What is your physical media for writing?

[jezzaz]

It's a computer, obviously.

But what computer? I mostly write on my retina macbook pro, which is my primary work machine (I run a software consultancy group), but it's big to lug around when I know all I want to do is write. It feels a bit stupid having a quad core I7 to just run word on...

I have a 1st gen Macbook Air that I used to use that I gave to the wife; it's too underpowered to do my primary job on, but it's pretty awesome for just lugging around. I've been eyeing the 11inch mac book airs as possibly a dedicated writing machine.

But I've been giving serious thought to buying one of those logitech keyboards for an Ipad, and writing on that; I'm looking for ease of transportation and I would write on an ipad but the built in keyboard software blows rhino dick. Ipads are really for consumption of media, not the creation of it. The logitech keyboard has a slot so the ipad tilts, like an laptop screen. I'm just worried that the ipad mini version of the keyboard will be too small for my ham like mits.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/ultrathin-keyboard-mini?crid=1240

Anyone done this?

Do you guys have favorite hardware? I know the right keyboards are important to writers...

 

[oggbashan]

I write on a full size keyboard attached to a desktop computer - on a desk.

I bought the desk because it is exactly the right height for me to type comfortably.

 

[Saxon_Hart]

99% of my writing is done on my desk top PC with my Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. If I am going anywhere that will involve a long boring wait, I'll take my laptop. I love the way Word 2010 coupled with my 21 inch monitor gives me two pages at a time in the viewing window.
I've always wondered about other authors' redundancy. I know I save my work on my main hard drive, but I also save on an auxiliary hard drive as well as a thumb drive.

 

[Alex De Kok]

Most of my writing is done on a refurbished Medion (European brand, sold in Aldi stores) desktop PC, using LibreOffice running in Linux Mint. Saving is to a D-Link NAS RAID setup which is networked, so I can pick up where I left off using my Samsung laptop, also runing Mint/LibreOffice, or to another networked drive which has a USB drive attached so I can save in duplicate. I don't save work directly to either desktop or laptop. Yes, I have lost work in the past!

Neither desktop nor laptop is leading edge technology, but it's not needed for writing where the slowest element is the nut in front of the keyboard. And talking about keyboards, I'll use almost any, just as long as it has a halfway decent feel to it.

Alex

 

[StrangeLife]

MacBook Pro, mid 2010 model. Sometimes in a dock, in which case I type on a Logitech DiNovo MAC-type keyboard. Not that it's important though - some of the greatest literary works in human history were created using nothing but a pen and a stack of paper.

That being said, its the best laptop I've ever had and I've been around the block a few times. So my next one will most likely also be from the fruit-guys.

 

[Handley_Page]

Normal PC, with a laptop for travel, both running Word.
Backup to either a stick or a DVD.

 

[oggbashan]

...

I've always wondered about other authors' redundancy. I know I save my work on my main hard drive, but I also save on an auxiliary hard drive as well as a thumb drive.

I save to my hard drive; to my laptop's hard drive transferred by thumb drive, on that thumb drive; and to CD weekly.

 

[PennLady]

I write on whatever computer I have, which is currently a MacAir; prior to that it was a Compaq PC laptop. For the PC, I generally used a full-size keyboard that I attached, but I would occasionally detach and just type on the PC's keyboard. Right now with the MacAir I just type on it.

Occasionally if I have an idea and no access to the computer, I will note it down on paper or my iPad mini.

 

[RoyceConnors]

I use a Samsung laptop and back everything up on an HP 2TB ext. hard drive. I also use my laptop to play movies on the wide screen, because that's Samsung as well. Wireless connections to everything of course and the HD stores 1000's of movies.

 

[DonGraham333]

I use real writing!

Do you guys have favorite hardware? I know the right keyboards are important to writers...[/QUOTE]

It's a computer, obviously.

But what computer? I mostly write on my retina macbook pro, which is my primary work machine (I run a software consultancy group), but it's big to lug around when I know all I want to do is write. It feels a bit stupid having a quad core I7 to just run word on...

I have a 1st gen Macbook Air that I used to use that I gave to the wife; it's too underpowered to do my primary job on, but it's pretty awesome for just lugging around. I've been eyeing the 11inch mac book airs as possibly a dedicated writing machine.

But I've been giving serious thought to buying one of those logitech keyboards for an Ipad, and writing on that; I'm looking for ease of transportation and I would write on an ipad but the built in keyboard software blows rhino dick. Ipads are really for consumption of media, not the creation of it. The logitech keyboard has a slot so the ipad tilts, like an laptop screen. I'm just worried that the ipad mini version of the keyboard will be too small for my ham like mits.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/ultrathin-keyboard-mini?crid=1240


I use longhand with pen and paper first, Then download onto what ever computer i have to hand.
I have a Mac Mini feeding a 24inh screen with a metal keyboard.
Or, I have a fast PC with an ergonomically shaped keyboard (which I don't like)
Or if I am away on holiday on a ship for instance I use a small laptop, my favorite being a Lenovo S2905 it's great.
finally, I have to add that In the last month I have loaded and am using Dragon. A dictation software that I am very impressed with. Even with going back over the piece and correcting errors it is faster than my typing by 200%. I recormentd it's use to anyone as long as you do not speak too quickly.
Don Graham
PS. I use Dropbox to write all my work on, I can pick it up any anywhere and on any machine I am working on.

 

[desertslave]

I have a venerable 6-year-old Toshiba Tecra A8. We gave my daughter one for her high school graduation, and I got to play with it a little bit. Himself decided I should have one, too, which solved our taking-turns problem for the desktop.

I used to be impatient and cutting edge whenever feasible, but I love this thing, and have it all tweaked the way I like. I'm on Win XP and don't especially want to change. I DID upgrade the drive from 120 to 500 GB, and I'm planning to bump up the RAM. Then, like my cars, I'll drive it til it falls apart.

 

[49greg]

I have a 3 or 4 year old HP laptop. Not sure if it has a 'name' the numbers on top are G62- and a bunch of numbers - Notebook. I save my stories with a password and back them up on a thumb/usb/flash drive.

The keyboard is fine, except the 'd' key doesn't work sometimes. We have two cats and a dog and I hate to think what is under all the keys.

I've dropped it on one corner where the plastic case broke and I taped the corner back on. The power plug is a little bent where I dropped it there. I had to put in a new hard drive when the first died after a year. Then download a new bios to keep the fan from running to hard and fast.

My wife just got a Macbook Air. Yum, light as a feather and no spinning drive. The battery works for 12 hours. She says the keyboard is fine, but just looks at the tape holding mine together and tells me not to touch it LOL.

 

[MSTarot]

paper and pencil.

I don't have a lot of time to write so I keep a few dozen Composition style notebooks around the house with a mechanical pencil nearby. I just jot down a few scenes as I can. While waiting for this or that. Then when I have the time I transfer that to my computer which is a Frankenstein put together from the pieces of twenty old dead ones.

I am not kidding about that either.

 

[alwayswantedto]

<deleted>

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I use a ibm/lenovo z61t and save them to a thumb drive.

 

[Bramblethorn]

It's a computer, obviously.

But what computer? I mostly write on my retina macbook pro, which is my primary work machine (I run a software consultancy group), but it's big to lug around when I know all I want to do is write. It feels a bit stupid having a quad core I7 to just run word on...

I'm Mac/PC agnostic; for a long time I had a desktop PC, then I had to move around a bit and picked up a Macbook Pro. Partly because it reduced the temptation to waste time playing games, at least until somebody bought me a copy of WoW... After five years it was really starting to struggle, so I updated to a Macbook Air late last year. It does what I need and it's very portable.

But I've been giving serious thought to buying one of those logitech keyboards for an Ipad, and writing on that; I'm looking for ease of transportation and I would write on an ipad but the built in keyboard software blows rhino dick. Ipads are really for consumption of media, not the creation of it. The logitech keyboard has a slot so the ipad tilts, like an laptop screen. I'm just worried that the ipad mini version of the keyboard will be too small for my ham like mits.

If you want real portable, you could look at a laser keyboard: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/e722/ It wouldn't work for me personally - I touch-type so I need tactile keys, and the detection rate is a bit too low for my liking - but might work for others.

 

[TE999]

I have a hodge-podge of 'puters, keyboards and mice (meeses?) with which I write my stories. Right now I'm using a three y/o HP TouchSmart 310 All-In-One PC, with a Microshaft ergonomic keyboard and a Logitech laser mouse. I also use a Toshiba Satellite laptop with a Logitech laser mouse when I travel. I back up all my work and other information on flash drives and on the Cloud.

 

[SamScribble]

A Toshiba Satellite laptop - I think this is the seventh Toshiba in about 19 years - and when I'm working at my desk, I tap away on a Logitech cordless keyboard and admire the results on a 26-inch Samsung monitor.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Desktop - high powered, fast, 1.6 terrabytes of storage. Oh, it has a keyboard and a mouse. Oh and a monitor - 23" flatscreen I believe.

Laptop - high powered, fast, .3 terrabytes of storage. It too has a keyboard and mousepad thingy and the 17" screen. The only trouble with the laptop is I have to flip the screen up in order to use the thing.

Then there is my writing tablet. Approx. 8"x10" and it has many, many pages. I use a pen to write in it.

Oh yeah, my dick's bigger than your dick.

 

[johneb87]

Primarily on my desktop PC. I recently acquired a laptop for on the go. I don't dare try paper and pencil as I cannot read my own handwriting.

 

[Handley_Page]

Primarily on my desktop PC. I recently acquired a laptop for on the go. I don't dare try paper and pencil as I cannot read my own handwriting.

Same here.

 

[patientlee]

Graph paper and mechanical pencil. Then I type on my laptop. HP Pavilion 6.

 

[melly001_uk]

Pen

xx

 

[BuckyDuckman]

I'm using a Toshiba laptop with a chicklet style keyboard. Before this one, I had a Sony Vaio with a chicklet style keyboard. It's taken me a while getting used to this style of keyboard. Shape of the keys I guess matters. When I type on my desktop with a more traditional keyboard, it feels better.

As for spacing of the keys, I have an Asus Transformer Prime tablet with a keyboard attachment. Those keys are a bit cramped, but my big hands adapt without much issue.

Hope that helps!

 

[desertslave]

A little update on my setup. I'm dismayed by the fiasco that's Office 365 and I'm still using XP, so I've gradually been shifting over to Open Office. I like it reasonably well so far. I'm having a few issues with the database part, but that's mostly because I've been porting a database since before Access (it was born in SuperBase). If worse comes to worse I only have to recreate two tables and a handful of associations.