What are kids usin' these days for class laptops?

[CaptainHenreh]

Coolio. I've yet to see a hacked Nook Color in the flesh... just heard 5443645 great things on the net. I need to see it if I ever see you again

I don't want to pretend this thing is the second coming of Vishnu or anything, but for 250 bucks it's pretty sweet.

Here's Rex's Handy Guide to knowing if a haxxord Nook Color is Right for You:

"I love the taste of Steve Job's iPeen and I have a zillion songs in iTunes and have an ipod and ipod touch and an iphone and a Mac." (AKA: Jake)
This is probably not for you.

"I need the newest and shiniest and fastest thing out there." (AKA: Lee)
Probably not for you either.

"I like to tinker, but I'm not hardcore enough to risk throwing away 250 bucks on bricking a device. I also think Objective C is fucking retarded." (AKA: College CS/IS Student)
NC is perfect.

"I am a cheap fuckin' bastard who needs something to read PDF's in the garage and recipes in the kitchen, that I can still surf porn with." (AKA, Rex, RJ)
NC is perfect.

I see myself slowly becoming an apple person. basically because i have an iphone thats been way more reliable then any of the blackberry phones i've owned... AND my microsoft xbox and PC took a shit at the same time.

Well have fun playing call of duty on your mac...OH WAIT. I mean, Imma be honest. I'm not an apple guy. I never have been. Apple has always been very good at SELLING things. And yes, their design (both physical and UI) team deserves accolades. But I've always felt that there were always better alternatives out there, and apple's "closed source attitude" will always put them in the trash bin as far as I'm concerned. The only apple product *I* own was free and I hacked the shit out of it the day I got it to make it MORE useful (stopwatch with laptimer and downloadable stats? Cool.) and less gay (I can load any music I want any way I want without itunes? Sweet.).

And it's not really fair to be all "My JesusPhone is rock solid but my 5 year old XBox took a shit at the same time as my shitty dell laptop." My motorola Q9c was a rock solid phone the entire time I owned it, and I only got rid of it because I wanted access to a faster network...but do a google search on that shit and you'll see that I clearly must be a liar, because the Moto Q was the worst phone ever made.

Hate on the XBox dev team for not addressing their shitty hardware issues all you want, but if you'd had a playstation your personal information would be in the hands of Rajumhargilar Tandjeek right now. So everybody's got their problems.

Rex, how are the numbers you are pulling with your nook hack compare to claimed performance on ipads?

I have no idea. I can tell you it's probably on par with a Galaxy S, and that if you go to the timing and scoring building at hyperfest you can see an original iPad and Nook Color back to back. It's hard to compare it to an iPad, honestly. An iPad is 400 bucks. A nook color is half that, if you shop around. (B&N was selling them on ebay for 199 for a while) So do you get double the performance out of an ipad? Absolutely not. Is it worth the extra money? I dunno man. I don't think so, but that's just, like, my opinion. But like I said, apples and oranges. For example, Part of the big appeal of the NC to me was the 7" screen. I feel like if I'm going to have a 10" screen, I might as well have a goddamn laptop/netbook then a tablet. I think "hardback novel" footprint is a sweet spot for what I need this device to accomplish (i.e. Surf MM while I'm on the shitter.). When I see the commercials where they are all "ZOMG PLUG IT IN TO A KEYBOARD AND YOU HAVE A LAPTOP" then that just means "Rex should probably just buy a laptop, they're cheaper." So a 7" screen (i.e. a SMALLER screen than an iPad) was actually a pro for me. It's easier to work with, like "holding it in one hand like a book" where i find the iPad to be a little unwieldy when using it like that. Your mileage may vary.

So....yeah.