[blindkid] apple netbooks

[Holly Baker Miller]

Still trying to figure things out for our situation.  New braille user,
middle school, responsible & tech savy.  Has enough vision that jaws
probably isn't going to be a necessity for him.  His issue is not so much
with seeing but that he fatigues very quickly when reading visually.

It seems as if buying a good netbook or ipad ($500) + bluetooth braille
display ($2500) such as the Brailliant 32 would be about half the cost of a
note taker.
Aside from the slight downside of having to carry two compact items, why
does it seem like this is not a popular option for most?

The pluses would be the netbook/ipad could be reasonably replaced every 2-3
years as the processors get faster & more powerful making it easier to keep
pace with technology.  Sounds like the maintenance plan on a notetaker
costs that much.  Even if the display part punks out after a few years, a
lot less painful to replace that than a full note taker.

Are there other disadvantages I'm not aware of?  Is this something whose
time has come but it just hasn't quite caught on yet?
I won't be offended if there's something glaring I haven't thought of!

Holly