I just spent time watching the NASCAR race on my laptop. I’ve never watched a race on my laptop, and I was uncertain how it would work. I was expecting buffering problems and jerky pictures and all that, especially since I am using an older laptop over a wireless connection.

I’m glad to say I was very surprised at the results. The picture was nearly perfect, only a few freezes, otherwise the picture was clear, sharp and uninterrupted. Technologically everything worked fine, but I’m not sure I’m sold on the experience of watching TV on my laptop. I think I’m so accustomed to watching TV on a TV, that it’s hard to adjust to watching a show on a little screen. Add to that the ads and other stuff NASCAR squeezes into the screen, and the actual real estate for the race is pretty limited. 

I don’t have cable TV, so once NASCAR switched to TNT, I either have to watch the race online, go to a bar, or listen to it on the radio. To be honest, I can’t really pay attention for the course of an entire race, nor do I have the time to sit and just watch something like that, but I do really enjoy racing and it’s a nice diversion for a little bit. 

I’d rate this as a great solution to not having cable. My only real complaint was the annoying chat that was scrolling on the side of the screen The comments were mostly stupid, and I really wish there was a way to disable it so it didn’t annoy me. Other than that, I’d give it 2 thumbs up.  It would be fun to watch the race on TV and have the laptop running near by, just to see how the camera angles and such compare. I’d also love to see some kind of accurate ticker telling who is in what place. There was a leader board on the side, but it wasn’t working, so it was impossible to tell where drivers of interest were. 

Maybe there’s hope for TV on the pc for me. I know Hulu and youtube.com certainly hope so.