate it, making the new crew complement three instead of two?

That's the trouble with technology...the smaller it gets, the more of it you try to use all at once, and the next thing you know you need bigger everything to hold it all. Still, might be worthwhile...think of the targeting automation we could route through it. Could come in handy in a hotly contested chariot battle.

I'm going to disagree, wolf. I think they are cool, but I don't think they're must-have yet.

A guy here at work has the Compaq one, and it's nice.... except that it's slow. If you want faster, you need to buy a bigger one, and I wouldn't want anything bigger. There isn't yet a good mixture of speed and size, and that's the problem.

Ideally, a tablet needs to be in the 2-2.5 pound range, an inch thick at most, 10" screen and at least a 1GHz P3-equivalent processor (no, that Transmeta shit will not cut it, even if Linus does work for them).

It's great that they're making progress on 'em, but it's still a 1.0. I'll be waiting for the next evolution before I buy one.

(All that aside, they really are a fantastic toy and pretty fun to play with.)

Originally posted by wolf
The latest in must have electronics is the tablet PC. One of our doctors just got one. THIS is awesome. Handwriting recognition that ACTUALLY works!!

Wow, it must be a pretty fantastic piece of technology -- after all, there are no HUMANS who can read a doctor's handwriting!

Originally posted by 99 44/100% pure
Wow, it must be a pretty fantastic piece of technology -- after all, there are no HUMANS who can read a doctor's handwriting!

Once you get used to it it's not so bad ... I've been working with the same set of docs for a lot of years now, and their handwriting holds few mysteries.

My best stupid human trick ...

A pharmacist calls, saying, "I have a prescription from one of your doctors."

"Which one?"

"I can't tell. I can't read the handwriting."

"Can you describe the squiggle that you think is the signature?"

"It looks kind of like a lightning bolt."

"Hani Zaki, MD. Can you read the name of the medication okay?"