Traveling with Your Laptop
 

I just noticed that there is a great thread in the Europe lounge regarding whether one should travel with their laptop or not. I thought it might be of interest to members here.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35155761

I personally bring my laptop when I travel domestically, but not internationally. You?

Mine never leaves my dining room table, mostly because I don't travel for business, only pleasure. I do use internet cafes every few days to check in.

Thanks for posting that link, Katie. I don't usually read the Europe forum, and this is a topic of interest for me.

I have been bringing my laptop more frequently the last few years, especially for international travel and/or domestic trips that are primarily vacations where I stay in hotels (I wouldn't think about leaving it behind for business trips and/or trips where I stay with family or friends). Like other people posted in the referenced thread, the increased prevalence of free internet at hotels and other places, and my "needs" (getting on-line for additional trip research, using email to keep in touch with people at home, taking notes about my trip, and downloading pictures from my digital camera) have been the motivating factors. Also, when traveling solo, I do like to be able to do stuff on my computer later in the evening, like I do at home. I use my work laptop for work and personal needs, so I get a little concerned about the possibility of my laptop getting stolen and having to explain that at work. I probably would rethink bringing my laptop if my trips were mostly to places where I was traveling around a lot, but most of my trips are to places where I stay in one hotel (or at the most two) over the course of the trip.

I travel with my laptop. I take it on business and vacation. It is essential to stay in contact and to be able to go on line.

I couldn't do with out it while out of the country, I use it to call home via VOIP.

I don't usually take mine on vacations, but am thinking about getting one of the new small 8"ones for travel. I noticed in Rome in September that many internet cafes had disappeared. There still seemed to be quite a few in Florence.

kybourbon
I have one of the little Acer Aspire One 9 inch laptops. I love it. Mine has windows xp, camera, mic. I is great weighs only 2.2 lbs. We take it everywhere. We use it for Skype when overseas. It was quite inexpensive at $400.

When you travel overseas, how does Skype work? Do you think it would work on a cruise ship with internet access? Do I just put my camera sd card in the media reader and it will automatically download the pics to my files?

Abby, yes Skype works overseas (Europe) I cannot vouge for any other areas. Not sure on the camera card.S

I have a great little 13 inch laptop and a daypack that fits it perfectly. I've been to about 20 countries with mine and love it =) JUST MAKE SURE IT'S LIGHT AND SMALL!

I put about 30 gigs of pictures on my laptop per trip, and do blogs from the road so it's kind of a necessity for me nowadays.

Every year I think about taking my laptop on vacation and every year I don't do it.

My logic:

I'm already carrying a lot of camera gear, so I have lots of expensive equipment to keep my eye on during the trip. Adding a laptop to the mix just puts it over the top for me.

I don't really want to spend my time emailing folks back home, checking messages, etc. I would rather spend my time out and about and seeing new things and meeting new people. In the evenings, I settle with a good book, review my day's events in a journal, plan my next day's activities, or head out to hear some live music.

I like coming home and processing all my photos. It gives me a sense of a "vacation extension". I also set up lunches with certain friends and plan a day with my nieces to talk about my trip, show off some photos and deliver souvenirs. If I emailed during the trip, there wouldn't be anything to talk about when I got home.

As mentioned by Tyler above, IF I were going to travel with my laptop, say for an extended trip staying in an apartment with connection, for example, I would definitely consider it...

then I would need to purchase a smaller, lighter one than my HP Pavillion (which I love at home but would be too big to tote around).

Yep, I take it with me.

I see laptops more and more in hostels. They are getting so small these days that it's not that big of a deal. The size and annoyance of them is much more of worry than the cost. Just be careful with them as you would any valuable.

Ditto on the Acer Aspire One mini-pc. Bought one for our trip to Paris. Worked great on free Wi-fi both in the hotel and in the park, and offline during the plane ride home (photo editing). Loved it!

Abby, my experence with SKYPE is that if the internet connection has enough bandwidth, it works no problem.

If there isn't enough bandwith, my wife says I sound like the teacher on Charlie Brown.

Some hotels I stay in have what amounts to dial up and it will not work there because the signal cannot get through.

I usually bring my laptop whether its a business or pleasure trip. It keeps me to stay connected to friends and family all the time.

http://www.route66place.com