Choice is a good thing.
Nov 22 '00
It should come as no surprise that people in the travel business tend to do a lot of business travel. Since I like spending time with my wife and daughter, I try to keep mine to a minimum, but I was gone for one week this month, and am scheduled for another trip before the month is over.
It's a good thing I was recently issued a laptop by the company. Better still, I was given the option of choosing which laptop, and even which brand of laptop, I wanted. Of course, it wasn't totally carte blanche - I could only choose between a couple models from Dell and a couple models from Toshiba. But the models available provided a good range of capabilities and features.
A few weeks earlier, I had specified laptops for a few new hires who were joining my department. Since we do a lot of development work, I'd specified a fairly powerful model, the Dell Latitude CPxJ, and my boss had ordered them with all the bells and whistles - maximum drive space, plenty of RAM, and DVD drives.
When they arrived, I was disappointed to see that they also included every conceivable pointing device, since I'm a bit of a pointer bigot and only want one pointing device on any laptop I use. When the time came to choose my own laptop, I opted for a Latitude CSx. It offers only one pointing device - the kind I like - and is a slimmer model, with an external bay for floppy and optical drives.
Other people in the company use either of those Dell models, or various Toshiba models. In some cases, I think people's laptops resemble them a bit - a burly developer hefting a burly Latitude CPxJ, a petite manager toting a petite Toshiba Portege, and so on. Unfortunately, some of the new hires who weren't able to specify their own laptops have taken to coveting my lighter model, but oh well.
The company makes a point of properly equipping mobile users. My laptop came with the largest available hard drive, either 18 or 20 gigabytes, 256 megabytes of RAM, floppy and DVD drive modules for its external drive bay, an extra battery, an extra AC adaptor, a Xircom RealPort 10/100 ethernet and modem combo card, and a carrying bag that holds all that with plenty of room left for paperwork. Did I say "properly" equipping? Personally, I feel a little over-equipped!
From the days when I used to lug my personal laptop places with me, I own an L.L. Bean "Campus Computer Organizer" backpack. It's got a padded laptop compartment, and the new laptop fits into it perfectly. There's plenty of room for any extras I feel like taking along, as well as books, clothes, or whatever else. I just completed a 1-week business trip with no luggage other than that backpack - and yes, it fits under the seat on airplanes!
I like having drives mounted externally - it gives me the ability to leave them, and thus their weight, behind if I won't be using them. I don't install software from floppy anywhere but at the office, so the floppy drive module stays there. I use AC power at home, so I don't take the batteries home. And so on. I'm starting to move away from using the original laptop bag at all, even between work and home, simply because my backpack is more comfortable to carry - and doesn't scream "Hey! I'm carrying a $4,000 laptop here!" like the bag does.
So, to summarize:
- Try to offer a few different models, so business users can suit the ones that best suit them.
- Be sure to equip laptops appropriately for each user.
- Be mindful of little "extras" based on how and where the laptop will be used.
- If possible, offer options for carrying cases, as well.
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Epinions.com ID:
dbirchall
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Member: Dan Birchall
Location: Hilo, Hawaii
Reviews written: 262
Trusted by: 64 members
About Me:
Techie, writer, dad, outdoorsman, traveler.
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