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June 02, 2004
Laptop vs. SunRay
On my desk at work, I have a Toshiba Tecra and a Sun Ray 1. The Sun Ray is connected to a 21" Sony-built Sun monitor with better resolution than the laptop, and my $HOME on the SunRay is backed up by our sys admins, whom I'd trust with all my data.
Yet I find myself using the laptop and leaving the SunRay aside. Why?
- Responsiveness: For example, starting a Gnome terminal on the SunRay just took 5 seconds, on the laptop it took less time than to move my mouse across the screen from the icon to the window that came up.
- Installing apps: on the laptop, I know the root password. Why should this be more important to me than backups?
- I'm not mobile enough: the SunRay lets you carry your session around the building, and in fact around the business, on your JavaCard badge. For the laptop, I have to lug the whole thing around, so I lug it home... but I use it primarily at my desk. Only rarely do I use it as a portable disk.
The responsiveness thing is a real issue for end users. Not sure if that's an RFE for the SunRay, but it should be.
Posted by Mark at June 2, 2004 09:41 AM