Having a netbook has made me a lot more productive. Not having to lug about a 5 lb. laptop everywhere, with it’s limited battery life, has been a huge improvement. Considering my bag looks like I’m preparing for the Apocalypse, having a 5 lb. brick in it wasn’t doing my back any good.

I also spend time on the weekends with a couple of friends of mine in a cafe, and we all write in between chatting. With the big laptop, I felt a little bit like I was participating from behind a Dungeon Master’s screen.

So, smaller, lighter and better battery life equals more writing. Which is awesome. Now, I was still using my heavy laptop, with the netbook as a peripheral, partly because of the bigger screen, and partly because of the CD/DVD drive.

However, when the motherboard on my laptop died, I wasn’t exactly thrilled, but I wasn’t freaked out either (I had a backup of everything except my damned iTunes… but that will just be extra work, not expense because I own CDs of just about everything in my iTunes). I didn’t have to panic. I didn’t have to delay writing. I didn’t have to worry about appropriating my SO’s computer for my own nefarious ends 😉 In fact, I wondered if maybe I didn’t need to replace my laptop at all. But then, I discovered two very important things.

First, I had to work on a power point presentation for work. Using power point on a netbook is like Gulliver using a Lilliputian computer. I thought I only reserved cursing like that for driving. Incredibly frustrating. Spreadsheets kinda suck on the netbook, too.

Secondly, I discovered I HATE updating my site on the netbook. There’s just not enough screen. So, I went out this weekend to replace the laptop. Got one that seems okay, and was reasonably priced, but I couldn’t buy a three year warranty for it, only a two year warranty. Guess that means I should just start saving now for a replacement in two years, eh?

Regardless, I’ve managed to churn out about 100K words so far this year, as well as edit two manuscripts for submission, and I attribute that entirely to my netbook with its increased portability. If only I could as easily justify purchasing a smart phone…