The Perfect Blogging Computer: First Draft
May 6, 2008 | By Thord Daniel Hedengren | Filed Under Blogging, Features
In response to my news post on Dell turning 24, Dell employee and Direct2Dell blogger Richard asked me what I thought was the perfect blogging computer. Naturally, when I posed the question to Dell in the first place, it was rhetorical, since I anticipated someone would ask what I thought the perfect setup would be.
So here it is, my first draft for the perfect blogging computer.
I won’t go into hardware specifics here, these things change all the time and who cares what network card I want, other than what it should be able to do. Feel free to add to the draft, I could most certainly forget something, or you could argue any one of my decisions.
Right! So here goes!
Basic Premise
The perfect blogging computer should be built to run open source operating systems, which means Linux. I’d recommend a slimmed version of Ubuntu myself, but that’s a personal preference. Either way, the user needs to be able to install any OS easily enough, be it a version of Windows or a Linux distribution (Mac OS X license won’t allow for it, sadly), so there would have to be drivers and support for this.
In that same spirit, a set of good open source software to accommodate bloggers should be delivered with the system, although not installed per default. This would include software for managing images, office-like applications, and things like that.
There should be a “cloud suite”, meaning an option to install one or more shortcuts to online services such as Gmail, del.icio.us, and other things located in the cloud. Personally, I don’t use desktop apps the way I used to, and many bloggers are doing the same. A well-thought solution for people not wishing to crowd their computer with nasty applications is needed, without forcing anything on anyone. That is the key.
The Hardware
The perfect blogging computer would have to be a laptop, because we’re a mobile bunch. These are necessary features.
- Lightweight, below 2 kg if possible.
- 12″ screen with generous brightness settings. I want a really good screen, but when I’m low on battery I want to be able to set it down a lot, easily. Some people will want a bigger screen, but personally I think 12″ is enough for most things.
- A good keyboard, which is indeed possible with a 12″ screen. It won’t be full size, but it’ll be good enough if the manufacturer doesn’t cut corners. Windows key should be universally labeled, no need to MS-ify a keyboard people.
- We’ll cut down on the graphics card, a low power little thing that handles everything normal, no gaming. It’s a blogging computer, remember. However, not cutting down too much, because we want DVI out (mini-DVI is OK for size issues) and possibly HDMI out so that we can get our stuff on the big screen when needed.
- 3-4 USB 2.0 ports, and 1 FireWire port. Yes, FireWire, lots of digital video cameras use that, and we’re videoblogging, remember?
- Screw the optical drive, who needs ‘em?
- Decent webcam for video.
- Wireless network card supporting the 802.11n standard.
- 3G card built in, or on the network card if possible.
- I think we’ll want an ethernet port as well. Sometimes wires are better, still.
- Bluetooth, of course.
- Clever controls for managing brightness, wireless/bluetooth on/off, sound, power saving mode, things like that.
- Microphone and earphone jack is a must, of course. We travel, and we want to be able to use our blogging computer for music and movies. Decent speakers, but not at the price of bulkiness.
- Long battery life and easily swapping batteries. Separate battery loading bay optional, so that I can load my extra batteries while working.
- Who uses the Kensington lock?
- Multicard reader, supporting the popular formats, like MemoryStick, SD cards, MMC, and so on.
- Touchpad, with dual touch.
- Ideally a big solid state disk, but that’s pretty expensive so I’m guessing we’ll go with a regular one. 7200 rpm, or 5400 rpm at least. No less, seriously.
- Plenty of RAM, starting at 2 GB. We’ll settle for two RAM sockets, but three or four is better of course.
- Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.0 GHz would be cool, but somewhere around 1.6-1.8 GHz would cut it. Then again I’m used to multi processors at twice that, but that’s not even doable today, is it?
The laptop needs to be sleek and tough, I want to be able to cram it into a bag and get out there. If I can personalize it, Sony Vaio Japan style, then that’s even better! This baby needs to look great, design is essential here.
Expensive? I think this would be a pretty expensive road warrior, but nowhere near the crazy MacBook Air range (which fails on several points above). Then again it isn’t as cheap as the charming Asus Eee PC series either (also failing). Closest I’ve seen was a very nifty little Sony Vaio in Japan, but it was pretty steep.
Power it up even more? If I could crank something up on this setup, it would be the graphics card. Being able to play games on a little beauty like this would be sweet. Maybe add an additional DVI out for dual screen setups. Not very likely on a 12″ though, but we’re talking the perfect blogging computer here.
What Do You Think?
This is a start. What do you think? What’s missing? What’s over the top? What would it cost? Is it perhaps even out there, in one form or the other? I’d reckon it is, although probably pretty overpriced and in need of additions to the basic setup. Integrated 3G isn’t that common, and smaller computers rarely have any beef in them.
First draft. What’s good and bad in this? What are your preferences? Speak your opinions in the comments, as usual!
About the author: Thord Daniel Hedengren is a designer, writer, and blogger, and also the editor of The Blog Herald. He used to be a hotshot in the gaming industry in Sweden, but sold everything and went International. He founded the interview blog BloggerTalks, does loads of kickass design.
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That sounds like a pretty awesome computer, unfortunately I’m not sure if there is a computer out there that has all of that at a decent price.
In my opinion the MacBook Air is probably the best blogging computer (for me at least).
Comparing it to the computer you detailed above:
-Open Source isn’t that big a deal to me.
-The extra screen size would be great.
-The MacBook Air has a great keyboard.
-Although it only has one USB port, I’m not sure if I ever use more than one at a time anyway.
-I don’t use a video camera but if I did I would use the flip video camera, which is USB.
-No optical drive.
-Good webcam.
-802.11n
-I don’t want to pay $60 a month for EVDO access.
-cheap ethernet adapter isn’t that big a deal, I have Wifi at my house and everywhere I go.
-Bluetooth
-Great energy saving features.
-No explanation was given as to why you need audio input, but it does have audio out.
-5 hours of battery life means that not having a replaceable battery isn’t that big of a deal.
-no one uses one.
-My camera has a USB port so having an SD card reader built into the notebook is not a big deal.
-multi-touch.
-80GB 4200RPM drive or 64GB solid state drive.
-2GB of RAM
-Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz.
-Super thin, really sleek, and built like a tank.
I think everyone has their own perfect blogging computer. Mine is a 13″ black MacBook. For now, I’m running Leopard only, and keeping it a Windows-free zone. Most of my essential software has Mac versions, though I had to find some alternatives for some software.
Thanks for the post. I think the spec looks good, although I would prefer a bigger screen or perhaps even two.
From a portability viewpoint, I am going a 6 week cycle tour later this year and am planning to buy an Asus eee PC to keep my blog going - obviously in this case size & weight are the priorities but it will be interesting to see how it performs.
Thanks for the post. I think the spec looks good, although I would prefer a bigger screen or perhaps even two.
It should work well enough for traditional blogging and occasional simple photo editing. For shorter trips, I bring my Kohjinsha SH6, which performs well enough once you throw Windows out of there and run Ubuntu (speed!). Longer trips still means the fairly heavy MacBook for me.
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well for me it doesn’t really matter how expensive and how advance is your computer, what is really matter to me you’re good in blogging, you know where and how to promote your blog and of course an internet connection.offshore outsourcing call centers
I am qualified on a perfect blogging computer, but as Erica said it doesnt matter on how advanced your computer/technology is, the more important factor is you have lots of effort to put on your blogs plus being a good writer and that’s what you called Perfect Blogging.
[...] The perfect blogging computer at Blog Herald [...]
The Nokia Tablets can be a blogger’s best friend. I run 5 blogs in Blogger and Wordpress with the Wordpy offline editor, which is pretty powerful.And you can’t beat a NIT where portability is concerned. No laptop fits in your back pocket and allows you to manage your online life from anywhere you can find a Wi-Fi connection.
Of course it is still far from perfect but still a good addition to the mobile blogger’s repertoire.
(Comment written with a NT N800) :)
I agree with your article but You should also Cover the history of computers and how they operate, reviews, opinions and prices for the Internet, home networking, hardware, and software as Apple MacBook
Adrian.