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What's The Ultimate Multi-Laptop Bag?
huckin_fappy writes "One great bonus of my job, I can be effective anywhere I can get a broadband point. If someone have a wireless router running, even better! The downside? Hauling the gear. The hazard of the job is that I need to be running WindowsXP and Linux. I experimented with all sorts of VMWare, Bochs, Wine, etc, and none of it cuts it for my needs. So assume you find yourself lugging around 2 IBM A31P laptops everywhere, with wireless cards, power supplies, wireless mice, etc. What's the best solution? Is there a large bag out there that is designed for such a load? Or am I better with two smaller bags? If smaller, are there bags designed to attach together in bizarre ways to mke them easier to lug?"
Just setup the laptop to Dual Boot. 80gb internal Hdd, and a small external USB/Firewire HDD, Iv seen and used 60gb host powered usb drives that work in Winblow and Linux installed. -------- "Dear Diary, I seem to be dead." -Nny
Don't know how fast it would be.
But I say, sell your PC-equipment and buy a powerbook with virtual pc.
Get a Catalog Case! Maybe even with wheels to preserve your spinal integrity...
Ceci n'est pas un post.
I'd vote for a regular backpack and use separate sleeves for each of the laptops. That would give you individual padding on the laptops and lots of extra pockets for mice, USB thingys, dongles, power bricks, CDs, swappable drives, etc. If you're going to use the bag exclusively for the laptops, you could even fold up a towel or something to put in the bottom of the bag for extra padding in case of a drop, or just for the average setting the bag down. As a bonus, your bag won't stand out to thieves quite as much as a laptop-specific bag.
I'm not a cool guy, I just play one on T.V.
i use a g4 powerbook with virtual pc. windows xp runs great windows media center worked ok fedora core 2 runs great i am currently trying suse... i really like os x. it is like having the power of linux but all of the configuration gui's are highly polished and idiot proof. and if you want more power over anything you can just open the terminal.
You need to be running them both at once, I assume? Otherwise, why not just dual-boot?
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
We've had a Targus CUN1 for a few years. Carries our (not very small) Compaq Prolinea and Dell 8000. Also carries a Canon bubblejet printer and a ton of other crap. And it's a pretty small, tough bag.
Try Cygwin. You can run most linux apps on windows with it, but you would need to compile the programs, so it wouldn't work with programs that are only available in executable formats.
BAN BPL! Keep the radio spectrum free fro
...to help you carry all that gear everywhere. Either that, or a porter in a fancy uniform.
"It's a wonderful idea. But it doesn't work." -- Tad Danielewski
I'm just curious because I too have a job where as long as I have my laptop and a phone line (or broadband in some form or another) can do pretty much anything necessary short of pushing the reset button remotely. I've had great success running a Linux host with Windows in VMWare. It works great for me. What were the trouble points with VMWare?
Sheesh.
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
Do you need to have windowsXP AND linux running at the same time?
If you don't, a simple dual-boot will work fine.
If you do, vmware should work great. It does for me.
My Linux box does not play well with my wireless drivers, so I find myself stuck in Linux more than I'd like. However, I hardly notice this, because most of my attention is being directed towards PuTTY, which is running SSH to my nice shiny server. I can carry on almost all my affairs with that, FireFox, Thunderbird (or sometimes, just pine), and occasionally OpenOffice. I don't know exactly what kind of work you do, but that may be enough to let you live in Windows. You could even rig up Cygwin to let you run X applications remotly- though I'd hate to think of the latency that would have (I'm fortunate enough to be really close to my server).
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
I've got a RoadWired camera bag; they seem to make tough, capable stuff. Here's a mondo laptop bag that might do the trick:
RoadWired Laptop Bag
The video on their site of a guy unpacking one of their bags is impressive and kind of amusing at the same time -- sort of like when all those clowns get out of the little clown car.
nn
"It's a wonderful idea. But it doesn't work." -- Tad Danielewski
Those are definitely not light, or thin laptops. Get a smaller, thinner one. And Dual boot or VMWare.
Very sparse on the details of why you didn't like VMWare or even if you tried Dual Booting.
Try it again.
Yet man kind has invented something for this. Wheels.
Get one nice laptop with a nice screen and get a powerfull one.
Get a professional carrying case with wheels. Something they use to haul tv equipment in. You are a geek, look like a geek.
Fix one the powerfull ugly laptop in a permanant way but so you can still operate it. If you get a suitcase like model, screw the display to lid. so that when you open the lid of the cause you can then let the bottom of the laptop fall and have access to the machine without losing it if you need access.
Lift the better looking laptop out of the case. Close case and put away. Hoopup good looking laptop to equipment in case and use vnc or similar to then have both oses running at the same time on their own hardware. If even VNC isn't good enough then use two ugly laptops, fix them permently inside and buy an LCD monitor mouse and keyboard and a KVM switch.
Problem solved. Sure you look like a dork but this is /. Better then carrying two laptops in a bag. I did this for a while. Damn that shit is heavy.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
You could always go for an LL Bean backpack. They've extremely comfortable (to me at least), have lots of padding for your back, and have a good amount of room inside the 2 main pockets. As a bonus, you get lots of other pockets to stick 'stuff' in.
LL Bean Backpack
Glen
Track your fuel economy
This subject has already been covered about a month ago here. Personally I've been using an older version of this bag for about 5 years. I've recently considered purchasing a Crumpler bag. I know they have several bags capable of carrying more than 1 laptop, or a camera and a laptop. Specifically, look for Brian's Hot Tub. Another user reported toting 3 laptops in this one!
I don't know how you travel... but your best best is to get a good-sized targus wheeled bag... they have several models designed to hold a printer & laptop -- you'll easily fit a 2nd laptop in there.
As an added bonus, you won't have numb shoulders from lugging nearly 20 lbs of laptops & junk.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
Setup a linux box someplace runing VNC and just use your XP Laptop to long into it. I do a lot of work on my linux box at work with my laptop at home using putty but then again am mainly doing server stuff.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I have to agree with other posters, RoadWired! I purchased my RoadWired MegaMedia bag (actually it was a gift from my wife) a couple years ago. I haven't changed bags since. At the time I was working in the Tech Support industry and traveled frequently with loads of support stuff. This bag was the only bag I ever owned that held everything, and was rugged enough to survive both Urban and Desert (Middle East) environments.
I am a luggage snob. I ran a luggage and leather goods store for almost five years in California. The best bag ever made for your application is the 19" ErgoGrip Executive Mobile Office. Amazing construction, and tough as nails. I have the 22" version (I don't think they make that any more). One of my customes carried 3 laptops (he was a CCIE for PacBell in the mid-nineties) and raved about it. I think I sold five on his word alone.
Ross Winn "not just another ugly face..."
As in the last time someone asked for advice on a bag (wasn't it pretty recently?), Tom Bihn is the maker for rugged, utilitarian cases. The Brain Bag has two laptop compartments and other pockets galore for all your other gear. It may cost more than other cases, but it will last five times as long, so it's worth it. http://www.tombihn.com
I am a mobile user for a windows centric software vendor where I am NOT allowed to dual boot, and do not have administrative priviledges on the laptop. I do my work using colinux and a usb key drive to work in my distribution of choice. No need to dual boot, and data can be shared between linux and windows on the key drive as it is a vfat formatted partition.
I really have had good luck with Tenba. They make a wide variety of quite flexible products, and will even do custom jobs.
For my money, the Matrix is a really nice pack to carry a bunch of stuff in.
It has a padded compartment for one laptop, and another compartment in front of that with a nice elastic support divider where a second laptop nests nicely. I carried my IBM thinkpad T22 and a Compaq Evo N400C and all the associated power bits, along with a full folding tool kit, a digital camera, a digital recorder, my PDA, an MP3 player, a full size set of padded bose headphones with a boom mic, my braces, and misc. geek crap (cd's, wallet, a few cards, parts, etc) all very comfortably. The pack adjusts fairly nicely and has a waist strap and nice cushy shoulder straps with a very handy case for your cellphone on the strap and a nice hole to run the cable of your headphones out of. It's got a padded pocket sized for a cdplayer as well (but I only use that for my software cds)
Oh, and it has a nice netting pocket with elastic straps for your jacket.
Hope this helps. At about $50 or so, it's not a bad backpack at all. I've been pretty happy with the quality.
Run. I like water. Push My rutabaga.
One great bonus of my job, I can be effective anywhere I can get a broadband point.
I hate to tell you, but that's not a perk. Any job that you can do from home can be done from India.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
Why VMWare doesn't satisfy your needs? Get twice the laptop and carry half the crap. I do cross-platform development on the road with a single 2GB 2GHz Athlon SXGA+ laptop. I can run a dozen virtual machines simultaneously in a wide variety of network configurations. I'll carry a powerbook sometimes, but since my OSX testing requirements are fairly minimal, I'm inclined to run OSX clients in a PearPC emulation, running on a minimal VM for checkpointing (so I don't have to endure the emulated boot times).
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
Here are some little suggestions.
printf($randomline(sigs.txt) \n "-- "$randomline(authors.txt));
-- myself
The Bags from Timbuk2 are awesome. Some of them are really bg and very well designed. http://www.timbuk2.com/ But if you are going to carry 2 laptops around all day every day you should just get a rolling luggage bag to save your back!
http://www.glad.com/trashbags.html
One of many sources for flight bags.
Addition of a little fold up cart and some bungies and you'll be able to tote your toolbox as well.
I would guess you're using one of the boxes as a network sniffer. Otherwise, dual boot, running one OS on a remote system, or kexec would save a lot of toting.
If you go with the flight bag, a chunk of foam cut to fit the bottom and covered in a bit of cloth will limit shock when you drop the bag. You will drop the bag.
One poster commented that your job could be done from India. Perhaps a solution to 'the outsourcing problem' would be a trade agreement such that the country from which the work originates would be allowed the option of a work visa for anyone from that country who might prefer to move with a job provided he is willing to work at the same scale as workers in the country to which the job has been moved.
Some discussion and perspective on this will be interesting.
Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle!
I've done this a couple of times to get exactly what I've wanted - the philosophy doesn't just apply to software!!
:-)
:-)
Work out what you want, maybe build a couple of cardboard laptops and the bits and pieces and shuffle them around using some tape until you can get a size and shape you like - remember to take into consideration that the laptops will be heavier
Then make up some templates for the shape you want and either (get and) learn how to use an 'industrial' sewing machine or take it to an upholsterer. Don't forget to think about the material you want and any appropriate padding and strengthening.
Depending on how you do it may cost a bit more initially - but you get exactly what you want and in the long term the TCO may be better
http://www.portercase.com/
These guys make nifty rolling gear cases. The large one holds my 17 inch HP and my Averatec 3250. Sturdy enough not to worry when you have to gate check it getting on a "puddle jumper" aircraft. Downside - expensive. Upside: rolls and will last forever!
cypherz
This sig kills fascists.
Those tombihn cases sure do look nice but if you need to spend less than $90 I'm doing OK with a large Victorinox brand laptop bag from the local office supply. I put some rolled up eggcrate at the bottom of the bag for shock. It could do two laptops plus gear easily, I think I paid $79.00.
Saves your back because of the roller wheels, and is built for travelling so it's tough and durable. Can't go wrong there...
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I'd recommend the Targus Deluxe Sport Backpack, if you're looking to carry this load on your back. You'll need a sleeve for the secondary laptop, but I can easily carry my laptop, a pile of wireless gear, assorted cables, and so on in this bag. It's not great on specialized mini compartments, though, so you'll have to augment it with additional carrying cases. I use two small bags, one with my daily essential tech gear (USB cords for my main devices, a few spare NiMH cells, a pocket NiMH charger,) and the other with the less useful gear, like A/V cables, Gameboy carts, and a Bluetooth mouse. The mouse is nice, but I have a working touchpad, so I'll live without it most of the time.
Alternately, how well designed is the laptop? I had a Toshiba which I could swap harddrives on in under a minute. You could try that, although you'd end up carrying a drive in an antistatic bag. You're already carrying 15 pounds of computer, even without wireless cards, AC adapters, mice, etc. You would be much better off with a dual boot system, unless you need to run both OSes at once.
This seems more like a problem of a suboptimal gear loadout than one of a suboptimal packing solution. I don't want to judge your methods, but I am worried about the strain you'll put on your back with a mobile office of that magnitude.
Raptor
"Procrastination is great. It gives me a lot more time to do things that I'm never going to do."
It ends up being nearly $300 for everything, but it protects your equipment well and it makes it possible to carry everything you need in relative comfort. The bag is made of very high quality materials and has proven to be quite durable, even though I fly around 3,000 miles a week and take my backpack with me as carry-on luggage every time. It just manages to fit under most seats, but it might not fit in some cases if you have two full-size laptops in it.
I suggest CompUSA. My wife found a case with wheels for her oversized HP Pavailion. She actually stores the notebook in a separate folder and uses the laptop designed compartment for other stuff.
Browse CompUSA for notebook accessories and bags, then go bargain hunting.
---- Smokin' another sig.
If you have a friend that works for IBM ask them about the friends and family program. They just upped the internal discount to 35%.
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I have one of these bags made by Eagle Creek.
It easily holds two laptops, or one laptop and several books, maps, accessories, lunch, etc. It has one padded laptop compartment, you'd need a padded sleeve for the other one. You can carry it by the handle on top, the shoulder strap, or pull out two concealed straps that clip on to make a backpack.
I use it for hauling stuff to places where my usual Karrimor 30l backpack just won't look so good. I don't like carrying heavy things with my hands, so the make-a-backpack feature gets used until I'm round the corner from where I have to look businesslike, then I turn it back into a briefcase-a-like and walk in carrying it.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled"
Ok, this response isn't what you asked for, but there were plenty of other helpful posts.
So my question to you is "Why can't you have two home PCs, one Linux and one Windows, and then use VNC or PC anywhere to access them?"
That way you only need one laptop, that uses any OS that can open up a virtual desktop to your full powered PCs at home. Need access to two different OSes? All you need is two windows open.
You need network access to be able to do your job, might as well take advantage of it.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
The guy makes clear that he needs both OSs at the same time. Dual booting is an idea from the nineties, and there is no way he wouldn't have thought about it first.
He says that he can't make it through software, and he tried.
Plus, he doesn't need two HDs for dual booting.
http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=70665& cat=CAR
I was able to carry two laptops (A ThinkPad and a PowerBook) in my rolling bag. You have to put a second sleeve in there, but it works.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Okay, did you ever think that perhaps he's not developing, but is instead consulting? Or will be firewalled with limited outgoing access? Perhaps he'll actually be on an air-gapped LAN. Maybe the stuff he does requires actual access to the hardware/native drivers/etc. I've experienced this using security tools. This can be especially true since VMWare does not pass through wireless network cards or the PCMCIA slot reliably, if at all. Sure, there are ways to hack around this sort of stuff, but that's probably not what this person gets paid for.
In short, answer his question or don't waste our time responding.
No offense to anyone in particular.
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