It's speed that counts

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I usually don't talk about hardware because I don't pay too much attention to it unless something is bothering me.  However I've discovered something interesting about myself in the last week.  I've done a lot of my development over the last few years on an enormous HP zd8000.  I jokingly called it "the 747" because of its size and girth - 10 lbs and a 17" screen.  For a guy like me who's usually also carrying a few books in his bag it's quite a load as evidenced by my going through at least one laptop bag (my current one is also in poor shape). 

So because of some changes at work I got to try out a machine I'd liked the thought of - another HP but this one with a small 13" screen and weighing perhaps 4 lbs.  It's a great little machine and has a cool look but after about a week I'm back to the 747.

Why go back to the back pains and encumbrance of this massive machine?  One simple reason: speed.  It's got twice the RAM (2GB) and a much faster processor.  I didn't think about this much but for a person like me who is usually running an instance of SQL Server, an IDE of some sort, a text editor, web browsing with 10 tabs open, listening to music, chatting up friends (Messenger is no joke when it comes to resources), etc, etc - you get the picture - it's frustrating to be on a beautiful, compact machine that you have to wait around for. I'd rather exchange power with encumbrance for convenience with time penalties.

Or, as I like to joke with my South Dakota friends, I'm like a guy who exchanged his Chevy Silverado for a crossover vehicle... until he realized that he made his living hauling lumber.

Footnote: I ordered a Thinkpad T61 which should be a foot in both worlds. I guess my bit of the economic stimulus went to China.

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