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Best Laptop for Going Around the World?
mitbeaver writes "I'm planning a round-the-world trip. 6+ months in developing countries, including Everest base camps 1 & 2, the deserts of Namibia and lots of places in between. I want to bring something to write (blogs or the Great American Novel) and burn DVD photo backups to mail home. I don't really need much in the way of power, but I do need it to survive the altitude, dust, moisture of tropical locations, and being hauled around non-stop for the better part of a year. I will be carrying my life in my backpack, so every pound counts. It looks like some 'semi-rugged' ultraportables exist, but the truly 'rugged' are all pretty heavy. These are pricey, and the risk of theft is non trivial. A smaller laptop is easier to keep on my person more often, which is safer (in most countries) than leaving it in the hostel/hotel. Still, the rugged guys are 2x the price — almost worth buying a cheap one and planning an on the road replacement purchase. I know we've talked about gadgets to carry around the world before, but any advice would be greatly appreciated." We also discussed laptop travel cases a little more than a year ago.
If you had not mentioned a need for DVD burning, I would have suggested the XO. Maybe you could get an external burner?
Thinkpad X-series, maybe one of the T-series if you really need to burn stuff, but I wouldn't hesitate for a moment about taking my X40 anywhere. It's as rugged as you can get for that weight.
c++;
One thing you must consider in Plan B (replacing the laptop) is the difficulty of getting an English version of the OS and keyboard
While OSes are internationalized and have English versions in the same package as other Latin-alphabet languages (Spanish, French, etc.) I'm not sure it would be true for non-Latin alphabets as would be the case in Asia.
In another topic, considering that postal systems in many underdeveloped countries is not very efficient you might want a plan B for your DVDs; a nice padded package might get stolen just out of curiosity and it will certainly can be opened by postal authorities in many countries to verify its contents.
Good luck and have fun!
Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out. - Cardinal Wolsey
Rugged, light, cheap: pick any two.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
I travelled for 20 months with an el cheapo Acer in my backpack. It's still going (although not in great condition), but I figured that if it was stolen then the loss wasn't too huge and if it broke, then likewise.
Carry one of those laptop locks, as well as a few other padlocks, and lock everything up any time you go anywhere and you'll be fine.
Oh, and install TOR before you go. Lots of those countries have daft internet filtering, but I didn't come across a country where TOR didn't work for me.
You will want to use a solid state disk when you are at Everest base camp.
If you read about computers used there, the hard drives fail very quickly due to low air pressure.
Hard drives are not rated to work at 18,000 feet.
* Exceedingly portable 42 pounds * 2MB Hard Drive * Several-color Monitor * Five Minute Battery Life * 512K RAM * Every time the "enter" key is pressed, everyone else in town will temporarily lose electricity * The battery burns 45 acres of rainforest as it is used as the Lappy's main energy source http://www.hrwiki.org/index.php/Lappy_486#Features
In 2006 I bought a Thinkpad X60s when they were new. Last year I spent nine months doing field work in Central Asia with it, going round the various countries, between deserts and mountains, between +45 and -20 degrees Centrigrade, and all the while lugging it around on buses, in shared taxis and in ex-Soviet trains.
Once it fell out of my bag off my back in Tashkent, five feet on solid concrete and landed on a corner. I thought "that was my laptop", opened it and it booted just fine. These are solid little devices. No optical drive, but I found I hardly ever have the need for one of those on the road.
So that would be my recommendation. It's light, yet solid, and not underpowered. I've got the extended battery, which gives me 7 to 9 hours of battery life, and I also bought a worldwide on-site warranty option which would probably be useful in your situation as well.
As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
I've dragged 2 different 17" Apple PowerBook G4s around the world a few times - maybe 100 flights, nearly a dozen countries in nearly every continent - and never had any glitch whatsoever. Both are still running perfectly, and both have been my every-day work machines in offices, hotels, wherever I am. The Apple universal power adapters are also very reliable (I've used them in every country I've been to). The current range of MacBooks should be equally dependable (but with much better battery life than the G4 :) ... and they run the most stable, secure and sexy desktop O/S.
you had me at #!
I was about to suggest a MacBook Air, but then I noticed the bit about burning DVD backups.
Yeah, that and the Apple Store Everest won't be opening for another year at least (nothing against the air, but I honestly wouldn't suggest brand-spanking-new tech for something that has to be bullet proof)
took mine with a motu traveler for recording in venice, berlin and kolobzeg. rock solid, even when recording a large rocksteady ska band. the aluminum case helps "ruggedfy" it, and the powersupply autosenses 220v. very small and light, and you should be able to pick one up fairly cheap now.
i still can't understand why apple dropped the 12" laptop form.
mr c
"Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it." - R. Feynman
That's actually a good idea, just mail home a manila envelope with the whole computer inside.
That's a good idea. The optical drive is the real portability killer. It's large, power-hungry, and the most fragile piece of hardware in the kit. If you could use something else besides DVDs, you could go with a Micro PC (like the Sony Vaio UX380N), combined with a bluetooth keyboard if you want to do a lot of typing. If you needed DVD you could still use a machine like the Sony with an external DVD drive.
Those devices probably aren't particularly rugged, but they are so small you could put them in a practically indestructible case and still be smaller and lighter than a laptop.
Dan East
Better known as 318230.
I'd go for something very light and cheap. If it breaks and you need a replacement well you're still way ahead than if you'd bought a Toughbook.
Also, instead of burning CDs, use SD cards or something small and light. They are far more likely to get through 3rd world post without getting stolen/broken than DVDs and you don't need a DVD drive. Sure they are more expensive, but EeePC or XO + bunch of SD cards is still way cheaper than a toughbook.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
It's not just what laptop to bring, but what to carry it in so that you don't look like a rich guy carrying a laptop. I suggest something extremely light, and underpowered, and small. OLPC jumps to mind immediately. But the key is nobody knowing you have it, so that it doesn't a. get you jumped, and b. walk off in the night or when you leave it in your apartment/hotel room/tent, or what have you.
Don't get a laptop bag. Wrap it in a shirt or something and put it in a canvas backpack. If the machine doesn't look like it'll take that abuse, you're asking for trouble on one front or another.
Whatever you get, immediately try to make it look like crap.
I chose the wrong bag when I was in Madagascar, and KNEW it after about a day or so, there. I did pick the right laptop, though -- a cheapo dell. I put stuff on usb memory sticks, so that my data was always both on the laptop and in my room.
Was one of those $2 notebooks made out of paper. They are lightweight, easy to use, and replaceable just about anywhere. They accept a variety of input devices, can survive being dropped from a large distance, and work reasonably well even after getting dunked in a river, although the fit and finish may suffer. They can exchange data with just about anything, by the simple expedient of tearing out pages. They have amazing translation and cross-cultural communication capabilities - just hand the notebook and your pen to the guy you are trying to get directions from, and he'll whip up a great little vector drawing in the local language to show you which turns to take. It has a crude but useful backup system, which consists of ripping out important pages and mailing them home. There is a very cool built-in security feature, which is that nobody wants your goddam notebook, so it will still be there in that café tomorrow when you remember where you left it. You can attach nearly anything to your files, even actual physical objects, if you bring some scotch tape with you.
And when you get home, take some of the thousands of dollars you saved, and hire a typist to transcribe it all for you. Or save even more money and take a week to do it yourself.
involves the sort of torture that would have lesser laptops admitting to witchcraft. It's trained to withstand 4 inches of rain in an hour pounding down on the keyboard and screen, be frozen at minus 29 degrees centigrade and baked at plus 60. And to gain the name of Toughbook, any design must pass all these tests - twice!"
Pretty reliable laptop, huh. On a side note, how did you get the money to do this adventure?
Less is better. Nothing is a good ideal. As Ryszard Kapuscinski pointed out, to have things is to die. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryszard_Kapuscinski Kapuscinski traveled the world as a reporter. He got into places that no other reporter could and got out alive. If you're truly going to rough places, the less you have, the less likely you are to be murdered for your worldly goods.
A cell phone will do most of what you want. If you can, forget the laptop.
...so why bother? If you must take an old P2 laptop that you can treat as disposable.
Buy a bunch of Compact Flash cards and mail your pics home. Assuming they dont get your camera too.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
Macbook (not pro). tough plastic shell - reasonably rugged framework. Ours has survived our 2yr old trying to torque on the screen and mashing the keys for over a year now. As a backup the Lenovo thinkpads - nice construction.
I thought it was a good idea
Forget the DVD burner.
I agree the EEEpc is by far the cheapest and most portable solution. You can buy a bigger SSD drive to stick in an EEEPC to survive riding in a jeep in Africa/Mt Everest etc., buy a bunch of 4-8-16 GB SDHC cards for additional storage/redundancy, and do offline backups when you have internet access (which you'll have if you're blogging).
Personally, I have a pimped out toshiba subnotebook that I upgraded to an SSD. I can get 10 hours of battery life.
"Except that the price ratio of cards to DVDRs is ridiculous."
Not if you include the price of postage, the dvd burner (moving part, probably will have to replace it, and the size of a spindle in your backpack. IF you want to send large amounts of HD video back, dvd-R might be the right way, but for the occasional video+ docs small (256 MB) SD cards are just a few euro, (5 euro for a 1 GB now) and are very hard to damage in post. You can have carry many around, they are light and they are rugged. And they are not lost, the receiver can return them for reuse, or use him himself.
THis allows you to go for a subnotebook, as noted, far easier to carry around.
For the computer, I'm going to recommend something different...;) Go for a PDA with a bluetooth roll-up keyboard. You'll get a LOT better battery life, something infinitely more portable (and concealable), and exceptionally rugged - they're built to take a lot more abuse.
Additionally, if you get one of the HTC units (or other Windows SmartPhones) you can write your journal entries in Word, and with the addition of a local SIM card have a cell phone as well. Plus never be without a really handy albeit low resolution video camera.
just a different option to consider!
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
FWIW I agree. Laptops are a pain when traveling. Take loads of memory cards and enjoy the trip while not worrying so much about your bag being stolen. Internet Cafes are everywhere.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I have many friends that have done extensive traveling in third world countries and have done some myself and neither I, nor no one that I know, has taken a laptop with them. It sounds great in theory but the reality is that it's simply more trouble than it's worth. I realize that this is slashdot and it's a unique demographic so if you HAVE to take one I would look for a very rugged ultraportable or umpc. Also a solid state drive would be a requirement for the high altitudes at everest.
But again, take some time to see if you can really justify the need for a laptop. If you are going to be sending daily blog updates maybe then you need one, if you are going to be taking LOTS of pictures, then maybe you could justify it. But for probably 99% of travelers, even slashdoters, you don't need one. You just have to get over that first hump of accepting life without a computer at your fingertips 24/7.
Take a notebook to write in, they're better than computers anyway. You don't need any power, plus you you can draw pictures and diagrams. When you can get to an internet cafe transcribe it. If you're worried about losing it make photocopies when you can and mail them home. 4 gb memory cards are going for 17 bucks on newegg. Assuming 2 mb per picture 2 of those cards could hold 4000 pictures, which would come out to an average of 22 pictures a day. Buy some storage space on picasa and upload pictures from there when you have a chance. If there are any documents you need access too just carry a memory stick, or email them to yourself so you can get to them from any internet cafe, or upload them to google web apps.
If you're carrying a laptop you're going to have to constantly baby it, especially if you're living out of a backpack. What happens when you drop your pack? What happens when your pack gets wet. What happens when you're on a bus with a bunch of locals, are you going to want to pull it out and risk it getting stolen? My advice is to simply cut the cord. When you're traveling like that it's much better to enjoy the experience than to be hunched over a keyboard half the day every day.
I have actually spent the past year backpacking across Asia : China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon.
Prior to this, I did a "test trip" and went to Bolivia and Peru. While I did initially consider bringing a laptop with me, my test trip told me that a notepad, internet cafes to burn DVDs and the local post office were more than enough. In particular, the notepad has an extra advantage, which is that you can stick things in it, from bus tickets to flowers, next to your impressions of the day. Believe me, it's those little details that you're going to remember.
As to the picture problem, I had one of these 2.5" portable hard drive with a memory card slot, and it let me store as many pictures as I wanted until I could find an internet cafe (which can be very difficult to find, say, when you're in the middle of a week-long trek). It did work quite well in the salt desert in Bolivia, which happens to be rather high (4000m), and can be very cold (-10C or below). If in doubt, just bring a bunch of memory cards.
Don't forget that there are internet cafes everywhere (the less developped the country, the more internet cafes, except in case of special political difficulties, like Burma), and yes, I did blog.
I originally thought the Macbook Air was a good traveling laptop until I realised it had no LAN port. If you walk into any hotel or Internet Caffe most will have a LAN connection and very few will have WiFi. I know the Mac fans will say "but but you can carry a LAN dongle", sorry carrying dongles is a "PAIN IN THE ASS" and you always find the dongle you need is back at work sitting in your desks top drawer. The best travelers laptop Ive seen so far is the Toshiba R500, light (2lb),small, has a optical drive and a LAN port.
On my travels I usually bring an old Fujitsu Biblo B2160 where I've replaced the internal drive with a 120gb disk, and a couple of backup hard drives (2.5" externals which run of usb power), one which I always keep in a "secret" compartment in my shoulder bag. The thinking behind this is that it doesn't really matter if I lose the notebook as long as I keep the pictures. Of course, if I was really worried I would probably bring a 20 pack of 9gb DVDs and burn copies of the pictures on those, then email them back. (You can pay to have your pictures written to DVD, or use an internet cafe somewhere)
I've used that computer in 5000m+ altitudes (16000 feet and more) - not at any of the basecamps to Everest, but then you'll probably be so dead tired from the altitude that you won't think of it, besides, I wouldn't trust the generators in the tent villages you stay in. (Going Lhasa -> Kathmandu is a great trip btw)
You should also look into having a zip lock bag of some kind for your notebook, that will keep the moisture out and might even keep the ants out if you go the rain forest.. I would also use a bit of padding around it, it doesn't have to be anything fancy, heavy bubble wrap and gaffer tape is good enough.
A suitable notebook shouldn't cost more than a couple of hundred usd used, buy two or three extra hard drives, and stock up on memory cards for places without power - it should be a lot less expensive than a more high-tech solution. (Some hostels in remote Tibetan villages might lack easily accessible power, but power is more common than running water in such places)
The only problem with cheap used computers is that they might not have usb2.0. That means emptying a 8gb memory card might take 2+ hours, even more if you take backups as you copy (you should do that). This has not been a problem for me, I just let it run overnight if necessary, but you might want to pay the extra money for usb2.0.
...having carried a laptop around the world (literally) for 16 months, I can tell you that a Panasonic Toughbook is worth every penny. Granted, mine was for expeditionary military purposes, but it (along with numerous other laptops we had ranging from Mac Books, Think Pads, Dells, etc.) was probably no more or less abusive than what yours will see. Toughbook's are very expensive, but they're purpose built (get one with a touch screen...you'll thank yourself). If your purpose is met by that, then cough up the bucks. Also, for the record, the Dell's are junk (including the ruggedized version they've started producing). My two cents, but two cents based on experience.
Look for one of the older W line business toughbooks (W2 or W4). They ain't cheap, but Toughbooks aren't. There's an optical drive if you're bound and determined to use it, and an integrated SD slot if you want to save postage getting the back ups home. Alternately, have you considered a TRG Pro? It's a Palm III equivalent with a CF slot. Takes AAA batteries and there's a mini keyboard available for when you can sit down (screen keyboard when you can't). It won't do color or pictures, but you can enter text to your heart's content and save and ship backups easily. I wouldn't recommend playing volleyball with one, but I've found it to be very dependable and sturdy over the years.
I was travelling around the world 2005-2006 and originally left the uk without a laptop thinking I'd use Internet caffe's to stay in touch with family etc. I quickly realised I spent too long time getting my camera connected, photo editing software installed, cd's burned etc so the time I arrived in Thailand I bought a lovely Sony vaio tx laptop at a bargain prize. It was a great travel campanion and lasted all the way around the planet. In it's sleeve it fitted in a small daypack so I could always bring it with me (when I didn't feet comfortable leaving it in the hostels). I was doing glacier climbing, liveaboard diving, 5 days inca trail walk/climb, downhill cycling in Bolivia etc... Always carying the laptop with me...and avoiding letting too many people see it when in transit.. I did treat it with care but i'm still amazed how well it lasted. I'd buy the same again today - highly reccomended! Enjoy your trip!
I wouldn't worry too much about using the laptop on Base camp or above.
I designed a wireless network and configured a number of HP rugged laptops and tablet PCs as part of the Egan/University research expedition a few years back. The idea was for the laptops to be used by the researchers and to relay data back to the universities. By the end of a couple days at base camp, everyone was mostly too oxygen-starved to use the machines to a degree that would have justified all the extra stuff. I think up there a simple digital camera with large capacity and simple controls is a good idea. And a pad of paper.
For the record, we had HP rugged notebooks - and the heated hard disk units survived. I also had a backup USB drive loaded with PuppyLinux, but they never needed it, the drives survived the trip. Actually, the only major faults were cables being destroyed by Yaks or windstorms. Bring extra cables. A thuraya phone works well there too.
I'll scribe!
Dongle = Evil, read my post.
I just returned from Uganda with mine and it was pretty good. The keyboard is a little on the small side and the processor isn't the most powerful but it worked well for me and the touchscreen was quite nice. It had an SD and CF slot which made importing pictures onto it for viewing quite nice. The biggest limitation was the lack of USB ports, it only has one. Overall I was quite impressed with the battery and the size/weight. I purchased the padded case from Fujitsu and it was a life saver, dropped it in a mud puddle, fortunately the puddle wasn't too deep, but the case now has a fresh layer of Ugandan mud. I've also dropped it from about 3' without the padded case onto concrete and it did ok, just a few new character marks. I lost the right arrow key, but I can still press it and it still works. I have no idea now what other two functions are on that key, but they weren't important as I didn't seem to miss them.
The touchscreen was very nice to have. It made going through pictures easier and overall I found the Vista basic that came with it usable if you don't mind working a little slower. I would suggest getting a surge suppressor that works world wide. I found one at the airport that worked quite well and it provided USB power. Had I know about this device I would have brought my Plextor external DVD-RW.
---- Fight to protect your right to keep and arm bears! ummmm... ya I think that's right....
For capacity, yes, you're correct that a DVD burner and some disks are the cheapest option and easy to mail. However it completely fails the rugged and portable tests. Optical drives are just not ideal for this, and while flash media will be more expensive, it will be smaller / lighter / more durable. The response above me also brings a good idea if you MUST mail DVDs out.
I have to disagree, the iBooks are most definitely *less* strong than the powerbooks! There's a design flaw that causes the motherboard to eventually crack if it gets picked up too often with one hand. Apple knows about this, and sometimes the lower-level grunts will admit it when you're getting your motherboard replaced for the nth time, Apple even replaced my iBook with a MacBook after the third time it died.
Why else do you think the MBP looks more or less like a 700mhz powerbook, ditto the Mac Pro, but the Macbook is an all new design? If you google around you'll see it's a design flaw and fairly well documented in various (non Apple-moderated) user forums.
BTW I now have a 15" Santa Rosa MacBook Pro, and can't recommend it highly enough. It's solid as a rock, and thin and light for a laptop with this much power.
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
I would also suggest the Eee as a candidate. Not just because it is cheap, but because
no moving parts besides the fan
SSD should prove more resiliant than a harddrive
small, light
seems pretty hardy. not 'rugged' but definatly not flimsy like larger 15" and above laptops
I own one and like it alot. I opened up a reply intending to unbiasedly suggest *features* I think are important, but I realized that the Eee is basically all of them. A few more things; sneakernet seems like a good answer for your situation, but I personally think DVD's are the wrong way to go about it. SD cards are a whole lot lighter, and less prone to breaking in the mail. Also you'll find small laptops make a lot of sacrifices when they decide to have a DVD drive
Lastly, as for durability, I just wanted to comment that the Eee is all 1 piece inside. There is a screen and a fan and a keyboard, but everything else is all on one motherboard. Because of this I think it will stand up to abuse quite well, short of penetrating/splitting/cracking the whole thing.
SSD, small form factor, and hopefully no DVD drive seems to be the way to go (Maybe a slim USB dvd drive?)
The Toughbook CF-19 is a fully rugged laptop which weighs 5 lbs. It's small, with a 10.4 inch screen. The problem with the size lays in the keyboard which is small enough that it takes some time to get used to (its a similar keyboard size to the EEEPC), but its not too bad. I've found with mine its small enough that its comfortable to wear around even on the back of a small person -which if under a coat hides the expensive machine you have.
There are mount points on the laptop, and you can just connect a strap between opposite corners and wear it around with you. This is comfortable and can make it such that you don't leave your laptop anywhere.
They are expensive, but also shiny. And it's already possible to find them used for reasonable prices if you look enough on Craig's List. Mine cost $1000 and I've seen a few postings for $1500.
Those are for interoffice communications, you insensitive clod. Where would you put the stamp?
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
I don't think you need a laptop.
There are Internet cafes in the nine corners of the Earth, almost all of whom will burn the contents of your camera's memory cards to DVD, and all of whom will happily let you sit blogging or writing to your heart's content for some princely sum in local currency equivalent to eleven cents the hour. OK, you will be surrounded by local teenagers playing World of Warcraft and smoking like chimneys, but this is not hard to endure.
Bring Moleskine notebooks and a reasonable supply of pens; it's not worth lugging even an Eee up to Everest Base Camp just to take notes that you could take on paper with a pen.
I've done round-the-world, I do copious backpacking in Europe; I've a couple of inches of Moleskines on a shelf, and whilst from time to time I've wished for a flashlight, and occasionally I've had to figure out where to buy a 4GB compact-flash card in Belgrade, I've never felt that what I needed was a laptop.
I'm not surprised a repair tech, when cornered with an unusually bad problem, will make noises implying the model in question is bad design... which is why you shouldn't take their word as sincere in that situation.
I do know that Apple had many more problems with easily-dented aluminum causing motherboard problems on 15" Powerbooks. This repair survey does show both of the 12" models as among the most reliable.
One thing to be aware of, if you take the 'net cafe route, is that in some countries, you need a high cigarette smoke tolerance. This is improving in many countries, but not everywhere. They don't smoke wussy American cigarettes everywhere, either. A lot of places prefer much harsher stuff. If you have allergies, or other problems with smoke, definitely check out the situation wherever you're going, first.