Best Technology For Long-Distance Travel? 257
An anonymous reader writes "Over the past year I have traveled across the globe for work but I can't seem to find the right balance of technology to take with me. After reading a CNET article about tech for traveling, I'm still slightly undecided about what hardware suits me best. On the work side of things I need a laptop, nothing fancy but it can't be too heavy or slow. I also need a smart phone that can receive emails across the world and if possible a satellite navigation device, as I need to get to less-traveled locations on a regular basis. From a personal perspective I need my music but I don't care about video, so I'm looking for something with high-quality audio and great battery life. A compact camera wouldn't go amiss but dSLRs are too heavy for my needs and carrying strength, so something I can tuck in a pocket would be perfect. Any suggestions greatly appreciated."
Asus eee pc (Score:5, Interesting)
Hong Kong Lineup (Score:3, Interesting)
- Thinkpad P42 Work Laptop
- 80Gb Video iPod
- Nintendo DS
- Standard (non-noise cancellation) over-ear headhones
Never used the laptop - slept ~6 hours, watched/listened to iPod with no battery concerns for ~6 hours (Family Guy, Harvey Birdman, Original Star Trek, History Channel), played DS for ~2 hours (tetris) and did crosswords the rest of the time - had a great flight. Of course, I should mention that I was in business class - I've had 2 hour flights in coach that I wouldn't have traded for this 15 hour one.For post-flight I'm not much help, I'm happy to concede cell-phone and mobile email when overseas.
MacBook Air (Score:3, Interesting)
As long as you aren't burning CDs or anything, the Air is a very good solution. If you really need to burn CDs, there is an external drive available.
No Laptop (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure you might want to work on the airplane while you fly over the ocean. Print it out, bring a pen.
Re:DSLR vs. compact (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.phonesource-usa.com/ [phonesource-usa.com] has the n81 with a 2gb SD card included. . . according to the site at least (haven't received it yet).
I cannot stress enough to get a quadband GSM phone you're comfortable with. You can use it in the US, and all it requires to work somewhere else is paying out the nose for roaming or purchasing a local prepaid account with a simcard and pop into your phone.
Re:Asus eee pc (Score:3, Interesting)
Second this. I got one of these after getting sick of carting my full size laptop around in a backpack for emergency work. Its tiny, light, comes with a nice distro of Xandros which just works (tm), and I plug it straight into my 3G phone for internet anywhere. Great battery life. Goes up to 1024 x 768 so great for web-based demos through client projectors. Starts up in 20 seconds. Open Office for document work (though personally I use google docs).
Best of all its cheap, and I don't keep any data on it (ssh keys on a USB keychain) - for me the hassle of repeatedly getting laptops stolen means that I love having a disposable laptop.
Re:A Couple Thoughts... (Score:5, Interesting)
Everything you have when you travel can and will be lost (one day or another). I have had laptops, external hard-drives (including ipod), flash drives, cds seized without cause by customs official in some countries. Probably because they wanted to have it for themselves and there is NOTHING you can do about it unless you want to risk spending a couple of weeks in jail for a $100 HD. They might just be able to find some marijuana or cocaine on you if you won't let go and try to make a fuss.
I have a synchronization software that run on my laptop and send every updated file back "Home" (over ssl) as soon as it detects an internet connection. So if my laptop gets "borrowed" I'll only lose the value of the hardware and not the actual work.
Encrypted drive can be fun but might also get you into more trouble than they are worth. Last time a custom official asked for my windows account password I was in a locked room, he had stored my passport in his drawer and was carrying a gun. Again, not worth it. Just make sure that there is as little sensitive information on your laptop as possible.
I travel in some rough countries, some of them under embargo by the US (I am not a US citizen), some of them on the "axis of evil", some of them just plainly plagued by corruption. (And some of them quite nice and relaxing but they aren't funny to talk about)
If you do the same, keep some spare change for bribes (at least fifty $1 bill), convert part of your cash to traveler's check, keep you credit card separate from your wallet. Do not trust safe in hotel, even if you can "choose" the code, management has the master key anyway.
Oh and don't go to the local brothel even if the taxi driver tells you his nice brother run the place.
About taxi driver when you find a "good" one, always give him a large tip and keep his number that will create an strong incentive for him to come pick you up very quickly and to "protect" you during your stay (otherwise he'll lose his good tipper). But we're not talking about technology here so I guess I'm out of scope.
Re:Come Again? (Score:4, Interesting)
It is really quite simple - when you tilt camera by a certain angle the image would shift by 1 pixel. For two cameras covering the same scene the one with more pixels will have the smaller angle. Thus for the extra pixels to actually make a difference you need the camera to move less than that angle during the exposure.
To test this put a thin black hair on a letter or A4 size piece of paper and take an image. Ideally it should be 1 pixel wide, but 3 antialiased pixels is probably to be expected with todays cameras. If you see more than 5 pixels the camera was shaking too much relative to the object and the same quality could be achieved with a sensor of 1/2 resolution (and thus 1/4 of megapixels).
As for your shots, yes I can easily believe that with large wideangle (corresponding to 0.5 zoom) you can make use of 10 MP without stabilization. However, none of pocket sized cameras have lenses that can do that - and I find the ability to have the camera always with me quite useful.
Re:N800/N810 (Score:3, Interesting)
My boss travels around the world a lot and he has one tip he uses all the time - get a Pay as you talk SIM in each country that you visit, and keep them in your wallet. It's *much* cheaper than
paying roaming charges. Pretty much any (unlocked) GSM phone will do.. but don't spend too much - they can break, get lost, etc. and you have a laptop anyway.. no need for snazzy features.
Addendum (Score:5, Interesting)
First, I wiped it clean. Next I set up two accounts, on that I would use, the other set to be the default, no password login, in case customs wanted to see what I was up to. Browsing was done through an SSH tunnel to my home proxy server (mainly because my own blog was on China's great firewall) and any files I wanted to keep were SCP'd back home.
Web mail is better than a POP app, as long as you avoid Nigerian net cafés and use your own laptop. Skype seems fine everywhere.
Take a pocket digital too. The one you have from a few years ago. Use that for all of the crap photos you will inevitably take and save your film for the good stuff. Upload all of the digital junk to Flickr or whatever from your hotel every day, so you won't worry about losing it.
For the real pictures, use film and take your time to enjoy it. Slow down and write down your impressions of the place and give it some real thought.
Enjoy your trip.
And you need a good bag! (Score:3, Interesting)
One thing that needs to be addressed, what to carry all your gear? I've always used a backpack to carry my stuff (14 in. laptop, mp3 player, digital camera, disk case, PSP, assorted cables and chargers, and a couple magazines and/or paperbacks) as the messenger bags tend to get too bulky. I'm currently carrying The Crumpler Sinking Barge backpack [photo.net] as I've been traveling with my Canon DSLR and two or three small lenses and this bag was designed to carry the camera stuff and a laptop. The Crumpler brand is well known in the photog arena for their capacities, durability, and funny names.
Business Trips Overseas (Score:5, Interesting)
Last time I went on an international business trip, I took one carry-on with my clothes packed in vacuum-sealed bags. As far as electronic items, I took my 60Gb iPod and my HTC TyTN... oh, and a set of noise-canceling headphones. Not to mention an eye-mask and ear plugs (so I could sleep). That's it... nothing else.
I had packaged up my laptop and other business-related paraphernalia in a secured box and shipped using an insured carrier the day before I departed. Yes, that meant I was "sans laptop" for a day... but really... with my TyTN able to get my email and web browsing I didn't miss it. The laptop and stuff arrived the day after I did and was quite secure... I didn't have to run the rigmarole of dealing with the TSA or their foreign counterparts with my laptop, and I had the security of knowing all my luggage was in the overhead during the entire flight and wasn't getting lost somewhere in the depths of Newark's baggage handling facility (those who've gone through Newark know this pain).
Sure, the shipping wasn't cheap but I was able to write it off as a business expense since all I was shipping were business items. I treat either carry-on or checked bags as an insecure location to store critical information. Yes, there's a risk that a loss may occur with a carrier like Fedex or UPS as well, but if it's insured then you can claim it back. Oh, and make sure the data on the drive is encrypted if you're really feeling paranoid.
So what if I'd wanted to work the day I arrived? Yes, that would be a catch. However, the first day after you arrive internationally, you're almost never going to be functional. You're going to want to sleep. However, just on the off-chance I had a bug up my butt to actually do some work that day, I put critical information (critical to the project at hand plus a few other minor items) onto the hard drive of the iPod, and a copy on a 2Gb USB stick... both encrypted of course. That way, I'm pretty much covered.
Did the same on the way home and couldn't have been happier. There's little reason to take a laptop onto a trans-oceanic flight these days... most of the airlines do in-flight movies. Even if not you can put movies on your iPod or iPhone or (insert media player of choice here). I have considered in the past getting one of the nice portable media centers to carry on international flights, but to-date I have never needed them. Plus, I make a point of getting red-eyes (overnight flights) so that I'm almost forced into a position where I get a few hours of sleep. That makes the travel much more bearable.
Think about your priorities and make a decision from there what you need to bring... but bear in mind a laptop is LOW priority if you're sensible about your other technologies. Laptops are also a risk, and when I travel the only places I like to carry my laptop are between the hotel and the office... and then ship it to my next port of call. I find travel a LOT less stressful since I started this because it means you have a minimum of stuff to keep a track of, and so long as you make sensible use of encryption your data is as secure as reasonable.