A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch
I often wonder about a lot of things. Lately I’ve been thinking about magnitude. Does size matter? No, I’m not writing a post with innuendos about things that you might find in someones bedroom. I’m not thinking about how big your car might be or even the size of our President’s ego. I’ve been contemplating the size of the various electronic stuff that I use.
It all began when I recently purchased a new tablet. I’ve routinely used a tablet since the Nexus 7. My portable needs were never very high. I use my tablet mostly for reading library books and magazines, listening to podcasts and playing a few games. I never needed high end performance or top of the line components. My biggest requirement was always buying a 7 inch tablet. I liked that size because they easily fit in the side pocket of my cargo shorts. This time, I couldn’t find a decent 7 inch tablet for less than $100. I opted to buy a Chuwi 8 inch. It works fine and I like it a lot, except for the extra inch. It fits in my pocket, but not quite in my hand. The feel just isn’t there. I often feel like it is ready to fall out of my hand. I’ve found that size does matter.
I have the same problem with phones. I’ve had phones smaller than 5½ inches and larger than 6 inches. They just didn’t work for me. I need a machine that easily fits in my shirt pocket but doesn’t overwhelm my hand. Size does matter.
I once owned a 10 inch laptop that I gave away to one of my grandsons. It was a good machine with decent specs, but I couldn’t use it. It was so small that it didn’t fit on my lap. The smaller size meant a smaller keyboard which made it extremely difficult for a touch typist. My new laptop is a 15 inch, the perfect size.
Another item where size matters is desktop monitors. I’ve got five of them on my desktop. I look at the 32 inch monitor all the time. I seldom look at the 16 inch screen. Size does matter.
The minimum RAM requirement for Windows 10 is 2 gb. I don’t think anyone will agree that is the right size. You should run at least 8 gb. Size does matter. (This is probably the one time where it can be said that “bigger is better”.)
I usually have about 10 mouses in my electronics box. Most of them are there partly because they are the wrong size. I like a full size mouse that fits my hand and doesn’t cramp my fingers when I’m computing. That’s why I won’t buy a mouse online. I need to check the fit in the store before I use it.
This article is starting get get a little long. Does size matter?
Thanks for reading.