After five and a half years of steadfast and reliable service, I semi-retired The Beast, a 17″ Alienware laptop. I replaced it with…another 17″ Alienware laptop.
The Beast served me so well that I decided to go the same route for its replacement. I stuck with the same brand and screen size, picked a model I liked, and moved the configuration sliders for the hardware options all the way to the right for almost every component. I’m hoping that this system will last as long as the old one, which is still trucking along and now serving as a spare gaming rig for the kids in case one of theirs goes out of commission.
The new one is much faster than the old model and over two pounds lighter. But the killer feature for me is the mechanical keyboard they managed to squeeze into the laptop chassis, ultra-low profile Cherry switches. It’s a $100 upgrade from the regular keyboard, but let me tell you that it’s OH SO WORTH IT. It makes every other laptop keyboard I’ve ever typed on feel like mushy garbage. It’s firm and tactile and very clicky, and I want this keyboard on every laptop from now on.
(Keyboards are an important component when you’re in the business of typing a quarter million words or more a year.)
Marko, you will appreciate this. Wasn’t one of the planetary systems in Frontlines the Fomalhaut system? Well, the James Webb telescope just captured an image of an asteroid belt and possible planets there.
https://www.engadget.com/jwst-captures-images-of-the-first-asteroid-belts-seen-beyond-the-solar-system-192847989.html
Very nice! I take my full-size keychron with me on office days. Life is too short to stumble around on a membrane keyboard.
A mechanical keyboard was a must for me when replacing my desktop computer and I was astonished to discover that I could get one that was wireless. And probably weighs half what my old gaming keyboard weighed. But in a laptop?! Yowza. Brilliant.
About an hour ago I finished your story collection. Lots of good stuff in there, particularly enjoyed the Ink and Blood stories and Measures of Absolution.
I have been in IT long enough that I recall the days before the web and how I enjoyed working with the first PCs. If you have to travel, I can see using a laptop but I think you’re always better off with a larger screen and regular keyboard and mouse as with a desktop setup. Of course, you can also hookup the larger screen, keyboard and mouse to your laptop but why bother with the laptop then?
Because I can stuff it into a bag and take it with me, or move it easily from room to room if needed.
Hell yeah. Do you game at all ?
Yes, of course. I can do my writing work on a DOS machine if I have to. No sense paying the Alienware premium if you don’t play games.
Im surprised you use the Laptop’s keyboard, why not use a 60% external one?
I take my Ducke One 3 Mini everywhere
I have a 60% Corsair for that. But I like to have a good keyboard on the laptop as well for those times when I use it without an external setup.