Laptop and nature

I want to share practical observations of working on a laptop in nature. I will not discover anything new for those who have already traveled to nature with a laptop. They can skip this note. The post is dedicated to those who are just planning to go on nature, and represents how they will sit at the laptop in their free time and do something useful.


Figure 1 - Laptop on the beach and joy

The Internet and the magazine are full of photos of happy people who sit with laptops on the benches in the parks and do something on them. And there is advertising in the spirit of the article " Comfortable work in nature with a laptop for rent ." And everything is so beautiful and tempting.

')
Figure 2 - Happiness from nature and a laptop

Of course, I understand that these are staged photos. However, I so want to believe advertising that the laptop will allow you to immerse yourself in the world of information, wherever you are. Now I, in general, except with a smile, cannot relate to these photos.

Having gathered for a week in a sanatorium to be in silence and sunbathe, I think for a long time whether to take a laptop or not. I decided to take it all the same. I have long been tormented by the desire to work at times somewhere in the resort area, which would dilute the programming and writing of articles, rest, picking mushrooms and fresh air. And although this time I did not plan to create something ambitious in the process of rest, I took the laptop to check its applicability in the field in advance. Namely, I planned to try a little refactoring of PVS-Studio and continue writing one of the articles. Plus, I also wanted to check e-mail and answer when necessary when the Internet was available. In general, quite modest desires. And then I will share my observations on myself.

1. On the laptop screen on the street almost nothing is visible

In a sense, it’s not at all absolutely nothing at all, but doing something on it is impossible. Maximum - run WinAMP and select music.
When the laptop is not connected to the network, the screen backlight does not work to save energy. If indoors it is not so critical, then absolutely nothing is visible on the street. Even if you sit in the shade. Still, street lighting is too hard to work. Straining, you can consider something, but for example, to find the mouse cursor is generally a whole task.

Figure 3 - My laptop in the shade

Figure 4 - And see nothing. I still have a shiny screen.

2. It is scary to leave the laptop in the room / house for a long time, if there is no safe

I personally do not worry about this issue and leave it. But for many it can be a very unpleasant moment, to entrust a laptop with a flimsy door with a flimsy lock, or an alternative to this - to carry extra weight all the time. After all, not all hotels have safes.

3. It turns out you quickly get used to the good Internet

And asceticism in the form of GPRS (Beeline USB modem) turned out to be very inconvenient. No 3G course, and there was no mention. In addition, please note that in the field, the Internet can work very unstable, as it was in my case. And the reception / sending of a letter in 2-3 attempts is annoying and clearly does not contribute to a holiday mood. And in order to be able to read Habr, so incredible fortitude and perseverance are generally needed.

4. Children

Figure 5 - The Destroying Forces of Nature

It’s impossible to take a laptop to the beach. It is not because of the sun. You can hide from it, but you can not hide from children. It will be extremely unpleasant if a small toddler comes up and dumps a scoop of sand onto the keyboard. Apparently this will immediately mean the need for repair. In general, I never ventured to take a laptop to the beach. Then I also made sure that you can not use a laptop, and even where there is no sand, but there are children. Constantly there appears a curious person who starts asking for something - watch a cartoon, play and just ask “what are you doing.” You communicate with the first two or three, and then you go to look for a place more secluded.

5. Overheating

My laptop has a fan at the bottom and if you put it on a towel or bed, then after an hour of relatively active use (watching a movie, a game), it will turn off abnormally.

Total

I do not discourage taking a laptop on vacation. For example, I sometimes enjoyed listening to audio books and successfully communicated with a colleague on some issues, and even programmed a little. However, I have listed the disadvantages, and you decide. Who knows, that is armed. I hope this helps someone to decide.

PS
And here is Intel? :) And even so, with its various Internet devices created on the basis of the Atom processor . For my conclusion is this. There is no need to drag a bulky laptop to nature, since it will not work anyway. And it is quite possible to listen to music / books or check emails from a much more compact device.