Do you have any sources that are not fox news to back that up?

Maybe, but have you ever had a flight attendant tell you, or seen a flight attendant tell anyone else, to put their book away?
I haven't. Though it's been a few years since I've been on an airplane, so maybe they have started doing so.

I don't buy the safety in case something goes wrong bit any more than I buy the interference bit that has been the usual answer to why you cant have your laptop on during these times.

They won't let you have your laptop, or tablet, or mp3 player, or ebook reader, some say because they want you to be able to pay attention incase something goes wrong. Load of crap if you ask me. If that were the case, how come I can sit down, buckle up, put in ear plugs, and fall asleep, all before we've left the gate, and no one says anything? Or why can I pull out a 2 pound hard back book the size of a shoebox (I exaggerate, but not by far), and no one says anything? If its really for safety reasons in case something goes wrong (the pilot fails in his job of keeping the plain from hitting the ground), that hard back edition of Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter/Sword of Truth will do a lot more damage flying around the cockpit than my 6 ounce kindle.

I've always liked looking out the window on takeoff and landing, so I've never had a problem having my various tech turned off during this time, but the "it's only 15 minutes each way" argument irritates me. There have been numerous times that the plane I was on had to wait somewhere between leaving the gate and actually taking off, or between landing and reaching the gate, once for over an hour, but they still demand we keep all electronic devices off. 15 minutes I can handle, but being forced to stay seated for over an hour without at least having my kindle to read is all sorts of annoying.

I know there are ways of doing it on a mac relatively easially, but I've gotten used to how it's done on windows, "+u for ü same for o and a, and alt+s for ß I spent a month on a mac, and while I got quicker at using the mac shortcuts for those keys, I never got anywhere near as quick at typing in German as I am on my windows computer. Also, there's the fact that I feel completely lost in OSX.

Nope, just 1 android phone. And one of the laptop's has been retired, it now sits in my closet, as a backup. And as to why iPads are not an option, well there are a couple reasons. $500 is a bit more than I am willing to spend on a tablet, the closed nature of it, and well, I've discovered I'm not into tablets. I've tried out friends iPad's, and while they are nifty, and are probably great for people that like them, I just didn't care for it.

I've had a 13" Macbook pro, got it after a friend upgraded, and while it did seem like a decent laptop, I kept running into problems, such as being able to type umlauts and the Eszett, as swiftly as I can using Windows 7 with the International Keyboard turned on. It's the little things, but they added up quick. Yeah, I'm sure there are workarounds, but I'll stick with PC's

I'm actually considering buying a netbook before the next semester starts. I've used my 17" and 15.6" laptops to take notes during my lectures, and when I'm in a big lecture hall with large tables, either one works fine, but when I'm usually in a regular classroom with regular desks, they are both too big to be practical. I've also tried using my android tablet with keyboard-case to take notes, and it just ended up being a PITA. While it may work for some people, its not for me. An iPad is not an option for me. So, instead of taking notes by hand, which is a pain in the hand, I'll probably be picking up a decent cheap netbook. Not because I want a full time laptop (which I already have), or want to play games on it (which is what my desktop is for), but because it's the best tool for the job. Pretty much all it will have installed is an office suite, web browser, and any software required for my classes. It doesn't matter that for another $50, I can get a 15.6" dual core laptop with decent ram and storage. I don't need any of that. I am sure there are others that feel the same. The netbook may not be practical for everybody, but it does have its use, especially at the ~$200 price range.