Althouse: iMac on a train.

July 8, 2017

iMac on a train.

A lady has brought her iMac onto the train! Has she not heard of a laptop?? wtf!!! pic.twitter.com/zC3wNw7Yhv
— David Hill (@davidhill_co) July 4, 2017

58 comments:

Sydney said...: Maybe she needs the big screen to be able to see adequately. Some people have vision problems that require big screens. Looks like a long distance train, not a commuter train- seats are too nice. If you have work that has to be done, and need a big screen, that's what I would do, too.; 7/8/17, 7:39 AM
Clyde said...: I believe that the technical term for that is "techspreading."; 7/8/17, 7:40 AM
Owen said...: I remember people bringing first-gen Macs in padded travel cases. With floppy drives.; 7/8/17, 7:41 AM
Gahrie said...: A laptop? Hasn't heard of a tablet?

A tablet? haven't you heard of a smartphone?; 7/8/17, 7:42 AM
MadisonMan said...: Two things:

Who cares? Why does David Hill care enough to tweet about this? What a shallow life!

I think David Hill is jealous at the screensize. Enjoy tweeting on your tiny screen phone, you dim bulb.; 7/8/17, 7:42 AM
MadisonMan said...: Really, when did MYOB fall out of favor?

Jeeze!; 7/8/17, 7:43 AM
Etienne said...: A failed attempt at public shame. David Hill needs to repent, and give me 50 push-ups.; 7/8/17, 7:46 AM
David Baker said...: Actually, she appears to be gazing out the window.; 7/8/17, 7:49 AM
David Baker said...: Wait a minute, she's talking on her cellphone!; 7/8/17, 7:52 AM
Ralph L said...: That's no lady on a train.; 7/8/17, 8:05 AM
Paco Wové said...: The urge to call others stupid is perhaps the most powerful thing in the universe.; 7/8/17, 8:07 AM
Etienne said...: The scene outside the window has all the wonder of the Packard Plant in Detroit...; 7/8/17, 8:12 AM
clint said...: Very impressive.

Clyde @7:40 AM is winning the thread.

That lady is winning at life.

David Hill doesn't appear to be winning at anything.; 7/8/17, 8:18 AM
Original Mike said...: Maybe she has real work to do, David Hill.; 7/8/17, 8:18 AM
Original Mike said...: Hell, maybe she can't afford two computers.; 7/8/17, 8:19 AM
tds said...: Given the weight of a 21,5“ iMac I bet she's actually a trannie; 7/8/17, 8:26 AM
rhhardin said...: I don't suppose paper and pen is big anymore.; 7/8/17, 8:43 AM
gspencer said...: "A lady has brought her iMac onto the train! Has she not heard of a laptop???"

What she's heard is what she's experienced with Amtrak.

The trips take so long ya might as well set up an office.; 7/8/17, 8:48 AM
Michael K said...: Who cares ? It's a single seat. Nobody is inconvenienced. That thing has to be heavy.; 7/8/17, 8:49 AM
Sam's Hideout said...: A current generation 21.5" iMac weighs 12.5 lbs. Probably another 1-2 lbs for keyboard, mouse, and other necessary accessories. I've carried laptops nearly that heavy in the distant past. A current Alienware 17" laptop weighs just under 10 lbs.; 7/8/17, 8:58 AM
Fernandinande said...: David Baker said...
Wait a minute, she's talking on her cellphone!

And! Her cellphone is slightly larger than it should be.; 7/8/17, 9:12 AM
D 2 said...: "...we debate everything, we challenge everything..."

Truer words never spoken.

Let tens of thousands of Ann Landers blossom on the internet about this and that.; 7/8/17, 9:12 AM
Ralph L said...: I thought that was Althouse in the pic at first.
The trips take so long ya might as well set up an office.
Five years ago, twice it took 9 hours to travel what I've done in < 4.5 by car. But I did get to see parts of NC and VA that I don't need to see again. No wide single seats, either.; 7/8/17, 9:13 AM
Ralph L said...: Looks like she's wearing a beach towel.; 7/8/17, 9:14 AM
traditionalguy said...: How about: Just another poor female so addicted to social Media, she uses,a screen to block out human contact. And one wonders what size her companion replacement dildo comes in.

Men have been replaced by this attractive woman, as David Hill petulantly notices.; 7/8/17, 9:25 AM
tcrosse said...: It's a train, for heavens sake. She might as well have brought a typewriter.; 7/8/17, 9:33 AM
William said...: I'm in no way discomfited that she chose to travel with such a computer, nor am I in any way discomfited that David Hill looked upon that choice as unusual and noteworthy. I only pray that someday the commenters here reach my level of tolerance for the quirky ways of humanity.; 7/8/17, 9:43 AM
madAsHell said...: Looks like a long distance train, not a commuter train- seats are too nice.

It's business class in an inter-city Talgo car. They split the sitting 2 seats/aisle/1 seat.

She's also on the phone.....another pet peeve.; 7/8/17, 9:50 AM
Crimso said...: The train? Has David Hill not heard of automobiles?; 7/8/17, 10:10 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "I remember people bringing first-gen Macs in padded travel cases."

I had one of those. I remember the brochure that came with the Mac showing a picture of a guy with the case in the basket of his bike. I remember the bike was posed in some ivy-covered-halls college setting. It made the thing look so casually portable, but it would have been nuts to put that kind of weight in the bike basket.

I rarely used the case, but it would be okay for car travel. Wouldn't lug it onto a train. You might be able to walk with it if you had a little wheelie device (which I had, back in the days before luggage came with wheels).; 7/8/17, 10:29 AM
MayBee said...: Clyde said...
I believe that the technical term for that is "techspreading."

Hahahhahaha!; 7/8/17, 10:44 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: I've got something even smaller than an iMac/PC that I love. It was only about 2002 or so when I realized that you could go traveling with with no more than 3 devices each not much bigger (and thinner) than a paperback novel (8"x4" or so) with which to compute: a screen, hard drive/(palm devices were what we called them then) and a fold-up keyboard. Or even two devices when a screen and drive were integrated, as they usually are now.

That seems to be the standard to which we've evolved. Although I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to do anything that involves unfolding a keyboard on a train or plane. Just enjoy the fucking ride. Text, watch a movie, whatever. But anything more involved than that just sounds too work-addicted to understand. Seriously, how much work did you not get done AT work to have to type at length while in motion in a confined space?

Americans don't know how to enjoy the nicer things in life.; 7/8/17, 10:55 AM
Ralph L said...: I seem to remember 80's personal computers couldn't be used in motion. I had one that you had to park the disk drive to move it.; 7/8/17, 11:21 AM
Known Unknown said...: This woman is my hero.; 7/8/17, 11:45 AM
J Severs said...: What is holding up the monitor?; 7/8/17, 11:47 AM
Mary Beth said...: What she's heard is what she's experienced with Amtrak.

She's in the UK.

A monitor with the computer built in isn't that much more difficult to tote around than a laptop, although it might be a little odd to do so. Still, I don't know if I would take the advice of a tech advisor who can't imagine why someone would prefer doing this to having a laptop. This might not be a regular habit of hers. If she works from one location 99% of the time, doing this the other 1% of the time makes more sense than getting a laptop.; 7/8/17, 11:53 AM
Ralph L said...: Mary Beth, I don't like my laptop keyboard. I never get to home row the first time because it's off center.

Her biggest problem is the lack of convenient protection for the screen.; 7/8/17, 12:08 PM
J. Farmer said...: This pic was making the internet rounds over eight years ago. And that's the much thicker, heavier model.; 7/8/17, 12:28 PM
Robert said...: That's not a train.

It is a rapid deployment mobile cubicle farm. With a nice view.; 7/8/17, 12:46 PM
Mary Beth said...: Her biggest problem is the lack of convenient protection for the screen.

Her biggest problem is other people who don't mind their own business. We can't see what's in the overhead, so we don't know what she's got to carry it in.; 7/8/17, 12:55 PM
Ralph L said...: Oh, that explains the big towel. Now let's analyze this woman's hairdo.; 7/8/17, 1:33 PM
loudogblog said...: Why are so many people so judgmental? I thought that we were trying to be a "tolerant" society. I do all kinds of silly, quirky things all the time. I also prefer desktops to laptops.; 7/8/17, 1:38 PM
Ralph L said...: Loudogblog, you seem to have forgotten what the internet is for: being judgmental, viewing porn, and cat-blogging.; 7/8/17, 2:23 PM
DAN said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/8/17, 2:23 PM
David Baker said...: Given all the evidence, I think we may conclude that the woman is a bitch.; 7/8/17, 2:30 PM
David Baker said...: ...who weighs in around 300 pounds.; 7/8/17, 2:31 PM
Arun Dominic said...: She makes the train her office, One day I heard in news that some person in Russia lives in a train to save house rent (Which was higher than train coast) that person told that its fun to get a travelling house. That's more weird than this pic you shared

~Arun; 7/8/17, 3:39 PM
The Godfather said...: It's her being on the phone that bothers me. At various times in my life I've traveled by train, and once the cellphone was invented a principal annoyance became the people yakking loudly on their phones. Usually these were pointless and unnecessary calls, generally for the purpose of proving to the world that "I'm such a big wheel I have to be in constant contact with my office, or my clients, etc." (in the early days it was "I'm such a big wheel I have a cellphone"). Occasionally you'd hear what really ought to have been regarded as private conversations. A really devious lawyer could assign a young associate to ride the same train car as opposing counsel and find out what he/she could overhear. Say, why didn't I think of that back then?; 7/8/17, 4:43 PM
eddie willers said...: In the early 80s I was on a flight sitting next to a guy who showed me his Osborne.

I was gobsmacked.; 7/8/17, 4:47 PM
Expat(ish) said...: @eddit - In the early/mid 90's (IIRC) I had a SPARC portable, which was better than the original Mac portable I had.

But not good.

-XC; 7/8/17, 5:26 PM
David Baker said...: ...And her name is Kate Winslet, the largest actress to ever play a starring role. So large she pre-sunk the venerable Titanic.; 7/8/17, 7:25 PM
gadfly said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/8/17, 9:43 PM
gadfly said...: Ralph L said...
That's no lady on a train.; 7/8/17, 10:00 PM
gadfly said...: Etienne said...
The scene outside the window has all the wonder of the Packard Plant in Detroit... but the revitalization has begun!

FIFY; 7/8/17, 10:12 PM
Ralph L said...: Gadfly, I was too lazy before; 7/8/17, 10:51 PM
Ralph L said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/8/17, 10:53 PM
Ralph L said...: I will remember to embolden the link next time.

Thanks for the idea.; 7/8/17, 11:30 PM
Darrell said...: What? Are they free now?
If not, shut up or give her one.; 7/9/17, 3:46 AM