Nick Eff (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
roadrunnertwice) wrote2012-11-30 12:22 am
roadrunnertwice) wrote2012-11-30 12:22 am
Entry tags:
New gadgetry
I bought a new iPad! It finally finished syncing! I am totally amped about this. (I went for the regular size with schmancy display and cell phone radio. The mini is cute, but believe it or not, I actually type on these things, and mini seemed too mini for that. Also, apropos of nothing, I’m gonna cough up a lung on the next person who uses the word “consumption” to describe electronics. Stop doing that.)
Listen though, I kind of love the iPad. I blew my 2010 tax return on a first-gen one and haven't regretted it for a second; that thing was the shit and I’ve used it pretty much daily. I will grouse about the iPad’s limitations until the cows come home, but here’s the rub: it functions as about 3/4 of a real computer, it’s light enough to carry everywhere (maybe not in a purse, but it’s a drop in my Chrome bucket), it basically never runs out of battery, it has a cell phone radio and cheap-as-fuck data, it’s durable as hell and has no moving parts, and it just feels good to use. It trades off the right things for the right things. I can see how it wouldn’t fit everyone’s lifestyle, but it’s always seemed specifically made for my own.
…Although that original recipe pad was starting to get a bit draggy; hence the upgrade. I know it’s not really the Fagerlund way to replace a gadget when it’s only two and a half years old, but hey, my hand-me-down phone and 4+ year old computer are doing grand and will last for years, so why not? (And laggy or not, my brother definitely has a use for the old one — it can replace the ancient and blatantly haunted notebook he got in 2005 or so. The one we scored by placing a Cragslist ad titled “Your shitty laptop wants to die in Costa Rica.” And I am only half kidding about the haunting.)
Oh, and I went for the “smart case,” which seems to be the spiritual successor to the original grimy-ass iPad 1 case, which I loved. There are two real problems I always had w/ the iPad: first, it’s a beautiful object, and it’s hard for me to fearlessly use the shit out of a beautiful object and run it into the ground. (And the only way to get full value out of the iPad is definitely to run it into the ground.) And second, the aluminum back is really slippery, so that it’s hard to grip and it won’t want to stay put if you set it on your lap. That disgusting case solved everything: it made it seem less precious, gave it enough actual protection that I could just throw it in a crowded bag without thinking, and added enough texture that it could grip my pants properly. As an added bonus, it picked up enough stains and schmutz that you could easily distinguish your own gadget from others in identical cases.
Listen though, I kind of love the iPad. I blew my 2010 tax return on a first-gen one and haven't regretted it for a second; that thing was the shit and I’ve used it pretty much daily. I will grouse about the iPad’s limitations until the cows come home, but here’s the rub: it functions as about 3/4 of a real computer, it’s light enough to carry everywhere (maybe not in a purse, but it’s a drop in my Chrome bucket), it basically never runs out of battery, it has a cell phone radio and cheap-as-fuck data, it’s durable as hell and has no moving parts, and it just feels good to use. It trades off the right things for the right things. I can see how it wouldn’t fit everyone’s lifestyle, but it’s always seemed specifically made for my own.
…Although that original recipe pad was starting to get a bit draggy; hence the upgrade. I know it’s not really the Fagerlund way to replace a gadget when it’s only two and a half years old, but hey, my hand-me-down phone and 4+ year old computer are doing grand and will last for years, so why not? (And laggy or not, my brother definitely has a use for the old one — it can replace the ancient and blatantly haunted notebook he got in 2005 or so. The one we scored by placing a Cragslist ad titled “Your shitty laptop wants to die in Costa Rica.” And I am only half kidding about the haunting.)
Oh, and I went for the “smart case,” which seems to be the spiritual successor to the original grimy-ass iPad 1 case, which I loved. There are two real problems I always had w/ the iPad: first, it’s a beautiful object, and it’s hard for me to fearlessly use the shit out of a beautiful object and run it into the ground. (And the only way to get full value out of the iPad is definitely to run it into the ground.) And second, the aluminum back is really slippery, so that it’s hard to grip and it won’t want to stay put if you set it on your lap. That disgusting case solved everything: it made it seem less precious, gave it enough actual protection that I could just throw it in a crowded bag without thinking, and added enough texture that it could grip my pants properly. As an added bonus, it picked up enough stains and schmutz that you could easily distinguish your own gadget from others in identical cases.