User blog comment:Fadingsilverstar16/Gigi's Top 10 Least Favorite Things (About Her Favorite Things)/@comment-1874924-20110215053613

Gigi, it sounds like you have the type of laptop that's actually meant to be a desktop replacement. You can take it around the house or to the office, but the manufacturer probably doesn't expect people to take these models "into the field" much.

I have the middle type, the "thin and light" type that is above a notebook but below a desktop replacement. It works very well for writing on my bus commutes, as it's (barely) small enough to fit into my briefcase along with its A/C adapter, so I don't need a separate bag for it. I can then recharge it at the office and have enough juice for the evening commute.

A warning regarding battery power: the rated battery life is based on some pretty unrealistic assumptions. It's a dirty--and open--industry secret that a single charge probably won't last half as long in normal usage as what the manufacturer claims. The key to getting decent battery life is to keep the computer cool enough that the internal fan doesn't kick in, because the fan will drain the battery fairly quickly. Keeping the fan from firing up can be tricky, though, since today's powerful CPUs put out a lot of heat. (Enough heat, in fact, that the room where I run my desktop computer is usually the warmest room in my house.)