Does anyone else remember netbooks?
Netbooks; the ultra-small, ultra-simple version of a laptop. I had two of them, both Acers (I could be wrong about that - my memory is shot). The first was a Linux machine, and it worked perfectly. So well in fact that I used it to death; the keyboard ended up a pounded mess of illegible tabs and broken keys. But it was great!
The second one ran Windows 7; the last MS OS that wasn't absolute garbage in my opinion. I think it had a slightly larger screen than the first; 11" vs. 9". Could be remembering that wrong too. It also worked as it should, maybe slightly more useful than the first because of the ability to do almost anything a Windows computer could do.
True they had limited speed, memory, and storage. Yet they were ever-so capable despite that, not to mention ultra-portable. In terms of offerings the latest 'equivalent' is a Chromebook, which really doesn't cut it because of the OS limitations and general dysfunctionality - Chromebooks are more like portable terminals for the web-based 'mainframe' and don't really work very well. I know because I use one now. In fact I am using one now to write this.
Okay maybe one of the tablet computers is more like the netbooks of old, but they lack true keyboards. I've never used one for that reason alone and probably never will.
I miss my netbooks, even though I'd have a hard time with the small screens these days. Maybe the golden age of computer technology is well and truly over, and all we get to work with now is glitzy techno-trash.
SIGH