In my household there are three MS Windows 7 desktop PCs, one MS Windows XP laptop, one Debian Squeeze laptop, one MS Windows 8 pen tablet, one MS Windows 8 slate, one Android smartphone, two iPhones and two iPads. Work provides another MS Windows XP (soon to be MS Windows 7) laptop. Strictly for media access, I have an AppleTV and a TiVo Premiere. Finally cancelled the DirecTv service this week. I am also in the process of rebuilding a FreeNAS box for media storage. Nowhere near the ridiculousness of some households, but enough to be annoying at times. One of the iPhones and most likely the pen table are on the way out.
All of this begs the question – what is this crap used for?
The real answer is that there are a lot of unused cycles on this equipment. Two of the desktop PCs, the AppleTV and the TiVo are strictly for media playback (Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, iTunes) and this averages less than four hours per day. I have been looking in to open source media players but have yet to use one.
I like using my Debian laptop but the battery doesn’t last very long. The iPad has the battery life but not the functionality of the laptop or the slate. I read and send the majority of my personal email on the Android phone. I maintain four non-work email addresses and do not use a mail client other than mobile. The slate device is very functional, but if you go the MS route, there is licensing to consider. I mostly use open source products to meet my personal needs.
What is your primary device? Discuss.
– habanero_joe