lgpOnTheMove

Off the Beaten Track - a Desktop Renaissance or Notebook Demise?

Notebooks have become a real drag recently - there's just nothing exciting out there that would really tickle my fancy. My enthusiasm for working with the devices has for the first time in many years hit an all-time low. While I have no reason to abandon notebooks entirely, or cease coverage here on lgpOnTheMove, this major downer IS heavily influencing my thoughts about my next big hardware purchase. A purchase which may just be a build-it-yourself desktop come Christmas 2013.

What would compel me to dump my Toshiba Qosmio X305 in favor of my own-assembled box? The arguments in favor are plenty. Yet as much as I've enjoyed my notebook, it's now time to look for something new. With nothing on the notebook landscape from manufacturers worthy as a replacement for my X305, my focus for a no-nonsense work tool has for the first time shifted back to the desktop.

Waiting for hardware announcements to trickle down into actually-shipping products can be like watching paint dry. Combine that with my less-than-spectacular experience recently with Toshiba's Qosmio X70 notebook, and you can guess why things have slowed down to a crawl here at lgpOnTheMove.

Sure, there's new stuff being released in the coming weeks like Microsoft's Surface refresh with Windows 8.1, which I'm hoping to get my hands on before Christmas hits. On the notebook front, however, I see very few things right now to excite me, making me seriously reconsider what my next hardware purchase will be. Time for me to hang 10 for the time being.

Wish List - Building the Ultimate Slate

If there was ever a year to mark a spurt in slate innovation, then 2013 has to be that year. With Microsoft's anticipated release later this year of Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 along with Intel's just-announced low-voltage Haswell parts, those in the know are probably waiting to see just when (and not if) the "next big thing" is coming.

My experience with various slates of recent has shown me that they continue to progress. While still focused primarily on content consumption, devices such as the Surface RT and Surface PRO can tackle productivity in a way that would render even a netbook or notebook obsolete. Given my stubborn insistence on keeping my 10" netbook, is there a recipe for a perfect slate that could satisfy those such as myself who have been holding out all this time? Read on for my thoughts.

Last year I had probably my first acceptable experience with an Android slate, the Nexus 7. Google and Asus addressed much of what was lacking in the original Samsung Galaxy Tab, and had I been in the market for a 7" Android slate, would have more than likely made the purchase.

Move forward to 2013 and we now have Google's refresh sporting the same exact name, but with some key upgrades to both hardware and software. Is the design and feature set still as attractive to me? Let's take a quick look.

Regular readers here will notice I have somewhat of an attachment to Toshiba's Qosmio line of notebooks, not surprising since I've been a happy owner of a X305 since 2009. It's a fantastic gaming and productivity workhorse, never mind it's impressive audiophile underpinnings.

Of course, it's been a while since I looked at the X775 model, and Toshiba has in that time made not one but two refreshes. The latest Qosmio X70 offers up Intel's newest Core i7 Haswell quad core alongside nVidia's most recent GK106 silicon dubbed GTX770M. Does the solution impress? More important perhaps, what in the world would compel me to relegate Toshiba to my Shame File? Read on for the entire story!

Once again I have the pleasure of looking at another one of Toshiba's flagship Qosmio notebooks here on lgpOnTheMove. The just-released X70 continues where the X875 model left off, offering the latest Intel Haswell quad-core processor along with a new mobile GPU and various other tweaks.

Go ahead and browse over the various images I have here, and make sure to come back next week for a very different kind of review!

Long-time critics of slates such as myself will tell you that they fail to provide a suitable productivity experience, based largely on the limitations inherent in a smartphone OS. On the other hand, many proponents will argue that the overhead of a full desktop OS is not necessary to carry around with you all the time. With the plethora of keyboard case accessories available for so many slates on the market today, one still has to question if turning a slate into a notebook replacement is indeed a viable proposition, or just armchair experts blowing smoke.

My recent detailed look at the Microsoft Surface RT showed that you can indeed make a workable compromise between a plain slate running a crippled smartphone OS versus a full-blown netbook such as my HP 210 Mini. To illustrate just how well Microsoft thought out their first-ever venture into the slate market, I've put together a list of 50 things that you can do today with a Surface RT slate.

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