As a recent creative writing student (OU course I’ve just finished) and with the next, advanced course, rapidly approaching, my main use for this laptop should I get to keep it would be to complete my coursework, which mainly consists of short stories and poetry.
So I thought I’d try out the keyboard, not just for these blog posts but for some serious typing – I aimed to type a 1000 word + short story. I wanted to see how it compared to my desktop computer, whether it was comfortable to type on a condensed keyboard and how it would feel with it being flat on my lap.
So type is what I did, it took a while but I got to my target in the end. So how did the U6 fare? Well my story was a bit rubbish but the computer was impressive.
The keyboard is a little small and lacks that professional ‘at desk and ready to work’ feeling that you get from a big desktop PC. Yet I quickly got used to the reduced size and found the flat surface surprisingly pleasing – able to easily run my fingers over keys and get the story completed. I liked the continuity of writing in this way.
The Enter key is also similar to the standard keyboard as opposed to the smaller, backspace style version I’ve seen on some other brands. The backspace is quite small though and barely bigger than the alphanumerical (letter and number) keys which could prove a bit annoying when typing (and correcting mistakes) at speed.
The keys have a very soft sound to them and would be almost unnoticeable in public making this an ideal laptop for business trips or, in my case, getting my coursework done at any opportunity!
The laptop also keeps up very well – I’ve noticed my PC sometimes slows down meaning you look up and have to wait a minute or so to see what you last typed but I guess that’s to be expected with 4GB of memory built in.
Overall this is a very comfortable laptop to work with and having the natural bamboo over grey plastic gives a little inspiration to the writing, a bit like going to the park or forest when you’re stuck for ideas!
Also, while the battery might not last if it’s a very long document, I’ve noticed with this computer it goes into a ‘suspended’ mode which means your session is waiting when you plug in and switch back on so constant saving isn’t absolutely necessary.
Next time: I’m going to try out the facial recognition software I’ve just found!
xxx
