CrazyWingman's Journal: Sony Picturebooks

So, I've become a bit obsessed with the Sony Picturebook. While I was wandering around Linuxtag over the weekend, I saw a few people with them, and every time I think about them, they just seem like exactly what I'm looking for right now. I really want something small and portable that I could sit and type random stuff with (class notes, bits of code, e-mail, journal, etc.) while also being able to ssh into whatever machine I feel like to do random things (check web server status, e-mail, zephyr, etc.) and also even possible check Slashdot once in a while. Of course, I'd like all this and about 6+ hours of battery life (demanding, aren't I?).

About the only reason I'm fascinated by the Picturebook instead of something like a Handspring, or something like the HP Jornado is that it's keyboard seems just almost big enough to touch-type on. I hate having to hunt&peck on tiny keyboards, and I'm not too sure about my feeling on the hand-writing like stuff on the Palm devices. Of course, I also like the idea of a slightly more powerful, Intel-compatible processor, as opposed to the Strongarm. I know denies me some available battery life, but it almost seems worth it to me to be able to run Linux without too many issues, and also download random apps without taking forever if a recompile is needed.

Unfortunately, it seems that all production of these devices has stopped, except for the C1MX, or whatever the new one is. And, I really don't want all of the power that this new one is going to have. RW/DVD on something this small? I'm not even planning to use a CD-ROM on whatever I end up with. I don't want to watch movies on it, and the only games I'd ever play are like hearts or cribbage or freecell - maybe even chess. Also, I'm kind of cheap, as college students often are, so I'd really rather pay like ~$300 rather than ~$1500.

Eh, sounds like I've just typed up everyone's wish - a computer that goes everywhere, does exactly what I want, and costs very little. So, while I'll probably never get what I want, if anyone reads this and has any comments/suggestions, please feel free to send them my way.