Saturday, December 17, 2011

A House Without Windows


I recently donated my last two Windows PCs to Goodwill. They were getting a bit long in the tooth, but both were very capable machines. I got rid of them for three reasons.

First, I use a Mac Mini as my main computer, making the old Windows desktop an unused fixture in the basement, just taking up space.

Second, I use my iPad as my mobile device, for example, as I write this blog sitting in the Chicago airport. It does 90 percent of what the laptop did, but the laptop added weight, time-wasting boot ups and downs and terrible battery life.

Finally, I simply got tired of the maintenance on the Windows PCs. I bought back an hour or more every month eliminating the patching and updating. The Mac Mini occasionally asks if I want to update something and the iPad's Update All feature is equally a few seconds work.

I had also noted that my collection of "computers" had grown in the last couple years and it was time to thin the herd.

Of course my cell phone is another primary device. I've just upgraded from the original Droid to the Droid Razr. Not crazy about the battery life of the Razr, but it's wicked fast, light as a feather and bright as a star.

Then there is a Google Chromebook and an Archos 101 Android tablet, which are useful in their niches. Almost forget the iPod Touch, which is now exclusively a music player attached to a pair of Griffin Evolve wireless speakers.

Of course my work laptop is Windows.

At least for now.

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