Robespierre

This is just a headcount. If you carry a laptop, notebook, or pocket PC (or a smart phone or PDA that runs programs), please post to this thread what you take and how you use it/them.

I use a Compaq 5 lb. notebook for GPS in the car, movies on the plane, internet on the ground, and copying photo sticks.

My iPAQ Pocket PC is for music everywhere and sightseeing applications. I populate GPS city maps with pushpins locating food and sights I want to find my way back to, as well as navigation programs to plot a route from A to B by bus or subway.

If you'd like to carry one, please post here:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34865426

And if you won't carry one, please post somewhere else.

J62

I always carry my laptop with me when I travel.

Uses, not in any particular order.
- internet access (touring info, weather, restaurants, reservations, news, email, financial accounts), or just browsing for fun.
- digital photo backup from my camera - I also then copy files onto usb drives for a 2nd copy.
- photo viewing and editing. We enjoy looking at pictures at the end of each day - very real time enjoyment and memory reinforcing.
- emailing photos to family - real time and better than a post card picture without us in it 1 week later.
- DVD player - we bring along a few kids or family videos
- Video games - kids need their own downtime and they enjoy some video game time.
- Showing pictures to family or friends (instant slide show)

AnnMarie_C

Laptop addict here. And I, too, have the Compaq 5lb notebook. DH has his own laptop which weighs more than mine so we leave his at home when traveling together.

On the road, we use the laptop for just about everything--picture copying (back-up) and viewing; email; searches (points of interest, restaurant info, mapquest, Fodor's, etc.); DVD(although DH utilizes this feature more than I); language lesson files for reading on the road (beats carrying books around and what I'm learning is reinforced by typing lessons into a file); and if DH is traveling on business he stores his talks / slides for review.

daveesl

I bring the laptop. I use Skype, so it gives me a local phone to the states when I'm in the hotel room. I use it to play movies on the plane. I use it to download the bazillion gazigabytes of pictures my wife and I take with the digital cameras. We use it to stay in touch with our students.

dave

milliebz

OMG! I feel so disadvantaged. How can can I learn to do all of this stuff in 9 months?

rex

I take mine. My uses depend on the destination.

Best wishes,

Rex

logos999

>Skype
If get's even better. There are completely free alternatives to Skype! Check http://www.voipcheap.com/en/sip.html
you'll need to open an account and write down the "SIP settings" account and password given on this site. After that download SJPhone (free too) on http://www.sjlabs.com/sjp.html

You need to install it and configure the software with the "SIP settings" from Voipcheap. Working great! Free calls to landlines in many western countries incl the US. SWEET!!!

Larryincolorado

I first took my 7½# Compaq LTE with me in 2000 when I bought a digital camera and realized I could not afford memory cards for all the pictures I would take. I found it was so useful that I have taken a computer ever since. However, the weight was a problem, so I purchased a 2.4# NEC Mobile Pro (Window CE) and used it the next four trips. I have recently acquired a 2.9# Toshiba Portege, which I plan to take with me in the future.

Most of the places I stay in don’t have Internet access, so I visit a Cyber cafe about once a week to send emails with attached pictures (my version of postcards).

Every morning, while I have breakfast, I download pictures to my computer. It is no longer a question of camera memory card space, but it allows me to organize them as to date and place.

One of the most useful functions I have found for my computer is using Excel spreadsheets to save rail schedules before I go and to record my expenses as I go. However, the most useful purpose I have found is to create a “dummy” expense report before I go with all my known expenses (I book in advance and know from experience what my meal expenses will be). As I pay for something, I delete it. At any time I have a good idea of what it will cost to finish my trip, so when I go to the ATM the last time, I know what to get.

jgg

We bring our Blackberries which we use for phone calls, e-mails and to get on the internet to find all kinds of info. we may need, particularly restaurant reviews. Prefer it over the laptop as it is with us at all times during the day or evening and not stuck in the hotel room so can do research "on the fly". You don't need internet access or wi-fi and even has some games for the kids. Have used it in England, France and Italy with no problems.

We use an EpsonP2000 portable storage device for all our pictures.

Savior

After reading various posts on this site I bought an IPAQ pocket PC to use during my trip to Paris in April. I am currently using various programs on it to prepare for the trip (word, excel). I also plan on using a mapping program, possibly with gps, to pinpoint various locations that standout to me, while I am there.

Robespierre

Check out Microsoft Pocket Streets. For in-city navigation, there are several hundred free maps at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobi...s/default.mspx

LoveItaly

OK, a real stupid question I know but..how do you use a Blackberry for emails and to get onto the web if you don't have wifi or internet access? Thanks!

Budman

I used to take my wife as my navigator, but now I take my Garmin Streetpilot C330 and don't need a navigator anymore. I do bring my wife, though, and she loves not being the navigator.

I haven't found the need for a cell phone as of yet.

I am considering investing in a laptop for some sort of connectivity for e-mail/news/downloading photos, DVD movies, and the like. Don't want to invest a fortune though. Open to suggestions.

Robespierre

Blackberry is a cell phone. About 37 carriers in the States and many in Europe sell wireless internet connection through their GSM networks. But airtime charges apply.

The cheapest way (free) to access the internet from a portable device is to walk around and tap into an open WiFi network. Then you can surf, email, and talk anywhere in the world via Skype.

AnnMarie_C

Budman,

I've been very happy with the Compaq--it's light, small (fits in my back pack) yet the keyboard is such that it contains my man-hands. As I can type up a storm, the keyboard was a deciding factor for me. Going to Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. for a test drive really helped narrow down the search. If we had all the money in the world I would have splurged on the Sony, complete with webcam, but it cost about $2,000 which I could not justify given my needs. The Compaq's final cost at the register was @$1,100-1,200 (laptop, battery, MW set-up, etc.), it's been awhile so I'm not exactly sure. This was more than I intended to spend but I expect to have it a long time and it was the most user friendly for me...given my man hand situation (please tell me you watch Seinfeld!!!).

AnnMarie_C

small = @ 9 x 13"

faredolce

I take my Mac iBook with me and a blackberry.

I take the blackberry to receive text messages if necessary, plus it is my cell phone, and I use it before I arrive to get to the airport, and for when I get back home. I also have Cingular service, and I activate the world phone service, just for an emergency. I have an Italian cell phone that I use in Italy every day. But like I said, it costs nothing to receive messages, so I turn the Blackberry on every now and again to check if there are any urgent messages from home.

I take my iBook because I like to keep a diary while I am on vacation. I have even blogged, so that my family can enjoy my travels. To me, writing is relaxing and good for the soul, so I either write when I wake up or before I go to bed.

I also use the computer to store travel information, itinerary info, maps, etc, for reference while I am on a trip.

Lastly, I use the laptop to upload photos, and to back them up.

Oh, and I also have recently started taking DVD's with me to watch on those nights when there is nothing else to do, and for watching on the plane or train.

I guess I am pretty wired, but having these two devices has never kept me in my hotel or rental, or kept me from having a great meal, or enjoying a very full day on vacation. I just feel disconnected without them. I also like taking my laptop with me to internet points and using it instead of their computers...it is faster for me, as a Mac person, to access everything I need and am familiar with rather than using their computers. Some places have wifi, which makes it even easier, and they like me because I am not using one of their stations!

Sue_xx_yy

Spouse takes a PalmPilot. That's it, unless you want to count our digital camera.

Sarvowinner

Bkmarking

LoveItaly

Thank you for explaining the Blackberry Robespierre! Your info was helpful to faredolce.