BootsnAll Travel Community

We all know that laptops are a must-have for a travel writer. Small and easy to carry around, they are just the perfect "tool" to keep us busy anywhere.

What did you choose? and why?

Here I go: I've got a HP Compaq NX 6110 business laptop. I've got wi-fi, 1.4 Ghz Celeron Mobile processor, 256+521 DDRAM, 40 GB hard drive...it's not big either and i've carried it around pretty much everywhere. Got it back in Jan 2006 but i still love it. I chose it b/c it's compact and I really like HP (my camera and printer are also HP).

I have a fried 12 inch powerbook. I loved it's small size and I thought with the metal case that it would hold up to rough treatment. Bill 1, laptop nothing.
Memo: do not pour coffee on laptop.
Nice machine but a little pricey. Turns out even had I had apple care coverage, it does not include spills.
Thinking about a cheap windows machine in the $500- $600 range or maybe an ipod itouch to just get email at wifi spots.

I paid abt $800-900 2 yrs ago for mine. full warranty, brand new. I generally use my mobile to check my emails if i don't have to reply. and if there isn't any wi-fi access i use my mobile as modem connected to the laptop

ouch sucks abt the coffee and the laptop . i'd say coffee 1, laptop null LOL i'm extra careful when i'm sleepy and carry the coffee around me LOL

I have a 12" iBook G4. The size is really great - full-size keyboard, and still fits easily on a coach seatback tray. While it's no speed machine, it performs fine. The great part - you can get one on eBay right now for $300-$400. At that price I won't shoot myself if it gets lost or stolen. I also have a 15" Compaq (new for $400 on Black Friday) but when I travel, I choose the mac.

I have an 11 inch Panasonic Toughbook. It's a very cool bit of kit, weights less than 3lb, full size keyboard. It's shock proof, has no fan, so it doesn't suck up dust/sand etc and has a waterproof keyboard.

Plus, it looks great. It's fun to see the faces on people in coffee shops who are lugging around brick sized laptops when I get out my little shiny number (I know, childish).

I finally settled on an EeePC. It's half the size and weight of a conventional laptop and has a tiny solid state drive (2-8GB), but that's not a problem with 3 USB ports and a card slot. It does everything that a bigger laptop does (and the bigger models have an easy RAM upgrade option).

A lot of people are installing XP on it and liking it, but I'll stick to the original Xandros Linux. Beautiful little machine

I am seriously considering an Eee PC for my next laptop - my current one is a HP NC4200 - which is a few years old now but tought and robust - a business model not a consumer model - external DVD, 12" screen 80GB HD - nothing fancy but it works fine - after 30000 km around Australia's dirt roads that's saying something!
Lis

Last time I traveled I hauled around a Toshiba Satellite that had a 20gig hard drive. The drive was not big enough to hold all of my photos from that trip!

So now I have a newer Toshiba Satellite with an 80gig hard drive, but I haven't traveled with it yet. It isn't as sturdy as the old one, so I'm a little anxious about it.

I take a larger laptop with me because of the photos, but also because I produce a couple of web sites that need, if not daily, then often enough, maintenance.

I bring my 15.4" Toshiba A105 on every trip.

For extra storage and pictures backup I either burn DVD-R discs or use a portable hard drive.

I chose it because of all the positive user reviews and Toshiba was in the top 3 of most reliable laptops according to Consumer Reports. The other two were IBM (no firewire port) and Apple (I'm used to Windows).

I just replaced my 15" PowerBook G4 (300GB hard drive) with a 17" MacBook Pro. I haven't done any substantial travel with the new one yet. I did find a water-resistant bag at EMS with a padded computer slot big enough for the 17", though, so I'm ready to take it sailing in a couple months.

I have been frustrated for years by certain Windows-only applications that I like to use while traveling (most notably, Garmin's mapping software that works with my GPS). I have been known to take two laptops when I have room: the 15" Mac and my very tiny Sony Viao. But the Viao sucks in every category but size.

The MacBook Pro saves the day: I carved out about 50 GB of the hard drive and installed Windows XP. Now I can have my familiar Mac with iPhoto, iTunes, iWhatever, Photoshop, not to mention World of Warcraft, or boot up Windows and use MapSource and a few other Windows-only things. And the Mac can see the Windows drive, so if I have files I need to see in Windows, I just move them there (of course, dumb Windows is completely blind to its host. Fitting somehow.)

Yeah, Mac's are pricey. But I'm not a backpacker type traveler and can count on relatively secure luggage storage. My computer is my muse -- I'm stymied anymore by paper and pen, but can type away in a creative trance.

An ancient iBook with a Japanese keyboard. A hand-me-down from the ex-husband. This one is for traveling.

And an old Titanium Powerbook (I think that's what it was called) for other use. Also courtesy of ex-husband.

Thinking to get a MacBookPro this spring... It's time for a new toy.

I just posted this as a new discussion on travel gear and tech, but it answers your question, so I will cut and paste:

So, my husband and I were engaged in theserious debate that many booties have been contemplating...to laptop or not to laptop on the road. Well, for those of you on fence, we just purchased the best invention, the cloudbook, by Everex:

www.everex.com/

IT is super cheap for a computer (400 bucks), has wifi, a card reader, using the linux system (not mac or windows so all programs and downloads are free with minimal threat of virus), and is the tiniest little thing (about 8 inchs by 5 inches closed up). IT works very well and is brand new. we got ours half way through our trip and are so in love with it.

There are smaller laptops available...

I use a Palm T/X in lawschool with a bluetooth wireless keyboard that folds up extremely compact. The palm screen is 3.5 inches but you can type in large font and zoom in on the screen.

It also has wifi, color, and an expandable SD slot so I stick a 2gb card in there...It also has many other goodies and I think its a great thing. I have had a problem with the bluetooth keyboard as sometimes it resets my palm and I lose everything before my last save which wouldn't be very good for a travel writer. Previously I had the IR wireless keyboard and it worked great. Never had a reset problem...

I'm lugging around a 15" powerbook at the moment. It's 3 years old and getting slow so it won't be the end of the world if it's stolen.

I really didn't like my Palm T|X. The folding keyboard was never that comfortable for me and I had huge frustrations with trying to copy larger amounts of text from one program to the other. I could barely write a single blog post while away. With Garnet being a dying OS (at the time), there was a huge lack of decent applications.

I know it works great for a lot of people, just not for me. It was stolen in Costa Rica and I didn't miss it, aside from the hole it left in my wallet.

I'm curious about the eee pc and it's brethren, but my photographic leanings will have me tethered to my 15" Macbook Pro next time I go away. I figure that if I just don't bring any clothes, then I won't notice the extra weight.

If I had to do it again, I'd be strongly tempted to buy a MacBook Air.

I'm sure lots of you will sound the luddite alert, but I've always used a regular crappy spiral notepad, with the exception of my last trip (had a moleskine). Why? No one wants to steal a crappy notepad; crappy notepads can't break or run out of juice; notepads don't require extra stuff to lug around like chargers/soft cases/power cords/mice/etc; notepads don't crash; they cost less than a cup of coffee; they weigh nothing and can be shoved into your pocket; and they float (when left in a plastic ziplock bag--useful when traveling by cayuco/lancha). And when giving an interview, you look a lot less suspicious and menacing while scrawling away on a notepad. Drawbacks are clear: I have to copy my notes to a PC when I get home, or when I'm at an internet cafe. And if I decide to start writing a piece on location, then I have to hunker down in an internet cafe.

Beer spills are about as equally damaging for a laptop as a spiral notepad, so that one cancels out.

In case you're doubtful, I wrote the entirety of Is There a Hole in the Boat? based on notepad notes I took in Panama in '04 and '05.

...notepads can't check the email...
...notepads can't keep you in touch wt your boss (says the travel writer lol)

so while i ALWAYS have a notepad wt me to take additional notes, i somewhat need to be connected. plus i take a lot of photos and i can't download them into a ...notepad, now can i?)

seriously, i didn't mean to be "that mean" but in this nice world we are somehow forced to be connected with our work even on vacation. especially if the work is linked to ...taking vacations

If your boss "forces" you to be in touch with him/her all the time, then I can see why you opt for a laptop. I'm fortunate in that my boss would never do that to me, since I am my own boss.

As far as emails go, I take care of all that in internet cafes on the road. If I want backups of photos, I copy them onto backup sticks in the cafe too. If I'm really paranoid about killer photos that I know will help sell a piece, I copy them AND email them to myself, and let hotmail or yahoo store them for me.

Most of my recent travels have been in Latin America, which is crawling with internet cafes since almost no one there has a PC of their own, so it's easy to find a cafe, and they're cheap (except Roatan). Many non-luxury hotels have free PC usage for guests as well. I would be tempted to drag along a laptop only if I knew I was going somewhere where there are not too many internet cafes.

no, my boss doesn't force me (as in "you have to email me unless...." to keep in touch on vacation but i feel better doing that considering i'm a travel writer lol

oh no i had some really bad experiences wt internet cafes! no way i set food in one again as long as my hotel has internet available...and i ALWAYS book like that.

i cannot download the photos from my cards to the public computer b/c i use them for work....