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A laptop for poor widdle women arms

Check out one of the bullet points:

8.9" screen does not affect the overall weight of the Eee PC™ 900A, which remains below 1kg - allowing children and women to carry it with ease.

Ya huh.

Thanks to Ashley for the link.

Posted by Jessica - January 28, 2009, at 11:18AM | in Sexism , Technology

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79 Comments

[0+] Author Profile Page jaja said:

perhaps they have received complaints from women that carrying certain laptops takes too much effort and they are responding to the complaints.

[0+] Author Profile Page ruthisme said:

WHAT? I can carry a laptop with ease, they might be bluky but that's the same for everyone.

[0+] Author Profile Page susanstohelit said:

*sigh* I grant that women, as a whole, lack the physical strength of men, as a whole. It's a simple fact of biology - men are generally stronger, have more muscle mass, etc. But. That doesn't mean women are as weak as children, so let's not equate adult females with 8-year olds, kay?

[0+] Author Profile Page Lynne C. replied to susanstohelit :

I'm no doctor, and let me just put the disclaimer out there that this is my opinion, but I generally was under the impression that men have more upper body strength and overall muscle mass than women, although women are not by any means built as weaklings. Women have lower body strength, mainly in the hips and thighs. If a woman were to give a man a swift kick, and she was trained in kicking, she could deliver some pretty heavy damage. As far as lifting is concerned, let me just say that as others have pointed out here, I think it has been proven time and time again, that women can lift either extremely close to or just the same amount of weight as men can. I think it all has to do with the kind of body make-up, health, and shape the person is in.

I think when it comes to grappling and restraint, this is where men generally have the advantage over women, simply because they have an overall denser muscle mass. There are ways to get around this though, and avoid it.

It has to do with centers of gravity, mostly. Women's hips are wider than their shoulders, so their center of gravity is lower than men's, who have wider shoulders.

I can testify that this does not work in men's advantage in co-ed judo, as I've been tossed on my back by plenty of smaller female judoka.

That aside, lifting and carrying puts more strain on shoulder and back muscles than it does the mostly-useless arm muscles, and in those areas, as was pointed out, there is no qualitative difference between men and women. We can carry about the same weight, ceteris paribus.

[0+] Author Profile Page sarah replied to Citizen Lane :

Most women's hips are NOT wider than their shoulders, it's usually about the same.

Last I checked human males and females are of the same species, which means we have the same muscles. Male muscle fibers are identical to female muscle fibers, they are not bigger, stronger, more testosterony, or whatever, they are human muscle tissue. The only difference is that men, on average, thed to be taller than women, on average. This is most likely an effect testosterone has on men, and estrogen has the effect of getting women to store more fat around certain places for childbirth. BUT if you compare men and women with the same lean muscle mass you will find that they are equal in their ability to use and gain muscle.

Sorry... that bugs the shit out of me. People claiming that one sex is weaker... we're all human after all.

Also, the biggest laptop I have ever seen weighs approximately 10-15 lbs and has a 17' monitor. The only reason its unwieldy to carry (for me or my male partner who it belongs to) is that its 17' inches long, its like carrying a full computer monitor. (Also... isint 10-15 lbs... ya know the size of a suckling baby? And aren't women expected to carry those suckers around with ease?)

*rant over*

Women, as a whole, are weaker. Not biologically, but as a result of conditioning:

- Girls are encouraged to sit nicely and be good, whereas boys are encouraged to run around, be rowdy and exercise.

- Daughters are still, in many families, fed less than sons, because 'growing boys' need their sustenance more than growing girls, apparently.

- Girls are encouraged not to eat from a young age, by watching the women around them constantly dieting and worrying about their weight.

- Girls are encouraged to wear skirts, heels and other restrictive items of clothing, restricting their ability to be active and build their muscle strength.

Oh goodness, I could go on about this for hours. I feel a blog post coming on.

[0+] Author Profile Page Strat replied to Ghostlove :

I wholeheartedly disagree. While you seem to have a point at first, only some women are weaker than men. To say otherwise is gross overgeneralization.

In popular culture, yes, girls are taught to sit still and play nice. However, there are dozens (if not hundreds or thousands) of female sprinters, long jumpers, wrestlers, fencers, and soccer players (among others) who have ignored their upbringing and refused to play nice.

Some parents do force their daughters to eat less to achieve a constructed ideal. But there are also many, many overweight and obese girls who aren't lacking available fuel.

And as regards the skirts and stilettos? Yes, they're restrictive. But stilettos force you to understand your center of gravity and how it changes, and -- anecdotal as this may be -- many of the high-school girls I know could still kick ass (literally and figuratively) in skirts and heels.

Almost any girl can find a way to build muscle mass if she really wants to. So can any guy, for that matter.

Some girls allow themselves to remain weak, because yes, it is socially acceptable for women, and it's easy. But at the same time, other girls refuse to comply, and they find a way to work out.

To combine the two groups and automatically label them "weak" is, frankly, insulting.

[0+] Author Profile Page Kristenique replied to Strat :

"Some parents do force their daughters to eat less to achieve a constructed ideal. But there are also many, many overweight and obese girls who aren't lacking available fuel."

It's inaccurate to claim that overweight and obese girls aren't also forced to eat less to achieve a constructed ideal. Overweight and obese girls often have the same pressures psychological issues as their thinner peers with eating disorders, it's just that the issues manifest themselves in different ways. Most food issues revolve around control; an overweight girl can find other ways of obtaining food, it's not like the parents are sitting there spoonfeeding her because they want her to "eat as much as the boys." As an overweight woman (who has other overweight women as friends to back up my perspective), I can assure you that our parents put the same if not more pressure on us to conform to society's ideals. We are also the most pressured to try various diet programs. Also, evidence has shown that girls and women who diet often put on more weight than nondieting peers.

[0+] Author Profile Page Kristenique replied to Strat :

Just wanted to add that I'm not trying to criticize you since you already feel "frankly insulted" but just needed to assert my own view on that one statement.

Skirts are not inherently more restrictive. I spent some of the happiest, most active times of my girlhood in dresses.

[0+] Author Profile Page jjgirl23 said:

Wow... that's incredibly offensive... >:-|

That makes me so angry! grr.

So women can carry toddlers, lift gallon milk jugs at the store, carry heavy vacuums around the house... BUT a 1 kg computer is too strenuous?

ommmmmmg


[0+] Author Profile Page greenhatcat replied to jjgirl23 :

Hey, women can and do lift more things than just the stereotypical housewife stuff.

[0+] Author Profile Page greenhatcat replied to greenhatcat :

Now that I think about it, I realize you were essentially saying what Bornslippy said later- women are expected to do strenuous housewife stuff but encouraged in all other aspects to be weak and submissive. Sorry for nitpick.

[0+] Author Profile Page leah said:

.....

Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor.

Yes, my poor little weak woman arms have such a HARD time carrying anything over 2.2 pounds. A gallon of milk? Oh dear is that hard. My current laptop? My oh my does it make my puny biceps ache. A newborn baby? Oh goodness no I couldn't possibly carry anything that outrageously heavy! Where oh where is my fainting couch, I believe I'm about to have a spell!

Ok, the phrasing is poorly chosen, but I think it's foolish to take issue with the content.

On AVERAGE, women are smaller and build muscle mass less easily than men. Yes, yes, there are lots of very strong women, but the reality is that in a marketplace where all sorts of products are still designed with the average man--who is bigger and has more upper body strength than the average woman--there are all sort of products on the market that are cumbersome or even unsafe for a large percentage of women to use (for example: car safety devices are designed with men in mind and as a result women like me who are on the shorter end of average can actually be seriously injured by things like seat belts and airbags).

What's sexist isn't taking these differences into account and designing products tailored to the different sizes of average women and men (if you're a tall woman, just get the men's size product). That the people who design all sort of items--cars, computers, household and landscaping tools and on and on--primarily with men in mind--that's sexist.

Yes, I am perfectly capable of carrying a large, bulky, heavy, laptop. But I travel a lot for work and am often schlepping my laptop around airports and strange cities for hours on end, sometimes in skirts and heels. I should put myself through the back pain that comes with that for the sake of gender equity? Sorry, I'm happy that the people who design and market laptops recognize that some people--many of whom happen to be women--might prefer a lighter model.

[0+] Author Profile Page Sarlee replied to sara :

But they're implying that a women would have trouble lifting something over 2.2 lbs.

It isn't a special feat of strength to carry a laptop around.

I agree. Though I may not like to admit it, my laptop is a bit too heavy for me to drag around campus all day long "with ease". I'd love a 1kg laptop.

And no, women don't have trouble lifting 2.2kg. It's the carrying around across distances that can be problematic.

Although, they probably should have opted for gender-neutral language.

I agree that it's sexist to only have men in mind while designing products. However -- this is a laptop. I always thought computers were pretty gender-neutral.
And you're right, many people probably do want a lighter model - but that includes men too. They could just market it as a lightweight laptop, not a woman's/kid's laptop.

My husband doesn't want to have to carry around my heavy laptop any more than I do, and his back doesn't hurt any less than mine does after we have had to.

In fact, when I think about it, this doesn't even have anything to do with arm strength. If it's too heavy to carry in your arms (which, I might add, I have never seen anyone do), get a bag with a strap. Carrying a laptop in a bag with a strap doesn't use arm muscles at all.

[0+] Author Profile Page Terabithia said:

If they wanted to market it to women, they should have gone for "it will fit in a purse," which would have at least made sense.

Holy. Crap.

Sara, I'm not buying your argument. Though "on average," women may have less muscle mass, they're still making a sexist generalization. There are plenty of muscular women, and there are plenty of weak men. To say that a light laptop is ideal for children and women is nothing short of a stereotype.

There is nothing okay with this.

[0+] Author Profile Page Squid Spook Show replied to Appetite for Equal Rights :

This has nothing to do with muscle mass, people! Do you do curls with your laptop? Really?

I agree that whoever wrote the product description is something of a sexist moron, but have a sense of perspective, or at least THINK about the product. This product is not designed to shelter widdle women arms. It's not about arms. Back pain from carrying around a heavy laptop bag, because the laptop is heavy? YES. Arms? NO.

Can we at least think about how stuff works before we get all offended about what companies are or are not saying about our arm strength?

Companies making these laptops aren't out to oppress women; they're part of the general overall drive to make all our tech smaller, sleeker, and more portable--which has nothing to with gender.

Poor writing? YES. Sexist writing? ABSOLUTELY. Poor product design? No. Sexist product design? No.

Also, jeez, I can't get over how people are arguing about arms. Our offense would some more credible if we conveyed a sense of basic comprehension, or awareness of body.

WORD. i have such horrible back pain from constantly carrying my laptop, textbooks, art supplies, etc. it's not a gender-specific thing, either; i recommended to a friend that he get the same laptop as mine (the smallest mac laptop available at the time) because it was the lightest. he bought the same one as me, then carried it for a night. he told me, "at first i thought you were silly, saying it would get so heavy. an hour later, my back was aching so badly it hurt to stand."

stupid wording. EVERYONE wants a small laptop. not a sexist product design, though.

[0+] Author Profile Page miki_mouse said:

This is definitely ridiculous and insulting towards women. When I read the line, I got an image in my head of my sister coming into my house yesterday carrying her 27 pound toddler in one arm and her 10 pound baby in his 5 pound car seat in the other arm. It is true the my 1.5 year old niece can carry around my Asus Eee PC around very easily though. They should have stuck with that marketing.

[0+] Author Profile Page Keliz said:

Um what is wrong with this company? A preference for lighter technology is by no means a gender-specific trait. Half of my guy friends have bought iphones solely in order to be able to access class documents and emails during the day without having to lug around a laptop. Why would they want to exclude half of the population from buying their product?

And the "different strengths" argument simply doesn't follow through logically. Women can lift a whole lot of weight if they weight train. (Many don't because society tends to tell girls to go do some cardio instead). Biologically, the strength of women and men is largely overlapping along a continuum. Plus, we are not talking about an anvil here. We are talking about a couple of pounds. Neither sex is more capable of carrying a couple pounds, and EVERYONE hates lugging laptops around airports.

A preference for lighter technology is by no means a gender-specific trait.


THIS. This reveals the ad's sexism perfectly, without even getting into any debate about the relative physiques of men and women. No one wants to carry around a heavy laptop and the ideal weight of a laptop for everyone is, you know, nothing. The fact that they would market a laptop like this when the incredibly obvious way that it should be marketed is just as an impressively lightweight laptop shows that they're not just sexist, but sexist to a point of being blind even to what is in their own best interest, as a company.

Compare, for instance, the much-lusted-after lightweight Macbook Air. "From 0.16 to 0.76 inch thin and weighing only 3.0 pounds, MacBook Air sets new standards for ultraportable computing — without the usual ultraportable compromises." Everyone wants that.

Way to keep with the stereotypes, Eee PC.

And again with the "children and women" line.

I can't even formulate an articulate response on that one right now.


I'm about ready to tape a sign that says "Bang Head Here" to my desk.

*sigh* Like most last-ditch efforts to up sales by appealing to the worst stereotypes, Eee PC has horrific reviews, especially when compared to Acer's and MSI's offerings.

It's stupid that they're doing this, but they're also the bottom of the netbook ladder.

[0+] Author Profile Page neferkatie said:

I was going to buy this laptop. The technical specs were exactly what I waned, the price was right. But then I got to that line, and took my business elsewhere.

The specs may have been right, but seriously, look up some independent reviews. My sister has an MSI Wind and *loves* it, and I am aiming for an Acer Aspire One (or whatever it's called) that has everything awesome, including Linux.

[0+] Author Profile Page Squid Spook Show replied to Spider Jerusalem :

I have an acer aspire one and I love it to bits. The only thing about it is that the speakers are kind of bad, so blasting, say, some huggy bear sounds awful. In every other area, though, it's exceeded my expectations.

Same here, neferkatie. I was seriously considering the Eee 1000 as my first foray into the laptop realm, but now I'll be looking elsewhere. Too bad, I was looking forward to seeing if I could finally learn Linux with eeebuntu.

[0+] Author Profile Page Toni said:

Since when are too heavy for women to carry? They're all very light-weight.

I own a very light laptop with a small screen primarily because I am disabled and can carry the light computer easily in a backpack. Nothing at all to do with being male or female. My son has preferred a heavy large screen laptop since he was 8.

But I don't get it - if its catered towards women, shouldn't it be pink????? (sarcasm)

In regards to men generally being stronger than women, I'd be hesitant to naturalize that. 1) if it is true (which no one has been able to prove), then its clearly a social phenomenon since boys expected to be stronger and are raised that way. Its too easy to say that men are just naturally stronger since many men are able to lift more weight - we can't let ourselves believe that that's anything other than a byproduct of patriarchy.

Actually, physical anthropology acknowledges that female homo sapiens tend to be smaller and slightly less muscular than male homo sapiens (just like female chimpanzees tend to be smaller and slightly less muscular than male chimpanzees, in fact). Doesn't mean we're any less capable, though.

[0+] Author Profile Page leah replied to wax_ghost :

And sociological studies show that parents feed their sons more than their daughters during their formative years. So it could still be a social phenomenon. Likely it's a little of both, like every other biological trait.

[0+] Author Profile Page jaja replied to leah :

can you show me proof of this, that men are fed more in their formative years and that this translates to being stronger.

i don't the resistance to a simple fact that men and women are different and one of the differences is that men are generally stronger, physically, than women

It's pretty hard to provide "proof" of something like this, but I will say that physical anthropology supports what Leah said in that the tallest people in the world are always the ones who are best fed in childhood. It is a physical fact that eating less/worse makes people shorter - read up on Harris lines for an extreme example.

I found a well done research study once (don't feel like googling it up again atm) that proved what is obvious once you start thinking outside of the patriarchal box. Human muscle fibers are the same, doesn't matter if you're male, female, or anything in between. We're all human... same species, same biological makeup. They found that once you control for lean muscle mass, that males and females are equal in terms of strength and the ability to gain muscle mass. So the only real reason males are 'generally' stronger is that the are 'generally' taller and have 'generally' been brought up to work at putting on muscle mass from an early age.

So the idea that males are able to do 100 pushups in 1 minute and females should be lucky to do 10 (yes I'm exagerating) is deeply flawed. Our muscles are the same, we just haven't been programmed to use ours every day of our life.

[0+] Author Profile Page jaja replied to Zee :

doesn't the fact that men are generally taller support the idea that even though we are the same species, there are significant physical differences between the sexes that are natural and not a result of patriarchy.

[0+] Author Profile Page Lilith Luffles said:

My computer tower weighs more than that, and the only reason I can't carry it across campus when my school's internet won't let my computer talk to it is because of it's size, not because it weighs between 10 and 15 lbs. I have to carry it up 3 flights of stairs, too. When I was in high school, my backpack used to weigh around 20 lbs. And my build is anything but muscular; I've got arms as skinny as a rail.

As far as men being stronger goes, men are a. naturally and generally bigger and b. taught to be muscular and stronger so they work harder at it in general. They also hold onto upper body strength longer. These are the only differences.

[0+] Author Profile Page Desert Dragon said:

I think that making very general comparisons between men and women on the basis of physical strength doesn't make much sense-- in my experience, how strong a person is has much more to do with their individual build/training/athleticism/etc. than any rigid sex-based definitions. True, hormonal differences in men and women determine where muscle mass is concentrated, and strength can sometimes genetically determined (ex. most of the members of my dad's dad's family-- men and women-- have very wide shoulders and tremendous upper body strength), but no "inborn" tendency for strength is going to make any difference if the person is completely sedentary. From what I've observed, physical strength is almost entirely based on the individual, and in the long run isn't determined by sex. I study martial arts and flamenco and I've met men who can do floor-shattering taconazos for hours, and I've yet to meet a guy who can stay on his feet after my left hook.

[0+] Author Profile Page saraha88 said:

Y'all, by arguing about the relative upper body strength of men vs. women you're kinda missing the point, being that its ONE FUCKING KILOGRAM that these people are claiming is "too heavy" for poor widdle women's arms! Men may have stronger upper bodies than women, but COME ON NOW, a 5 year old can carry ONE KILOGRAM. This is too absurd to even dignify with anything resembling intelligent argument.

[0+] Author Profile Page Lilith Luffles replied to saraha88 :

And 5 year olds are a lot smaller that women, something that has to do with how much strength a person has: size. That's the point. Your size and build determine how much strength you have, and comparing children's strength to women's strength is absolutely absurd. It's like trying to say humans are stronger than ants. Obviously an ant can't lift a 2.2 lb computer, but it can lift more of it's own weight than humans can.

[0+] Author Profile Page mahjani said:

Ok - can't cite my source here because I was working on a confidential tech survey, but in the analysis of over 5,000 data points it was found that women reported that laptops were too heavy by a 3:1 ratio, so in the field lightweight is generally marketed towards women.

I agree that it isn't well-stated, but I can see why they would list it that way. Their customer base said that women want lighter computers, so they point out this one is lighter...for women. I don't really get the children reference, but I imagine it seemed good to the copy-writer.

Full disclosure, non-work-related, I also tested about 10 different types of netbooks and ended up purchasing an Asus Eee pc 1000 myself. I love it and found it superior to the other types I used.

[0+] Author Profile Page kat replied to mahjani :

I dont' disagree with the premise that many women may want a lighter laptop (just as many will not.) And that it makes sense to market this toward women. So...they can find ways to put their ads in magazines with a high female readership. Women are smart...and the ones who want lighter laptops will make the connection. Putting it in the text just makes it condescending.

[0+] Author Profile Page mahjani replied to kat :

Right - definitely not well-stated. I see what they wanted to do, but think they failed at good marketing.

[0+] Author Profile Page BornSlippy replied to mahjani :

You know, I have to wonder whether the issue is the laptop itself of the differences in design and fuction between laptop bags (backpacks, messenger bags, briefcases, etc.) marketed to men and women.

When I carry my laptop in the sports backpack I can barely feel it at all, but those shoulder-tote models meant to look like purses it weighs a frickin' ton. The narrow little straps that dig into your shoulder certainly don't help.

I use a laptop backpack rather than a briefcase if I am walking (on canes or crutches) for even weight distribution. Use a little laptop sleeve if I am sticking the computer into the basket under the wheelchair. Nothing whatsoever to do with my gender.

[0+] Author Profile Page Attagrrrl said:

This was actually on my short list when I recently bought a new laptop. Soooo glad I didn't get it.

LOL I'm sorry, but do you ever just laugh at this shit? It's absurd. Just say, "This laptop is light, making it easy to carry." I feel like a lot of the sexist bullshit we see is primarily a result of people who forget to think before they speak (or print) things.

LOL I'm sorry, but do you ever just laugh at this stuff? It's absurd. Just say, "This laptop is light, making it easy to carry." I feel like a lot of the sexist bullshit we see is primarily a result of people who forget to think before they speak (or print) things.

Ugh, why is a woman's strength being equated with that of a child? It just seems ridiculous. Okay, let's say that mahjani is right and the only reason the advertisers wanted to include this line about weight and women was because because of a data survey...then why include the children at all? What children are buying laptops? What 8 year old do you know that is going into Best Buy or whatever and is looking for his own personal computer? And even if this 8 year old is just using their parents' laptop, why are they carrying it around in the first place? That's an expensive piece of technology! I wouldn't let my kid just carry it all over the place. So then why WHY would these people choose to equate the strength of women with that of children?!?! Seems completely annoying and arbitrary to me. And it seems to happen all to often.

Sorry for the rant.

[0+] Author Profile Page liv79 replied to llevinso :

Hahahah!
I also took umbrage with the comparison of women to children. I mean, come on. Just take a step back and look at that for one second before you pass it off to the copy editor....

I own an EeePC and I love it, but this ad is ridiculous.

My son was born weighing 9lb 10oz. That's 4.36kg, well over four times the amount that this laptop weighs. I can distinctly NOT remember thinking "My goodness, he's far too heavy for my weak little arms to carry! Whatever shall I do?"

Asus, get your heads out of your arses and realise that the 52% of the population designated female are not specifically weaker or less able than those designated male.

Did you get loads of compliments on your "gym arms" from carrying him around? I sure did with my daughter.

I guess because children are "designed for women to carry," they're light as feathers.

Maybe they meant to market these to women who carry children who carry laptops?

[0+] Author Profile Page BornSlippy said:

I do not understand the doublethink "logic" that dictates that women are too weak to carry "normal" items and so need products designed to be lighter than "normal" but yet expects women to be the ones performing the majority of domestic tasks, including cooking, cleaning, and childcare.

Apparently I'm strong enough to run a vacuum cleaner, haul around a kid or two, carry in giant bags of groceries, and heft large pots of water while cooking, but the moment I pick up my laptop my tiny little arms snap under the weight. Do they think technology is like some sort of female-kryptonite, or something? :/

[0+] Author Profile Page Tsunade said:

Sidenote: What about the annoyance of a shoulderbag bouncing off of our hips? Men have wider shoulders and narrow hips, so it tends to hang more conveniently. It's more awkward for us. I use a backpack design and it's a lot easier. This has nothing to do with strength, just bone structure.

I do find the "children and women" comment annoying though. It reminds me of the Titanic. They could just say that it's lighter and easy to carry. That way, anyone, men, women, kids, old people, and your mom could all get the hint.

[0+] Author Profile Page Squid Spook Show said:

Batting for the unpopular team here:

I have an Acer Aspire One, which has roughly the same dimensions. I have it solely because it is TINY, and I am tiny, and I hate carrying around bulky laptops that do not, in fact, fit in my lap. I love how light it is.

Of course, here's the thing--

I know a bunch of boys with this laptop, and they love how small and light it is, too.

So I can't get all up in arms about a product meant to be lighter, because I am the demographic for this product. I am not outraged by the fact that there is a product created for my "widdle" arms (actually, the problem is my shoulders. it's not about ARMS; the ultra portable laptop doesn't keep your arms from being sore, it's not about doing CURLS. I can lift stuff just fine--it's carrying it around that sucks, and I'm quite sure the manufactures are thinking of women's frames as opposed to their arms. Arms are irrelevant to this discussion. And at five foot one and 113 pounds, my bony shoulders appreciate my laptop's lithe construction).

I am offended that they say "women and children," because the phrase is very dated as well as insulting, since I'm not a child, as well as very silly, as it ignores the fact that most people benefit from less weight on their shoulders, regardless of age or gender or frame.

But bringing up how rwar rwar female athletes are awesome!!11 isn't really pertinent. Writing in to the company and telling them to get with the times might be.

In conclusion, I suppose I am FOR technology getting smaller and lighter, but AGAINST stupid product descriptions, and I am AMBIVALENT about how people can get upset that this product exists just because of poor wording.

We're talking laptops, not pull ups or serious lifting here. For lifting and carrying a compact, 5-12lb object, there is no meaningful sex difference.Which isn't to say, that people (of either sex) wouldn't prefer small or lighter laptops.

Mind you, at work, the people arguing that they "need" an ultralight laptop because they "can't" manage their regular laptop are nearly always men...

[0+] Author Profile Page Staticbird said:

Oh thank god! They finally made a laptop to deal with my disability of being a woman.

[0+] Author Profile Page vaseline said:

The debate on men having more upper body strength than women is just irrelevant.

The point is that these people believe that women, as a whole, are essentially as weak as children and therefore are unable to carry laptops.

That is ridiculous. End of story.

And kids aren't even so weak that they can't lift 1 kg.

[0+] Author Profile Page SomethingClever said:

You're missing most of the point of the EEE PC. It is a cheap, linux-based, streamlined, easy-to-use, portable, and durable laptop. I have one, and I love it. I take it everywhere with me. Why? Because I am not willing to take my 17-inch laptop with me everywhere, the way my 6'5" backpacker brother does with his. And it's not just a strength thing, either. I can't carry a normal-sized laptop in my arm comfortably, because it's just not long enough.

Is equating the strength of women with the strength of children sexist? Definitely. Is creating a light-weight laptop and marketing towards women sexist? Maybe. Is creating a laptop that will do women like me be able to carry everywhere sexist? No. The more women able to use computers, the better. Yeah, they could have worded their ad better, but don't attack the company or the product. They did a lot more good than they did harm.

[0+] Author Profile Page SomethingClever replied to SomethingClever :

Argh, double-post, sorry.

[0+] Author Profile Page SomethingClever said:

You're missing half the point of the EEE PC. It is a cheap, linux-based, streamlined, easy-to-use, portable, and durable laptop. I have one, and I love it. I take it everywhere with me. Why? Because I am not willing to take my 17-inch laptop with me, the way my 6'5" backpacker brother does with his. And it's not just a strength thing, either. I can't carry a normal-sized laptop in my arm comfortably, because it's just not long enough.

Yes, equating the strength of women of that with children is sexist. Is creating a light-weight laptop and marketing towards women sexist? Maybe. Is creating a laptop that will do women like me will be able to carry everywhere sexist? No. Yeah, they could have worded their ad better, but don't attack the company or the product. They did a lot more good than they did harm.

[0+] Author Profile Page timothy_nakayama said:

I was looking for a light laptop to carry around on international business trips. But 8.9" seems a little small to me...and I'm not sure but isn't the keyboard for this model smaller as well? I remember trying one of those very small portable laptops, but the keyboard frustrated me because it was so tiny and I felt that you were poking at the keys, rather than typing it. Finally settled on a 12.1" one, and the keys on the keyboard are normal sized, and it is about 2kgs, which, in my opinion is very light enough as it is.

This is obviously so that during the next Titanic-style disaster, the women and children in the lifeboats can blog and twitter their predicaments.

[0+] Author Profile Page Snickerdoodle said:

I just see this as yet another ad that's not marketing to me. My fiance and I are both computer geeks with multiple computers and at least one laptop each. He loves the ultra-portable tiny ones while mine is a 17" widescreen desktop replacement style that I bought as a portable gaming computer.

So they lost my business but they wouldn't have had it anyway. Looks like they lost a lot of others' as well though.

[0+] Author Profile Page Commodore Angryy said:

Oh for God's sake. For all those of you saying that men and women have the same natural lifting ability/strength, you are wrong. Go to any human biology or anatomy textbook and kindly view how wrong you are.

Allow me to use a personal example. I do not work out, I am a lazy slob. I work at a liquor store. When I arrived, there was a female employee that had been there 2 years. She can lift 1 carton of beer, that is her limit. That is *lifting it off the ground* requiring both muscles in the lower, and upper back and physical arm strength. When I first started, I was able to lift 3 times this weight.

That's right, a male who does somehting for the first time is naturally able to lift 3 times the weight that a woman who has been doing this task for 2 years can do. So end of personal anecdote.

I also found a post here claiming that men and women have the same ability to gain muscles. That is also incorrect. Please refer to images of bodybuilders, the kind that do NOT use steroids. You will notice that each sex has different sets of muscles that get larger faster than the opposite gender. For the males this is often in the arms, for women in the upper thighs to the stomach. Men and women develop different muscles, because as proven time and time again, men and women are different.

Also, a huge laptop is a pain in the neck to carry around all the time, even for a male. So quit whining when a computer company makes a product with a specific market in mind. They are catering for you, and you're bitching about it. That's like getting a free coffee and then throwing it in the waiter's face because it's too hot.

[0+] Author Profile Page dirtybird replied to Commodore Angryy :

I used to lift (off the ground) and carry three cases of beer at a time when I was a bartender and had to barback for myself. I didn't work out at the time either. I'm female. End of personal anecdote.

[0+] Author Profile Page FLT said:

Light laptop=good

Equating me with a child=bad

Good summary!

[0+] Author Profile Page Josh Jasper said:

Perhaps thy thought the alternative was the manly man laptop Looks pretty heavy, don't it?

[0+] Author Profile Page dazedandconfused said:

If women were as naturally strong as men, they would undertake the same physical exams that men take for emergency services. Why do they not? End of story.

[0+] Author Profile Page April said:

"OMG, like, I totally can't lift this super heavy lap-top. Whatever will I do?" Assholes.
I carried a 25 lb toddler around while I was 9 months pregnant with my last child, plus a diaperbag and purse. Do they really think it's that much of a strain?

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