It started out as just a nostalgic memory.  I always wanted to play with one of those fancy Sony Clies that was in a clamshell form factor, which you could open up like a laptop.  They were last made in 2003, and so it's been more than 10 years since those were around.  I started browsing ebay, and found a refurbished one, which I quickly bought for around $90.  At the time, it seemed like a good deal, as back in high school, they costed between $300 to $600, and were the envy of everyone.  Also, $300 was a lot of money to a high schooler.  In comparison, $90 now seems like a steal.  So, I bought it and excitedly waited for it to come in the mail.  About a week later, it arrived, and I was shocked at how much progress there's been in the last 13 years.  The Clie looked notably dated, my memory of it being the ideal portable device.  The QVGA screen looked extremely pixellated.  It had 8MB of onboard memory.  The built-in camera had VGA resolution.  It wasn't really all that thin.  Comparing it side by side with my 2013 Moto X, the Clie was soundly defeated in almost every respect.  Its only redeeming qualities were the things it had, which provided a glimpse of expectations of the tech world 10 years ago - namely the large number of tactile inputs.  It had a surprisingly nice tactile keyboard, dedicated shortcut buttons for contacts, todo list, notes, a back button, a hold switch, a camera capture button, an on/off button, and a jog-wheel (this last one sure has become rare in the modern world).  Despite the glaring shortcomings when it came to performance (a Moto 360 has better performance, as an example, for some perspective), it was a fun experience going back in time.

 

Then, I started looking at laptops on ebay.  This was not actually something new.  My first laptop I ever owned was purchased from ebay, and with the exception of two machines (a Sony Vaio S and a Thinkpad Tablet 2), the rest of my laptops were all purchased used or refurbished from ebay.  I actually used to periodically browse ebay for sleek and coveted machines that had been forgotten with time.  Perhaps some would call me a laptop collector.  It makes me happy.  Leave me alone.

Due to this habit, I've collected a number of laptops throughout the years, with a specific history of collecting different models of Toshiba Porteges, Dell Latitudes, and Lenovo Thinkpads.  Well, it's been a while since I last did that, so I decided to look around on ebay, to see what was around.  That led me to buy a Portege R830, adding to my collection of R600, R500, R200, 3490ct, 3480ct, and 3110ct.  I always liked to compare different models and to see what's changed between them.  At the same time, I also like to see what stayed the same.  The R830 did not really have many differences from the R600.  Perhaps most disappointing was the fact that the screen was still terrible, as was the case of all the Porteges.  It was acceptable in the days of the 3110ct, back in 1998, when just having a color screen on a thin laptop was awesome, but in 2012 or whenever the R830 was introduced, a screen that was still comparable in quality to the 3110ct was unacceptable.  However, the rest of the machine was still nicely made - not necessarily as tough as a Thinkpad, but with its own distinctive charm.  

Slowly, I'm getting closer to the main point of this post.  Having bought the R830, I was a little disappointed with it.  It was ok as part of my collection, but it didn't have any compelling strengths over the laptop/tablet I was using at the time (Thinkpad Tablet 2).  However, it did cause me to start looking around to see whether Toshiba had a product similar to the Thinkpad Tablet 2, themselves.  The Thinkpad Tablet 2 was pretty awesome in terms of being a portable tablet with a long battery life.  It also had a digitizer, which meant that I could use a Wacom pen to take notes using it, making it very useful.  However, it had three shortcomings, keeping me from being absolutely satisfied with it.  It had a low screen resolution (720p), a weak processor (an Intel Atom CPU), and a clunky keyboard interface, where I basically never used the keyboard.  Thus, I wanted to see if Toshiba might've come up with a better solution to all these problems.

I was not disappointed.  My research started off with the z10t which came out a year or two ago.  It was nice, but similarly flawed like the Thinkpad Tablet 2.  Then, I found the z20t, which seemed to be eerily similar to my imaginary ideal machine.  It had two parts, a tablet and a keyboard, that could be connected securely, so that it looked, felt, and functioned like a laptop.  The screen resolution was full HD (1080p), and the processor was a low-voltage i5.  In addition, it had all the features that the Thinkpad Tablet 2 had, and a better battery life on top of that.  Having found one on ebay, refurbished, for $540, I quickly pulled the trigger.  It turned it to be the right move, as I have not seen any z20t going for that low since.  Also, when the machine came in, it was almost exactly as I hoped it would be.  The only issue so far is that the connection between the keyboard and the tablet is loose, causing the screen to be wobbly when the tablet is docked.  Also, opening and closing the lid feels dangerous, as a lot of stress is placed on two one-inch tabs.

And so, because of this purchase, I was able to edit my 4 year old notes with modern resources in comfort and ease.  In addition, I plan to use this machine as my main personal laptop going forward.  From my current experience, it may be the one I use for a long, long time.  My quest for searching for the perfect laptop may finally be concluding.  Check out the Notes section to see my Grad School Notes.  These are the first, and thus far, only notes I took digitally in OneNote, as compared to all my notes from before (using a real notebook for my School Notes and College Notes, and just typing them out for my FTTA Notes).  I've been very satisfied, the last few weeks.

And then, because I got $23 in ebay bucks to burn from my purchases, I bought a Moto 360 (1st gen) smartwatch.  As people have said, it is nicely built, but has a few flaws: it's a little too big, has a flat tire on the bottom, and the band connections are strange.  However, it has proven useful in letting me quickly mute calls, respond to texts, and set reminders.