On a minor tech note…
Posted by TFG on April 16th, 2008
…I am still desperately interested in a tablet or laptop that I can use outside that doesn’t cost my next year’s truck payments. I don’t need rain protection, so much as a G–D—– screen that doesn’t wash out to nada the second you turn on the floor lamp. It just needs to be able to run XP and WinExplorer and practically nothing else. Well, Wireshark would be nice, too. Handheld, UMPC, ultra-thin, what ever.
Don’t even start in on me with the Explorer business. I’m not the one writing the ActiveX controls these Swedes, Indians and Koreans demand. I just have to make the sonsabitches work for pay.
So, yeah — all you .mil types who get all the good shit — give a man a nice recommendation?
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Are you talking about screen brightness? It may be too obvious to mention but… by default, most laptops reduce screen brightness when on batteries. Change the option to 100% or get an extension cord.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Yeah, screen brightness. Yeah, I know you can crank them up. Go outside in the sun and see how well your’s works. Then climb a tree with that extension cord…30 feet in the air, I reckon. I wish it was just an Fn key.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:37 am
I’m on a Fujitsu Lifebook A Series (it belongs to the blues society) and I’ve had no problems with the brightness when in bright conditions. The OS is XP. Now, I know the guy who did the purchasing of said machine went over the top with extras so don’t gag when you hear it ran around a grand for this thing. I wanted something less cluttered with all the bells and whistles, but I got what I got and I ain’t complainin’. However, I did find a very nice reasonably priced Dell with XP and got to try it out in uber bright conditions. No problems whatsoever. You can find good deals on the Dell site.
April 26th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Trying to picture you 30 feet up in a tree squinting at your laptop.
2nd piece of advice, get one of those photographer’s blankets they used for those circa 1890 bellows/film plate cameras.