Well, it's perfect for my professional use. I'm even running intensive numerical simulations and it's much faster than my last laptop. Interestingly where it falls short is for my personal use! I've had to move my iPhoto and iTunes libraries off to an external drive, since the biggest drive you can get on it (80 GB) is just too darned small.
If you are looking for a laptop that is well suited for running numerical simulations, the Air sounds like a very odd choice to me. Other machines offer the same CPU power for much less $$$. Or you can buy one of those new quad-core laptops if you really need number-crunching power on the move. May I suggest the Xtreme 917V for you?
My old laptop was good enough for what I do. The MBA is just that much faster. If I really need speed, I use a Linux cluster. I need the laptop for a lot of things, of which numerical work is only one. The MBA is just the ticket for me.
Need some real speed for simulations? Get one of these gems from one of my favorite companies: Deskside Supercomputer - Supercomputing Performance and High Performance Computing (HPC) Linux clusters are so 90's, they are just good enough to heat the basement
Ah, I can do much better than that. I can take Visual Studio, and develop a C# program right away that runs on my HTC and controls that GPU station. Or I could just be lazy and use one of those available remote desktop programs for WM, and take full control on my smartphone of the PC where that station is connected to. Then I can use 3.5G on my smartphone and interact with that system while I'm having a beer in a pub in Dublin. Launch new batches, query the progress, download & view results,... So, that GPU station in fact just becomes a remote co-processor for my smartphone. Try to top that with your iPhone!
I use my iPhone more for entertainment and communication purposes. As you may know all the audio and video functions are just perfect. Add that to synchronization and intelligent playlist management and there is just no question. I use to go through great pains to get buggy and halfway functionality with my WM and Linux phones. Visual voicemail has become a requirement for me because it lets me screen my work and personal calls much better. Oh! And I do what you describe with this: vnsea - Google Code The VNC client for iPhone. Quite trivial actually...
The joy and sorrow of open architectures. I love them and hate them at the same time, but still I sit here typing on my Linux box. Tom
A hacker's phone, to be sure. To be honest, I've had the best phone experiences on my S60 phones, both with Audio and Video.... but the N800 trumps them all (even the iPhone).
I'm on the edge of buying a Nokia N810. Mainly, just for the fun of having it and to surf in the sofa. And the idea of having a full Linux box in my palm is sooooo tempting!
Don't get me going on this. I'm sooooo tempted. I don't need you egging me on. "I don't need one, I don't need one, I don't need one..." Tom
I bought the N800 before the N810 was out... but.. I'd still go with the N800. The fact that it has 2 SDHC slots is a killer feature, and I've got mine paired with a Freedom Mini BT keyboard (when I need it). And the N800 is dirt cheap now... I think you can score one for under 200. Just saying...
Yes, I have seen that. There is a steep price difference between both, despite a very similar feature set. The N800 really is a good deal now. But I like having the keyboard. The idea is to have it hang around in the living room so that, any time, you can take the device and instantly consult something on the web.
That's exactly what I use mine for, with some instant messaging thrown in on top... and some media streaming/viewing. The software thumb board is just fine for typing, IMO. I'm sure the physical keyboard is better, but for my needs, the thumb board gets it done.
