One Step Back

I've done myself a rotten thing this morning, and after all the handling by the kids, and all it's previous adventures, in a lot of wys, it isn't  surprise that it was me what done it.

I dropped my tablet.  It was sitting on a WIP bin, sturdy as they are for such things (see Ikea Bosnas) and I just caught the side of it while I was turning after setting my coffee cup down. and splat, flat on the floor.  I damaged not only the glass, but the digitizer too, so it is pooched.  

I have often thought of this day, knowing life for what it is.  All good things come to an end, and knowing that I wouldn't be prepared to spend that much money again for a tablet, and I have often thought about what I would replace it with.  Part of me says an inexpensive little tablet, but for one thing.  I loathe on screen keyboards.  Completely.  Utterly.  They are despicable things that only irritate.  

A keyboard was one of the reasons that I bought the Surface tablet in the first place.  That and its ability to attach USB peripherals to it.  It made it computer like for when I can't get to my computer. In a lot of ways, the Surface was more than I needed, but when the keyboard died and wasn't available for sale anywhere, my love of the Surface dropped sharply off. After all this time, the things I want from a alternate computing device are exactly the same as they were when I got the Surface.

In a lot of ways, I miss my old laptop.  It still works and there are still things I use it for, but because we could never override it's failed hardwired modem, it has no connection to the outside world anymore.  I loved my lappy.  The Surface did and did not replace it.

I still want a keyboard.  I still want, even more, so need to be able to connect to USB devices.  I still want reasonable portability and not too much weight.  I'd like it to be just the smallest bit sturdier than the constant worry about breaking it.  What I really need is something built like a kids Leapfrog tablet or  with an Otter box  but not an Apple thing because there are some things in life no one really needs.  In mine it would be anything from Apple.  Because of these various things I am probably going to go back to a small laptop. 

In some ways, it may seem like a step back, but for the way I work and the way I use things, it's not  bad step back.  Still...