One the Road with my new muse, Sam. I suspected some time ago that I had tendencies to be whinny, and throw tantrums when I didn’t get what I wanted or whenever I felt moody about something. Well, currently (I mean at the very moment that I am writing this) I am using my new Acer One mini-netbook which after my internal debate, I decided, had to be mine.
The netbook is a small, laptop that is highly portable and streamlined for easy internet access and simple tasks. It has no CD or DVD drive and while it does have a 160 GB memory, it has 3 USB ports for the addition of extra devices such as a wireless mouse, an optical drive, or a printer. It can download new software easily and whoa…it comes with a webcam… And no you will not be seeing me on YouTube any time soon.
As a writer’s tool, I consider my purchase of Sam (my muse) to cover several levels of necessity.
1) Vacation Writing. Just because I am currently on the way to Puerto Rico, to walk around in my one piece with a massive girly drink filled with fruit an drum is no excuse for me not to write when I get there.
2) Tax Write –Off. Yup at a cost of about $299 (they run anywhere between $299-$499 depending on battery and maker as far as I can tell) at least you can show you tax-man a little expenditure other than your yearly ream of paper and promo costs.
3) Conferences. This is kinda like number 1 but you’ll probably be able to do some note taking, take down contacts and numbers quickly and (YUP) work on that story that your editor is waiting on.
4) Portability. The size of my netbook is compatible with the size of my (slightly) over-sized purse. I know because I put the floor model up against the side of my purse to make sure. Of course I bought the protective sleeve for Sam though. They don’t weigh much at all, less than 3 pounds and seriously, the idea of buying a bag or a bookpack for one of these guys seems a little odd to me. You can take them anywhere.
5) Reading. I hear tell that the Kindle is a wonderful device and if I were solely a reader of trashy novels and not also a writer of said trashy novels, I’d be okay with that but the netbook allows me to download the latest Loose-Id release, read a bit (I can magnify the font all I want) and then get my ass back to work on that novel that was supposed to be turned in last month.
There are many other reasons that a person (writer) might want to invest in an extremely portable and capable netbook that does not have the capacity to handle World of Warcraft (and if it can do NOT tell me so, I should be writing damnit). Sure the keypad is small and the battery life isn’t much ( I need the 6 hour, got the 3) but most importantly…The Acer One that I purchased from Staples came pre-installed with Windows XP and a trial version of Microsoft Home and Student. I am currently using MS Word…WHOOOOHOOOO. While I could later decide that I want to you Open Office or any other word processing program, I am a fanatic about MS Word. They have another version of the netbook that comes with Linux for the anti-Microsoft folk and well…I’m sure Apple will come out with a mini laptop (but honestly they get enough of my money through the Itunes and Istore.)
Overall for the writer on the go and for the writer with a guilty conscience, I would highly suggest this cutie!
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