I have a laptop and a kindle and much prefer the kindle for reading. The display is more paper like and can be read in bright day light. Also, battery life is superior. I only need to charge it maybe once a week.
My main problem with the kindle is that it can't read pdfs natively.
Upped because I am facing this exact perdicament. I like the idea of having a "take anywhere" device that actually performs well as a book substitute. But, I am also tempted by the netbooks because they can perform this same function (albeit, poorly) and do so much more for the same price.
I guess it comes down to where your priorities lie.
There's a lot of "personal taste" involved in this domain. Some people can't seem to stomach reading for a long time on anything short of a Kindle, whereas I used to read Project Gutenberg books on my 160x160px monochrome Palm Pilot with reasonable comfort.
I understand the personal taste in general but have always been surprised by programmer's problems with electronic displays. Reading a novel is way easier than reading code. If you can handle reading code, surely you can deal with a novel... but again, personal taste.
Yes I see that - but if people who don't want to read a novel on screen, yet who code at the moment, could use a new display that they would read a novel on happily - would that also bring any improvements to their coding?
Ah, I see, you seriously meant that as a question, not a comment. Sorry.
I think I'd have to defer to a scientific study. I tend to doubt it, though; just as "typing speed" is rarely the coding impediment, I doubt "screen quality" is very much anymore. (Though it sure was in the bad old 640x480 days...)
Clearly you are all missing the insight here: where are our widescreen e-ink displays for writing code? Who needs color? Just give me paper-like readability and bold and italic.
You're so right. I just finally looked at a youtube video of the display tech in the new kindle (the "broadstreet" version of e-ink) and it is indeed far slower than is necessary even for simple text editing.
Comments
Years ago, when laptops where over $1000, an ebook reader for under $299 was a good idea.
Netbooks changed the game...
I have a laptop and a kindle and much prefer the kindle for reading. The display is more paper like and can be read in bright day light. Also, battery life is superior. I only need to charge it maybe once a week.
My main problem with the kindle is that it can't read pdfs natively.
Upped because I am facing this exact perdicament. I like the idea of having a "take anywhere" device that actually performs well as a book substitute. But, I am also tempted by the netbooks because they can perform this same function (albeit, poorly) and do so much more for the same price.
I guess it comes down to where your priorities lie.
Do you regularly read full-length novels on your laptop?
Not infrequently.
There's a lot of "personal taste" involved in this domain. Some people can't seem to stomach reading for a long time on anything short of a Kindle, whereas I used to read Project Gutenberg books on my 160x160px monochrome Palm Pilot with reasonable comfort.
I understand the personal taste in general but have always been surprised by programmer's problems with electronic displays. Reading a novel is way easier than reading code. If you can handle reading code, surely you can deal with a novel... but again, personal taste.
You think widely available eInk displays will bring improvements in code?
That's the exact opposite of what I think. If you can read code on a monitor, surely you can read a novel.
(Personal taste! Personal taste! Don't flame me!)
Yes I see that - but if people who don't want to read a novel on screen, yet who code at the moment, could use a new display that they would read a novel on happily - would that also bring any improvements to their coding?
Ah, I see, you seriously meant that as a question, not a comment. Sorry.
I think I'd have to defer to a scientific study. I tend to doubt it, though; just as "typing speed" is rarely the coding impediment, I doubt "screen quality" is very much anymore. (Though it sure was in the bad old 640x480 days...)
Clearly you are all missing the insight here: where are our widescreen e-ink displays for writing code? Who needs color? Just give me paper-like readability and bold and italic.
where are our e-ink displays for writing code
They take too long to refresh.
You're so right. I just finally looked at a youtube video of the display tech in the new kindle (the "broadstreet" version of e-ink) and it is indeed far slower than is necessary even for simple text editing.