Laptop vs Tablet

I had a laptop, it was one of those small business portable laptops with an 11" screen. Although the laptop served me well, after a while I found myself only using it for two things. Surfing the web and showing my lecture presentation. Hmmm what if I could use another device that was even more portable but could still do both? and the answer was...an iPad 2 with the VGA output cable!!

My Thinkpad E120

So I took the plunge, sold my laptop and bought an iPad2 32GB WiFi and VGA cable and even had a surplus of about 100 bucks :)

Time to live without a laptop.

Why I made the change :

- I dont do any heavy report or presentation slide editing on my laptop. I use a desktop for that.
- I wanted something lite
- Using a tablet for presentations rawks!!! and I can also scribble or add annotations during a slideshow..cool.

iPad2 with VGA cable

Here is a break down on the advantages and disadvantages of a Laptop Vs Tablet

Laptop

The good
- You can do many things, from report writing to photo editing
- A keyboard
- Input options, USB, DVD-Drive, HDMI out etc etc

The bad
- You still need to put it on a table to do work properly
- Short battery life (2-5 hours) and the need to find a power outlet
- Heavy, can't fit in a document bag

The iPad Tablet

The good
- Lite and very portable
- 10 hour battery life
- Faster for web browsing with the touch screen
- You can hold it close to you, dont need a table
- Abundant applications making its usefulness wide

The bad
- No Media input options, usb drive, DVD-Drive
- No hardware keyboard. (accessories are available)
- Limted functionality (if its not jeilbroken ;) )


Well what else can I say, having been without a laptop for about three months now, I must say that I really dont miss it that much. I am perfectly happy editing my presentation slides using keynote and the touchscreen interface and surfing the web is simply a breeze. Using the tablet when presenting my lectures is also nice :)

Example of a Keynote presentation

Dare to live without a laptop? the choice is yours...

Lightning Trip to Johore And Singapore

Hmm last weekend...I went on a lightning trip down to JB. We travelled by road in my Bosses Benz a CLS 350 and damn was it fast... We left Sepang at about 11:30 and arrived somewhere around 13:45 at the hotel Lobby in JB. Average speed was about 190Km/h...(no kidding) and even at that speed it was smooth with no vibrations.

Well enough about the car, lets talk about JB. Coming to JB reminds of the good old days when I use to come here and hang over at my best friends house...A lot has changed since the last 10 years...new highways, Iskandar city among the most recent is the new JB Central Station built over the existing Railyway Station, even JB City Square is undergoing renovations.

Thankfully even after 10 years, one place hasn't changed much and that is...Holiday Plaza. Holiday Plaza is like the small version of SG wang. Here is where you can get Watches, Electronics, gaming and even the *ehem-ehem DVD's which have now evolved to Bluray Discs. Prices are damn good. My colleague grabbed a bunch of movies, and I got me some BD's and.... also walked out with a very nice timepiece for my self....hehe (as if I didn't have enough watches already). I'll do another write up on the watch later...

Coming out of the Plaza with our loot we headed back to the Grand Paragon Hotel (nice place). The evenings were spent hanging out with some acquaintances of my boss, having dinner (thai seafood) hanging out until the wee hours at the hotel club (at the highest floor of the hotel). The club was OK with live bands, pool tables and a nice view of JB.

Tomorrow was the meeting with CAE(a flight simulator developer) reps at Raffles Marina in Singapore.

All in all, it was a nice to go on these trips for meetings, it gives me a chance to meet up with some influential people of the aviation industry from other regions (namely Indonesia & Singapore) and learn a few things (tricks of the trade) related to the aviation.

Anyways at the end of it all it feels great to come home to a loving family after a tiring trip.

An affair with watches...my swatch watch craze...

As a child of the 80s (Gen-X) The Swatch craze came to Malaysia at the right time for me as I was in my teens and Digital watches were thought as watches for kids (time to grow up and read analogue watch dials haha). Swatches were (and still is) the "IN" thing back then with its funky design and other features like "alarm", "music" "one-button chrono" etc...

Having said that, I kind of ignored the earlier swatches as the plastic design did not inspire confidence and thus My very first swatch was a swatch scuba which had a 200m water resist value.

My very first Swatch Scuba Loomi 1995-1997

Soon after the Swatch "Irony" series made its debut and I was sold. I had to get one. I got one with a "Loomi" kinda like indiglo night light feature.

Swatch Irony Loomi 1998-1999

The night light didn't last very long and after sending it back to Swatch (at Lot 10) they replaced it with another model loomi too (I didnt mind coz I got a newer watch)

The next swatch that I had was a swatch irony blue chess which originally had a rubber strap but changed it to a bangle aluminium type. The watch is sold (but i still kept the strap)

Swatch irony "Blue Chess"

I tend to love chrono watches (the ones with stop watch) as I actually use them for timing my lecture durations and timing my bike rides. Hence the purchase of a swatch Irony Chrono. The Irony chrono series have a bigger diameter than the normal irony so its more "manly". Now if you are thinking of getting a swatch irony chrono be careful as Swatch has a few models which are actually mostly plastic body side for an aluminium bezel.

Swatch Irony Chrono "Casually Inspired"

Last and my most current swatch would be the swatch Irony "Body & Soul". This a Swatch Irony Automatic series. Its a "skeleton" design so you can see all the gears and cranks and see how it moves. This is actually my very first automatic watch and being an automatic it needs no batteries. Yayy!!! (now I really appreciate the watchmaker). As an automatic watch, the swatch is of fine swiss quality, 21 jewels, has a manual wind feature, 40 hour power reserve and even a power reserve indicator (from looking at the coil of the mainspring). Classy and elegant, shame that the diameter is a bit small.

Swatch Irony Automatic "Body & Soul"

Some of these swatch watches are either lost or sold but I have never stopped being a fan of swatches. I have made it a point to own at least one swatch watch as I find that they are nicely built, fresh design and last quite awhile. Heck Swatch Ironys made "unibody" design watches even before steve jobs used them of his Macbooks. I also love the fact that swatch straps are user replacable and interchangable

Ever had a relationship with a swatch? Do you know what the "nickname" of your swatch is?

CLICK HERE to find your swatch.