I'm trying to decide whether or not to bring my laptop to Paris next week. Looking for input on advantages and disadvantages. I think the advantage is that I'll have access to online resources for planning purposes while I'm there, and to keep in touch with home (not work!)

Should I be concerned about security if I leave it in my room? I'm staying at the Marriott Rive Gauche.

Typically when I travel, I have a car and if I am concerned about security I usually lock it in the trunk.

I took my laptop on my last trip to the U.S. (Florida & Mississippi) and I was glad that I did, even if the crime rate is 400% higher than Paris. I always left it at the motel (more than once a Motel 6, because I get quadruple Accor points on my American Express card). I personally doubt that the Marriott Rive Gauche (a former Accor property) has lower security than the Motel 6 in Gulfport, Mississippi.

On a trip a few years ago to Los Angeles, I locked all of my valuables in the trunk of my car for security (including my leather jacket with my air ticket and passport in the inner pocket), and everyhing was stolen out of the trunk in the middle of an afternoon on a weekday on Melrose Avenue, not one of the shabbiest areas of the city. Therefore I will henceforth have my doubts about a car trunk as a secure place.

I hope you do realize that there is absolutely no reason to have a car when you are in Paris. It will only cause grief, even if the trunk is not emptied by thieves.

I would never bring a laptop except on a business trip. Just too much weight, size, trouble etc. There are internet cafes if you want to email home. Or - you could just call.

We took our laptop to Paris in December. Our rental apartment had wifi. I found it very convenient to have access to the websites of museums, restaurants etc. We didn't use it for work, just for our own communication and convenience.

I didn't have to print out all of the notes I had taken and lug them around. Can't speak to your hotel security but your computer may fit in the room safe, or lock it in your suitcase if you're concerned.

I left mine sitting on the desk.

We are taking a laptop next week to the US. It contains a lot of stuff about the trip, we will use it as one of two download places for our photos and downloading our GPS logging data for geotagging the photos. Being able to go online in a hotel is very useful for finding the next hotel along or what is on in an area/weather warnings etc. Since we are away for three weeks we think it is worth taking, mainly for the photos I admit. We'll leave it in the hotel.
Any less than two weeks or if we were to visit just a single city and we wouldn't bother.

I can't imagine travelling without a laptop. To anywhere. India, Vietnam, Guatemala

Even, like Kerouac, to crime hotspots like the United States. And I leave it on the desk in my room while I'm out. I can't even begin to see why anyone going to a really safe place like Paris would think twice about it.

As a matter of interest, why ARE you thinking twice?

I bought a laptop just be fore my recent trip to Paris. I left it on the apt. desk all the time.

Great convenience. Much better than going to an internet cafe, as I have done in the past. We had a ethernet connection in the apt. in the 6th. After my granddaughter and her husband left, I moved to the 7th (where I prefer) and my Paris Perfect (www.parisperfect.com) apt has wi-fi. The way to go, for me.

I will be back in Paris for a month mid Sept-mid Oct, a brand new 8th floor magnificent PP apt. Views of all of Paris. I will have my laptop!!

I took my laptop with me to France and Italy last month. It was my first time to take it. It is very small(7in. screen) and weighs less than 2 lbs. My hotel in Nice had WiFi but you had to sit in the lobby, so I went to McDonald's to email and pay a couple of bills on line. It comes in handy for confirming your next room reservation. Also I left it in my room with no problem.

If we know we can get wifi access where we are headed we always take our laptop. Great for looking up info. for the trip and for downloading pictures. We usually keep ours in our room safe.

On 2 different nights when I was in the U.S., my wifi connection was not my own hotel but the hotel next door. the first time it was an unsecured wifi, and the second time the Motel 6 receptionist went next door to get the password for me.

Wow, don't think I'd pay bills over WiFi. It isn't very secure.

Ha, I did bank transfers in internet cafés in Thailand.

I always bring a laptop, and I couldn't imagine not having it. And I don't worry about security. I will often lock it in the safe, it will fit, but this is mostly because I find it useful as a place to keep all my electronics together. If it doesn't fit, I don't fret it and will just leave it on the desk or bedside table.

If it gets stolen... it is just a reason to get a new laptop.

hetismij,

What equipment and software are you using to geotag your photos, out of curiosity?

Yeah I've always been taking a laptop, either to hotels or apartments. In fact, always look to see if one of the amenities is an Internet connection.

The utility of having a laptop is really up to the individual, whether it's worth lugging it over.

There are cable locks you can get too for about $40. There is also insurance, safeware.com or your homeowners policy may cover it.

My daughter brought her laptop when we were in Paris in February. Fantastic..left it in the apt. on the bed. In April I was in 3 different areas of France and didn't have a laptop. No comparison............BRING THE LAPTOP!!!! Worth every semi-inconvenient ounce.

We brought our laptop on our recent trip to Paris and Israel, and were really thankful we did. Not only for internet, but checking voicemail using Skype (or making phonecalls with Skype if the connection was fast enough). And Paris has free wifi spots throughout the city.

We also used it for downloading our pictures from our cameras. It's great to not worry about running out of space on a camera's memory chip, and being able to use highest resolution (even a couple of extra chips would have filled up early in our trip). I'm kind of anal about these things and not only downloaded to the laptop but also burned onto CD in case the laptop was damaged or stolen; CDs don't take up much space at all.

It also came in handy on the 11 hour flight to Europe, when the plane's video system was out for the entire flight. I had brought a couple of DVDs, which I was thrilled to have.

Having a laptop in Paris is a great idea. Besides free unlimited wi-fi service at all McDonald's you also have free unlimited wi-fi at over 260 public parks throughout the city. I have found the signal to be good to excellent in most cases.

Larry J

If you have an apartment with a free connection it's fine. But many hotels charge outrageous prices - either for high speed connection or wifi. (I was in a 3* hotel in Zurich a couple of weeks ago and wifi access was more than $35 a day.)

At Hotel Jolanda in Santa Margherita the fee for WiFi is 5€ per hour. Sounds too high for me.