From: Jonathan Berry (jberry_at_islandnet.com)
Date: Fri Mar 03 2000 - 19:45:42 EST
To change the space between the seats, you'd also have to
change the overhead configuration of lights, buttons, and
nozzles. Or is that why the lights never shine in the right
place?
I don't travel by air much, but from what I see, the number of
people using computers on the plane is *decreasing*, in part
because [IMO] people realize how little work they really get
done, and the computers are bigger.
A 701 is marginally usable in most economy seats. Better
if you're in an exit row.
When I'm travelling, I am likely to be spending some time
waiting, and I've found that it is difficult to deploy a laptop
near a wall outlet. Usually you have to sit cross-legged on
the floor (Just try that, monkey-suiters!). Among the airports
where this is true are Vancouver (even the new terminal),
Seatac, LAX, SFO, GDL, ...
As many said three years ago, IBM erred when discontinuing the
701 form factor.
It seems to me that the biggest power drains are the display
and the processor (adding RAM doesn't seem to make a difference
in battery life). Using the latest technology, why couldn't
they produce a 486 or Pentium that draws only 2 watts? And how
about hmm... a solar-powered backlight? Then you might have a
computer with a (new) real battery life of 4 hours or more...
Then when the battery is wearing out, you'd still get 2
hours, instead of the 2 hrs/ 1 hr syndrome.
My ideal travelling companion would have the 701 form-factor
and screen, 701 keyboard (made more responsive for a touch
typist), 4+-hour battery, no CD, no fans, quiet HD, ethernet,
56K, .... </dream> But maybe a computer that you wear is a
better idea. Decades ago, I thought that the keyboard could be
a vest, and typing on it would look like scratching your ribs.
Even that would be problematic on a typical airplane seat (too
narrow)!
>> changing the configuation of an airplane
>> seat is no easy matter, nor is it cheap.
>
> 4 men can remove ALL the seats in less than an hour
>from an MD80 or 727.
>
>The seats are on tracks and the configuration of airplane seating is
>infinitely variable. The reason we don't have more room between seats is
>because the airlines can fit more seats in the aricraft by squishing them
>together, not because of some inherent flaw in the aircraft.
>
-- cheers Jonathan
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