all blogsOutdoor MacBook
A huge reason why I'm choosing to freelance is the freedom it gives me to work when and where I like. When summer comes, the idea of sitting indoors and working drives me crazy.
Last year I really did go crazy. I had to sit in a darkened room (to help keep it cool) with the jet-engine sized noise of a fan whirring in the background keeping my computer chips cool, but doing nothing for my personal overheating problems. I had to escape to the outdoors during breaks to cool down (I found screaming helped too).
This year I have a laptop and today I've taken it outside for the first time.
I was a bit concerned at first because I thought the reflections on the glossy screen were going to make working impossible. Then I realised I had my sunglasses on; as soon as I removed them things became a lot clearer. But then I had another problem: the casing of my MacBook is white which glares in the sun with an intensity unmatched by Medusa. But moving to the shade cleared that problem up too. I'm still not totally happy with all the reflections on the screen, but it is at least workable.
My MacBook also seems to have a phenomenal battery life. I've gone to work a couple of times (when I need to go to an office) and accidentally forgotten my power cord. The battery has averaged a good seven hours which has practically got me through the day. That means I should be able to work outside for a good portion of the day without any power issues.
I'm very happy about this. Mankind was not built to spend the summer indoors.
Comments
inspirationbit says
on 10 May 2008 - 4:51am UTCI agree, it's so hard to be working inside when the sun is shining outside. Spring finally came to Vancouver after many cloudy and rainy weeks, and my move towards going solo came at the right time ;-)
Is it MacBook or MacBookPro you are working on? Where did you manage to get such a battery. My MacBookPro's battery life even when I first bought the notebook was lasting for a maximum of 4 hours, now it's down to two.
How many applications do you usually run at the same time?
Alan says
on 10 May 2008 - 6:20pm UTCIt's a MacBook so I think that helps; about 6 months old. And I've probably been mostly coding in a text editor when I've been on battery; I doubt it will hold out so well when I'm doing graphics work.
But I'm less portable when doing graphics work anyway; too many bits of equipment, references and bits of paper floating around. Plus, the MacBook screen isn't good for that work anyway; especially with those reflections on it. So, for now, the only graphics stuff I'm doing outdoors involves a pencil and a sketchbook.
One thing I've found over the past few days outside is I have to pump up the brightness on the screen to be able to see clearly. This hurts the battery life a fair bit. But it is still very good.
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