I always question myself what my “ideal” setup would be (in terms of a computer). It has changed a lot over the years as my priorities have changed and my interests evolved. I used to want a multi-monitor desktop with tons of power so I could do whatever I wanted (like gaming).
A few years ago, I made the jump to using Linux, so the gaming ideal started to die (I rarely play games these days, preferring to spend time with Kim or read). With my move to Linux, the choice of OS became a trait in my ideal setup. That has grown more so with my move to Arch and the barebones build up I have grown used to with it. I now have many tools of choice and a window manager of choice (which can change whenever) that I want to be free to choose and customize as my needs require.
Starting when I was visiting Kim at school every few weekends, and much more now with my commute to and from downtown for work, a desktop is no longer satisfactory as I am not right at it most of the time (I was a lot more in college), so portability became part of this. But not just portable (I have a netbook that I used while I was visiting on weekends), I also want it to be able to do things. It doesn’t need to be a powerhouse (I still have my powerful desktop I can connect to for the heavy lifting) but perform admirably (Things like watching movies, listening to music, loading a webpage).
With the requirement of portability comes a trouble, connectivity. A desktop is always in a location that is (preferably) connected all the time. The portable laptop is not always online (no WiFi on train, at restaurant, etc.) so the resources of the internet and the more powerful desktop at home are lost. Connectivity becomes a factor with the need for portability (but connectivity that is affordable for the need).
This brings me to my current setup, which is (for now) around what I consider ideal. With the latest round of Ultraportable laptops, I saw the idea of a portable (for me weight is an issue, I don’t like lugging around a heavy brick of a machine) laptop that could perform as a reality. The OS factor jumps up a lot with laptops though, as Linux compatibility is not complete on most laptops, especially brand new ones (they use new chipsets that haven’t been developed against). So I had to do some research in the plausibility of my distro of choice (Arch) or any other distro working on the desired hardware. In terms of hardware for this class, the MacBook Air (laugh, it is ironic that I use Apple hardware) is the best (everything else is first gen, lacking in various small areas that build up). But it is naturally proprietary everything from the bootloader to OS, so I found some information on getting Arch running on MacBooks and spent a week backing up the OS X partition and getting Arch running (and then fixing the various issues, such as bad support for the i915 chipset, since fixed in the kernel). I spent a few months with that, taking train rides and trying to save reading and documentation on the system so that I could access it while unconnected.
This gave me the portable, powerful, Linux based system I wanted, but I lacked the connectivity. Recently, I setup my phone to tether internet to my laptop (as in 2 days ago) and am now writing this entry from the laptop, while pulling into the station. So, for now, I am where I believe I want to be, but this all may change.