Discussions

The title of this post was supposed to be "Must-have Netbook accessories".  After all, every computer needs accessories.  The extra stuff that you really need to make sure you can always do everything you want to. The cases, the cables, the dongles, the wangles, the fimbles, the doohickies, the what-nots.  Every netbook needs them, right?

Wrong. The beauty of a netbook, or even a super-light notebook, is the utter lack of stuff.  The streamlining.  The lightweight, ultraportable look.  I mean, if you buy a netbook in order to carry it around and work with the minimum of hassle, what do you want all that extra stuff for? The entire goal should be to get the amount that you carry down to almost zero.

But you always need a little something, even if the goal is to get your "go-bag" down to zero.  So here are my essentials.

The bag itself, in fact, is nothing more than a document wallet from Mulberry, rather like this one.  The beauty of this is not only that it can be carried under your arm, rather than needing to be slung over your shoulder and rumpling your suit (I know, I know). It also has the minimum amount of space, thus mandating minimalism.

Item two: headphones.  I say headphones, but in my opinion cans are unacceptable attire anywhere other than in a) the studio or b) the listening room.  So, instead, I have a very nice pair of Shure 420s that neatly tuck into the wallet's inside pocket.  After all, when you're on your netbook a few tunes are essential.

Item three: news weekly.  Although netbooks are designed to be ultraportable, you can't use them everywhere all the time - for instance, pulling out a laptop on the London Underground is still considered a little odd, despite the fact everyone is plugged into their Blackberries the whole time.  So, you need something to occupy yourself whilst in transit and a news weekly is the easiest way to do it.  Just pick one off the shelf from Borders: Newsweek, Business Week, Time, Spectator, New Stateman, whatever.  Buy it, read it when you've nothing else to occupy yourself, and learn a little something.

Item four: dongle.  I hate carrying my dongle.  It seems the most annoying thing on the planet, and if I could wave a magic wand and wish one product out of the labs of Cupertino, it would be a MacBook Air with built-in 3G.  But until them, I'm dongled up.  Do yourself a favour and make sure you get a netbook with built-in 3G.  You'll thank me for it.

And that's it.  Nothing else.  Don't over accessorise, the whole point of a netbook is portability and once you start adding 'stuff' then you might as well just buy a huge backpack and stick a 17" monster in there.  Keep it slim, light and easy going.  Kiera Knightley, not Roseanne Barr.

Alternatively, you could just ignore me and go the other way. This has to be the ultimate geek bag that I've seen. 

What's in your netbook bag?  Leave your  answer in the comments.