Over the holidays, I got myself a Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2. Initially the plan was to make it into a Hackintosh but since I got the machine working well I've decided to not go that route. Right now, I'm very pleased dual booting Windows XP with the Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix.
I was an early Netbook early adopter. I purchased an Asus EEE in Feb 2008. One of the first entries into the Netbook market. We were going to Maui for a week and the EEE seemed like a great travelling companion. The small form factor made it easy to pack and the low cost made the potential lost on the trip more acceptable.
However after the trip, I'm promptly sold it. The Asus EEE and Lenovo IdeaPad have roughly the same dimensions but the deal breaker for the Asus EEE was the tiny keyboard. There were fairly large speakers (in relation to the rest of the EEE) to the left and right of the keyboard. This made the keyboard even smaller than it had to be. The IdeaPad does not have the same issue. Though smallish, I'm fairly comfortable touch typing this entry on the IdeaPad's keyboard.
By default, Windows XP is installed and required for any future servicing or restoring to factory condition. I'm more of a Mac and Linux person so I had to find tools/applications to make Windows acceptable and integrate with my other equipment. I'm pleased with what I've found and actually find the experience relatively painless.
1. Removed the antivirus program
I should not do this but after uninstalling the Norton antivirus program, the IdeaPad experienced a fairly nice performance boost. I don't use IE or Outlook so most infection vectors are closed off. I still have to be extra careful about what I install on this machine though.
I was impressed with my brief usage of Chrome in early 2009, it was fast and I liked its sandboxing architecture that made it resistant to attacks (see this). On the IdeaPad, it's my default browser.
Firefox is also installed because they are too many useful Firefox add ons. I have to say the 3.6 version has been pretty good on my Mac. For day to day browsing, Safari used to be noticeably faster but I don't notice a difference anymore.
3. xmarks
xmarks is a bookmark synchronization tool. It synchronizes my bookmarks across my browsers on all my machines. When I had one machine, I never understood the use of xmarks. With multiple browsers and machines, I love having the ability to manage all my bookmarks from one central location.
4. Dropbox
I use dropbox for sharing and synchronizing files across my multiple machines. It also version files that you put into it (effectively serving as a backup). Any documents I'm working can be accessed from any of my machines.
5. Evernote
I use evernote for managing my notes across all my devices.
6. Notepad++
notepad++ is a huge improvement over the regular notepad. Has a bunch of useful programming specific features (e.g. line numbering, syntax coloring) and does not have a problem with unix style line endings (where the regular notepad puts the entire file on a single line)
Used Wubi to install Ubuntu. Sometimes I just need access to Linux. No repartitioning of the hard drive is necessary. Wubi installs Ubuntu on the windows partition of the hard drive (at the cost of slower disk performance which doesn't really matter in this situation).
8. Python
It's what I use these days for small projects. In the past, I liked Strawberry Perl and I would used it again if the need arises.
You'll also want easy_install to get new libraries.
9. Git, Putty
I need access to my git repositories since that's where my code is. Used TortoiseGIT (and it's dependency msysgit) for that. Works great for my simple usage. No major complaints.
putty is the only game on windows for ssh'ing into my remote hosts.
3 + 4 + 5 + 9 form a common theme, they are tools I use for managing information/code I collect.
For listening to podcasts and other digital media. This is one area I need to work on more. Figuring out how to access the digital media stored on my other computers.
11. External mouse
I've never liked trackpads so an external mouse eases that frustration. Nothing complicated. Just got myself a cheap (< $20), wireless optical mouse. This one fits the bill pretty well.