Suppose a new law went into effect limiting each of us to just one tech gadget for all our personal needs. I know, I know. The thought makes me shudder, too. I’ve given this some thought, though, and here’s my assessment and decision.
The Contenders
The tech gadgets in my personal arsenal from which to choose are: a MacBook Pro, a Motorola Droid X, a Dell PC, a Garmin nuvi 260W, a Samsung Blu-ray player, and a 160 GB Apple iPod Classic.
The Factors
Limiting myself to just one tech gadget, I’d want portability, Internet access, and access to my large digital music collection (roughly 2200 songs taking up just over 11 GB right now). I much prefer sending text messages and e-mails over talking on the phone, but the occasional phone call is a necessity. I love watching movies, and I’ve gotten spoiled by Garmin’s global positioning system (GPS) guidance. I’m also a graduate student, so I use my word processing software a great deal.
The Early Cuts
I immediately rule out the PC and the Blu-ray player due to their lack of portability.
Honestly, I’m not even sure why PC’s are made anymore. Laptops and tablets are just as capable, and they can be carried around. I haven’t owned a PC in years. I’d have to steal mine from work if that was my choice of tech gadget, and I don’t think they allow any tech gadgets at all in prison. Besides, my MacBook Pro can do anything that my PC can do. PC is out.
The Blu-ray is great for my love of movies, fed to me primarily through the wondrous service that is Netflix. But I can’t exactly take it with me, and I’m certainly not dragging around my 51-inch high-definition TV everywhere so that I can watch movies on the Blu-ray. Plus I think that would count as two tech gadgets. Blu-ray is out.
The Garmin is great for GPS navigation, but beyond that, it’s pretty useless. Garmin is out.
Having recently purchased my iPod, I have to say that I absolutely love this thing. But I went for capacity–rather than bells and whistles–for the money so beyond playing music and videos, it’s not good for much. The iPod is out.
The Final Two
This brings us to the MacBook Pro vs. the Droid X.
For portability, the Droid X wins. The MacBook Pro is plenty portable, but it certainly doesn’t fit in my pants pocket like the Droid does.
For Internet access, the Droid–thanks to my Verizon Wireless network–can access the Internet virtually anywhere. My MacBook Pro requires a wi-fi hot spot to access the Internet, which isn’t real difficult to find anymore but is still less convenient than the Droid. I could purchase a wireless card for the MacBook to solve that problem, though. I call this one a draw.
For access to my music, the Droid can support a 32 GB microSD card. My 11 GB of music would easily fit on there. My MacBook Pro’s 250 GB hard drive wouldn’t even flinch. Another draw.
E-mails and text messages can be done on both the Droid and the MacBook. The Droid is obviously better for phone calls, but calls can be made on the MacBook Pro through software such as Skype. For the convenience factor, I give the Droid the nod here, but it’s not a completely insurmountable problem for the MacBook.
GPS navigation is easy to do on the Droid. I’ve never tried it, but I suppose it would be possible on a MacBook. I’d just have to figure out how. Droid wins again on convenience.
For movies, I can watch Netflix movies on either device. I can watch DVD’s on the MacBook, though. MacBook gets the nod here.
And finally, for word processing, the MacBook wins this one hands down.
The Final Decision
In this imaginary nightmare world where only one tech gadget is allowed, it’s with a heavy heart that I give up my MacBook Pro and stick with my Motorola Droid X. My university has computer labs all over the place, so the word processing issue could be overcome. Public libraries often have computers for public use, too. For all other factors, the Droid either wins or earns a draw for the features that are most important to me.
How about you? What would you choose?
Sources for Droid X and MacBook Pro specs:
Droid X
My MacBook Pro (a newer version has come out since I bought mine, and you can see those specs here)
