Bruce McKnight
Troubadour
I don't get to sit at a desk and write, so I need something mobile to write on.
I use a Surface Pro tablet for work and like a lot of things except how it is hard to balance the keyboard setup anywhere besides a desk. For writing, I need something with a fixed keyboard so that I can easily pick up and move and write for short periods (which is all I typically have) easily.
I want something small and light with a touchscreen (I got one at worked an was hooked). I didn't think that was a lot to ask until I tried to fine something that worked.
First I tried the Asus C100 Chromebook. This is, by far, the best form chassis of any technology I have ever held and it loads instantly with a great battery. Unfortunately, as amazing as it is for its intended purpose of web browsing, it was impossible to write on for two main reasons:
Because I liked a lot of things about the Asus C100, I next tried the Asus T100, which is the laptop transformer powered by Windows (shame on me) so I can write on the local machine for better response times. This model was awful because the weighting on the unit makes it so that if you put it anywhere besides a desk (like your lap), the thing tips over. Terrible design from the company that created the amazingly sleek C100. Grrr! I could get around how they moved the shift key on me (since delete is where it belongs), but I have to write on the run and that means on my lap. When the thing keeps falling over, I can't get anything done.
Now I'm ticked and I don't know what to try next.
What do you guys write on? Am I the only one who has to confine their writing to bus rides and the couch? How do you pull it off?
I use a Surface Pro tablet for work and like a lot of things except how it is hard to balance the keyboard setup anywhere besides a desk. For writing, I need something with a fixed keyboard so that I can easily pick up and move and write for short periods (which is all I typically have) easily.
I want something small and light with a touchscreen (I got one at worked an was hooked). I didn't think that was a lot to ask until I tried to fine something that worked.
First I tried the Asus C100 Chromebook. This is, by far, the best form chassis of any technology I have ever held and it loads instantly with a great battery. Unfortunately, as amazing as it is for its intended purpose of web browsing, it was impossible to write on for two main reasons:
- There's no delete key. I know there is alt-backspace, but the worst design idea was putting the power down button in the upper right where the delete key usually is. Every time I wanted to delete something, I would turn the flippin' thing off. I'm not resilient enough to overcome that habit.
- Writing on Google Docs suuuuuhuhuuuuucks royally! I love Google and they nail almost everything, but when I loaded my modest manuscript into Google Docs, it would take over a full minute to load and, even if I left it open, the response on keystrokes (especially if I wanted to delete a few words - which happens often) was unbearable. I kept overshooting my deletes or leaving fragments in there. Then when I started typing, it wouldn't come up fast enough. Microsoft's nonsense bloatware doesn't have this problem, so I'm baffled. C'mon Google, you're better than that.
Because I liked a lot of things about the Asus C100, I next tried the Asus T100, which is the laptop transformer powered by Windows (shame on me) so I can write on the local machine for better response times. This model was awful because the weighting on the unit makes it so that if you put it anywhere besides a desk (like your lap), the thing tips over. Terrible design from the company that created the amazingly sleek C100. Grrr! I could get around how they moved the shift key on me (since delete is where it belongs), but I have to write on the run and that means on my lap. When the thing keeps falling over, I can't get anything done.
Now I'm ticked and I don't know what to try next.
What do you guys write on? Am I the only one who has to confine their writing to bus rides and the couch? How do you pull it off?