Reading in 90 degrees. Have you tried it?

[terrificbatman]

So, recently I've tried using a netbook to read some pdfs or comics (cbr format) by turning it around 90 degrees, like a book. The screen is a 16:9 10", which makes it close to an iPad screen.

While I've entertained the idea of buying a 13" MBA, I wonder if you can do the same with the it. There's a little app for EEE netbooks called EEE rotate, which will rotate anything on the screen to the right, upon pressing a keyboard shortcut. Is there anything similar in OSX?

It looks like it'd feel a little better, because netbooks are light and also carry SSD's, they can be a thick and difficult to hold, and can have poor viewing angles. I'd imagine the paper-thin MBA would do great. Feedback is appreciated.

 

[damnyooneek]

 

[ejisfun]

I've done this. All I did was take a pdf of the book, go into the sidebar in preview, cmd-a to select all, cmd-r to rotate them all to the right and then do a full screen slideshow.

 

[ceiph]

it was possible but lcd screens in general arnt that great and my ipad looked so much nicer so id suggest that route ipads are great at consuming media

 

[yegon]

I read comics/manga using FFView. I did try it in portrait briefly but I can never hold the mba (11") comfortably for long. It's light enough but it just doesn't feel right.

Sadly, after reading comics/manga on an iPad (since sold), everything else pales in comparison. The iPads IPS screen really excels at comics and stuff, even though it's lower res than the mba.

 

[RedTomato]

I used to do this with my Powerbook 15'', and tried it again not so long ago with my Macbook.

As you say, comics and graphic novels look fantastic on the screen, but it was a pain to hold. Never felt quite right, and always worried about putting too much stress on the hinge.

With a MBA, I'd still worry about the screen hinge. It's putting stress on it from an angle it was never designed to cope with, and the MBA is just so expensive you need to be careful with it.

If you can stand the worry, it's great, but if you can afford a MBA, I'd suggest buying an old iPad when prices come down - last year's models are getting pretty cheap - and using that for comix reading.

 

[potentpotable]

Ahahahahahahahaha funniest response ever!