| ogy is a funny thing. It has an innate ability to divide | | | | — refilling my wine glass became an even |
| opinion, and create 'experts' out of nowhere, at the | | | | greater priority. We agreed that we would disagree |
| risk of sounding sexist, particularly amongst men. | | | | and I finished the conversation none the wiser. |
| Last week I casually announced to friends that I was | | | | Later I did some research of my own and it turned |
| thinking of buying a laptop or notebook, but hadn't | | | | out to be one of those strange situations where to a |
| quite figured out the exact difference between the | | | | certain extent, no one was right and no one was |
| two. The response from 'instant experts' was | | | | wrong. |
| overwhelming; suddenly the bottle of Pinot we were | | | | Some companies do, it seems, quite simply call their |
| about to order became low priority. All that was | | | | laptops 'notebooks' — whilst other companies |
| important now, was to compare notebooks with | | | | use the term notebook to refer to a different |
| laptops. | | | | product. Their version is lightweight, offers longer |
| "Don't worry about it,' said one, 'there's absolutely no | | | | battery life, but has no DVD player and there's some |
| difference between them." | | | | techy difference about 'processors'. Confusing, to say |
| "There absolutely is,' replied another, ' there's a huge | | | | the least. |
| difference. Internal memory capacity for a start." | | | | This still left me with no clue which one I actually |
| At this point, my eyes probably began to glaze over. | | | | wanted. A visit to a vast out-of-town computer shop |
| "Possibly size?" Said someone else. | | | | left me none the wiser either. A young man with |
| Ah, this part of the conversation I could follow. From | | | | dubious skin tried, but failed, to explain the |
| what I'd figured out, the main difference between | | | | differences. He eventually confused himself more |
| the two was that notebooks were smaller, more | | | | than me and left to find the manager. After waiting |
| easily portable. My confusion had only been that if I | | | | patiently, I left too. |
| purchased a notebook, would I miss out on using my | | | | These episodes led me to the conclusion that it didn't |
| new toy as a 'proper' computer. | | | | really matter what I called my new computer, as long |
| "No, no, no." Another 'expert' joined the conversation. | | | | as it did all the things that I needed it to. So I |
| "It's only a branding thing — some companies | | | | reverted to the good old-fashioned method of |
| call all their 'laptops' notebooks — that's all it is." | | | | writing a list of my needs. Armed with this list, I hit |
| "It's not,' said someone else, ' a laptop functions as a | | | | the safety of online shops, late at night. It was |
| small PC, a notebook is for, well taking notes and not | | | | glorious; no one to argue with me or cause further |
| much more." | | | | confusion. |
| "Yeah, but the batteries last longer on notebooks." | | | | A few weeks later, as I sat in a café with my |
| Quipped someone else. | | | | shiny new toy, some good friends came to join me. |
| Finally, it got too much and I had to halt the 'experts' | | | | "Nice laptop." Said one. |