Lap Tops

[bigred]

I haven't been able to find anyone who can inform me about laptops while backpacking. Does anybody take them with them? Is it wise to leave it at home? Are there computers available in hostels? I know many have internet access but should I bring mine with me? Any help with this would be appreciated! Thanks a million!

[Eagle]

bigred, so far I've resisted packing a Laptop along on trips, as I find they have a high "worry factor" (especially when staying in Hostels!). Unless the Hostel has fairly robust Lockers, I'd be concerned about theft when I'm out sightseeing during the day (even leaving it at the front desk is no guarantee that it won't be "tampered with"). I also prefer to travel as light as possible, so don't want to haul around the extra weight of the Laptop, battery, power cube, etc. However, there have certainly been times when it would have been useful to have one for storing photos, Internet access, etc.

One other reason I prefer not to take a Laptop, is that I might be tempted to spend hours browsing the net or whatever, rather than seeing the places that I've paid a small fortune to visit! I noticed a good example of this in London a few months ago, as one of the people in the Hotel spent hours on the computer every day, rather than touring with his wife. It occurred to me that he might have been better to stay at home and work, rather than coming to London and wasting his time and money.

I've found that most Hostels have computers, with some being reasonably priced and some being quite expensive (ie: coin operated). If a Hostel doesn't have computers, there's usually an Internet Cafe in the neighborhood. You've probably noticed though that the Keyboards differ from country-to-country (those in France were the most difficult for me to get used to).

If you don't need the Laptop for school or work but just for E-mail or limited web browsing, Net Cafes would likely be adequate. I'm sure there are some Backpackers that travel with Laptops, but so far this is not something I have preferred not to do.

I always travel with a Cell phone though, and find that text messaging is quite adequate for keeping in touch with family back home.

Cheers!!!

[me]

eagle said:

You've probably noticed though that the Keyboards differ from country-to-country (those in France were the most difficult for me to get used to).

from my studies in Germany, i remember qwertz layout being standard. the French azerty keyboard looks confusing!

this isn't especially germane - but, has anyone here ever used the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard? so far, i've never overcome the inertia and have stuck with qwerty.

[pointofnoreturn]

God... the French keyboards were the worst. Everything was somewhere else LOL.

[me]

there was one internet cafe on my 2004 trip, don't remember for sure - but i think it was Portugal, which had at least one PC's keyboard set up in the US QWERTY configuration. [tape over the keys that are different, with letters written on the tape]

obviously, they got enough tourists to justify the trouble they went to make it. [it's easy to change the keyboard configuration. but, you may need to reboot a computer to get it to work]

- d

[mango]

Really depends what u wanna use it for when when you travel.

If a laptop is small and light enough to not be a hassle to cart everywhere then it's probably worth quite a bit.

I travel a lot and I take a laptop just about everywhere except when I am backpacking, when i make do with a smart phone or go without.

You might want to check out something a bit more portable/less valuable like a nokia n800 or sony clié or apple iphone/ipod touch depending on what u want it for. U should be able to get something second hand in this form factor like an n770 for cheap

[Eagle]

David,

but i think it was Portugal, which had at least one PC's keyboard set up in the US QWERTY configuration

That reminded me of a Net Cafe I visited in Locarno, Switzerland. The owner had about half of the PC's configured for QWERTY operation. I'm assuming that a large portion of his business was from tourist revenue? The Cafe was very well run and the cost was reasonable.

On my recent trip, one of the Net Cafes I visited in Ireland (might have been Galway?) also provided a few working positions with Ethernet cables for those travelling with Laptops (older machines with no Wi-Fi?) as well as the usual PC's.

mango,

If a laptop is small and light enough to not be a hassle to cart everywhere then it's probably worth quite a bit

That's one of the reasons I find that travel with a Laptop has such a high "worry factor". I've looked at some of the Sony Vaio Laptops and they are certainly compact enough to easily pack, but worth a small fortune! I use a MacBook Pro, and it's not light, and I definitely don't want to risk having it stolen (along with all my journals and photos).

The technology I usually travel with is a quad-band phone (just use text to keep in touch with family - it works fine and it's not expensive) and a Palm PDA & folding Keyboard for journals (use an application called Doc's To Go and save the files in Word format). Due to the memory limits of the PDA, I found from experience that it's necessary to create a number of small files and store these on an SD card. It's a bit cumbersome to paste them into one document when I get home, but not too bad.

Still, I have thought of packing my MacBook along and if I'll be staying primarily in Hotels rather than Hostels, I might give it a try in future (might have to buy a larger Backpack though, as the one I'm using now is always FULL with clothes and photo gear - I'm thinking of adding a Tripod to the kit, so that will only add to the packing problem).

I'm not sure a smart Phone will be an option for me? We're just getting HSPA in this area, but even if I decide to upgrade my handset to a 3G model, there are two significant problems.

First, someone in the cellular industry indicated that according to information they've received so far, the North American 2100 MHz band will NOT be compatible with the Euro 2100 MHZ band. That means only EDGE will be available for surfing the net or whatever (considerably slower).

Second (and certainly more important to me) is the data rates while roaming. It's not clear yet whether the cell firms will offer some form of "flat rate" for roaming customers? I've heard a few stories of US residents taking their brand new I-Phones to Europe and using them for E-mail and surfing the web. They get a rude awakening when they return home and find a $3000 (or higher) bill in their mailbox!!!

Cheers!

[me]

if you have WiFi web access, Ken, could you upload those docs to a website? or, even just email them to yourself?

this might cut down on the "worry factor," at least the worry of losing your data.

[Eagle]

David, that's a good idea! I'd have to work out the details though. I usually write my journals when I'm back in the Hotel at the end of the day. If I was going to continue with the PDA system, I'd have to use a Card Reader to transfer the files to a PC and then E-mail to myself. The one minor problem is that I found on my last trip that I was only able to get to a Net Cafe about every 3-4 days (if that - too busy touring!).

Travel with a Laptop would be somewhat easier. As you suggested, I could E-mail the files to myself (as a backup to the Word journal on the computer - I'd still have to cut & paste these into a Word document). Two of the lodgings I used on my recent trip had free Wi-Fi access so that would have been very convenient. Both places were VERY secure, so I there wouldn't have been any concerns about theft. However, that still leaves the problem of protecting the photos. I could upload them to my photo sharing site (I posted the link to that here on the Boards previously), but that would be VERY time intensive. I'm not sure I'd want to detract from my touring time that much? I could continue to pack along the small PHD that I've been using so far, as a "backup" (the unit I've been using is from ezpnp-usa.com).

I believe my MacBook has built-in Wi-Fi (never had occasion to use it, but something I'll have to check)? I'm kind of "old fashioned" so not sure I completely trust wireless computer yet; there are certainly some security concerns in my view.

I just acquired an IPod Touch, and it also has Wi-Fi, but it's certainly not something that would be very comfortable typing a long narrative on.

One point that I forgot to mention in my previous Post was the availability of Wi-Fi, especially FREE Wi-Fi. It seems to be more ubiquitous in Europe than here in Canada. I recently attended a function at a Hotel in the area, and was able to try their Wi-Fi system. It's "free" to a point, but only Hotel guests are provided with the password. All the Starbucks in this area have Wi-Fi, but they charge $7.50 an hour for access, which I find exorbitant and a bit ridiculous. Another local Coffee chain, Blenz Coffee provides free Wi-Fi access, but unfortunately they don't have any stores in the city that I live in. Hopefully they will open one soon, and if that happens I won't set foot in a Starbucks again!!!

One final point, I was a bit surprised with web browsing on the small screen of an IPod. It's not too hard to use at all (although I wouldn't want to do extensive web browsing or E-mail).

I was just reading the Rick Steves blog from his travels this year, and even he has changed his position with regard to travelling with technology. Who knows, I might be hauling a Laptop around on my next trip?

Cheers!

[me]

actually, Ken, Google Docs is a good place to do all this. it's a web based word processor available to anyone with a gmail account.

don't think it'll host photos, though.

[stylescriber]

Take your laptop... there are backpacks now that are designed to carry it for the outdoors. Don't forget the bubble film, though.

[karamia134]

Look at me, the newbie reviving this thread. lol, anyway, here we go.


My friend and I are looking at the new laptop craze, Minis. They are small, wireless, and usually under $300 for a basic system. I am trying to decide if i want to start watching for a sale price on one of these, or trying my hand at a cell phone instead. I have to be able to make phone calls to at least 2 people while in europe, but i know that with skype i can probably call. the laptop would add the bonus of being able to upload my photos to a photohosting site i use, saving the expense of having to buy a bigger memory card for my camera, and also having my pics someplace safe in case the laptop gets broken/stolen. But the phone will be muuuuch lighter. i dont know if it will be cheaper though. Im also bumping this thread for newer answers, as we all know laptops and all technology really evolve so much every few months.

So. to mini or not to mini? anyone have any experience with them or reg laptops and skype compaired to international cell phone usage? If so, let the new girl pick your brain.

[Mikul]

Since you bumped this thread back up, I thought I would chime on in. I purchased a Dell Mini 9 for my trip this summer, plus an external hard drive with 400 GB of storage. Last year, I took my laptop and used it to upload my photos to and update my blog. I paid a total of $305 for the notebook, so if I did loose it, I wouldn't be too upset. I purchased the laptop from the Dell Outlet on their website.

www.dell.com/content/segmenter.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dfo

However, if you polled people, most people would probably recommend not taking a laptop with you. Most hostels have a computer available for free or for a small fee. Plus there are many Internet cafes all over Europe where you can email and upload photos.

[karamia134]

part of my wanting to take my laptop is to use Skype to call home, so i dont have to mess with a cell phone or pay phone. That is actually the mini ive been looking at though Mikul. Thanks for the input

[Eagle]

karamia134,

Netbooks (or "minis" if you prefer) are the hottest trend at the moment in portable computing. There are lots of companies now producing them, and new models are being introduced frequently.

These work well for applications that don't require a lot of "horsepower" (gaming or similar applications probably wouldn't be a good fit for a Netbook). The processors used in Netbooks are not as powerful as those in full-size Laptops or desktops, but they work fine for applications such as E-mail or web browsing. Some of the earlier Netbooks were provided with solid-state memory (often no more than 8 or 16 GB) rather than a hard drive, so that tended to limit their use for applications such as photo storage. Many of the current models are supplied with at least a 160GB hard drive.

One other point to consider when choosing a Netbook is the screen size and quality. The earlier models usually had an 8.9" screen, while many of the newer units have at least a 10.1" screen. Other factors to look at are whether a matte or glossy screen is preferred, and also the quality and viewing angle of the display.

One popular Netbook model that was recently released is the ASUS 1000-HE. It uses the faster N280 processor and the manufacturer also claims a battery life of about 9-hours (which is considerably more than many competing models)! Have a look at www.amazon.com/10-Inch-Netbook-Processor-Storage-Bluetooth/dp/B001QTXL8C/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1239948138&sr=8-2 for all the details. The reviews (at the bottom) seem to be very impressive and the price is extremely reasonable!

Cheers!