My laptop and me....
Aug 14 '00
In the last month, I transferred to a new job within my company which has now required me to use a laptop for travelling. Thus far, I’ve enjoyed it (the travelling more than the laptop mind you) but I have learned a lot of things about carrying and using a laptop for travelling. Here are some things to consider:
1. Laptop Weight. Go for as light as possible. Since you will be carrying your laptop on the plane, you want it to be light and easy to carry since you will have it and probably a carry-on as well. Most of my travel has been 1 night stays so I don’t even check luggage in, I carry my laptop and my luggage bag with wheels and off I go. My laptop, an IBM Thinkpad something, isn’t the heaviest there is but it is nothing close to light. It is definitely a pain when carrying through the airport, strapped over my shoulder in it’s carrying case. The worst experience thus far was going from a D Terminal to an A terminal at St. Louis and having only 14 minutes to do it. The laptop definitely slowed down the running speed I had to have to make it due to its excessive weight. My next one will definitely be lighter.
2. Laptop carrying case. What’s so important about that…Well,
A.)Durability. You end up throwing it around, banging it around, tossing the empty case around your office or home. It has to be able to stand up to some level of abuse.
B.)Shoulder Strap. Make sure it’s easily adjustable and fits comfortably on your shoulder. Since many laptops used are somewhat heavy, the shoulder strap tends to wear into your shoulder, or it does mine. Make sure the padding is thick and fits snug on your shoulder. Make sure you can adjust it to the proper length so that the case falls correctly on your waist or hip.
C.)Functionality. Does the carrying case have room for accessories such as an extra battery, office supplies, documents you may need quickly, etc. The one I use does and it makes travelling much more convenient since all of the work I need is easily accessible in my laptop carrying case.
3. Battery life. How often will you use your laptop without having it plugged in. This is an important factor in choosing a battery. Most batteries have a life of up to 6 hours but some have only 2 – 3 hours of life without recharging. If you heavily use your laptop without AC connection, you need to ensure that you have a long life battery. I also have a spare battery that I keep with me in case I end up loosing juice. Often I will have the laptop out on plane trips and in hotels without plugging it up and the battery life runs down quicker than I notice. My recommendation would be to just buy the longer life battery to begin with since future usage may not be known right now.
4. Keyboard. The hardest thing for me to adapt to with the laptop is the smaller keyboard. I feel like my hands are cramped together trying to type. With time and use, it gets easier but even now, it’s still cumbersome at times. Several laptops that I have looked at have better spaced keypads and even adapters where you can connect a full-size keyboard to your laptop. When looking at laptops, type on the keyboard and see how easy it is. Be aware, it will feel different but make sure that you can adjust yourself to the keyboard with time. Also think about what you use the laptop for a lot. If you deal with a lot of numbers, you may want to check the positioning of numbers on the keypad or think about getting an adapter that is made as a stand alone numeric keypad that you plug into your laptop.
5. Screen-size and customization. Many laptops have several options on screen-setup. This is a great function. Often times, manufacturer screen settings are too bright for long term use. My personal preference is a slightly darker screen that is less painful for long time usage. With screen customization, it’s also nice to be able to select pre-defined modes for word processing, playing games, viewing presentations, etc. These settings are optimal since they change the look of the screen, brightness of the screen and even the color of the screen.
6. Modem. Does it have one and what is the speed. Almost all laptops come with a modem these days. Make sure you know the type of modem and speed of modem. I dial into my work office while travelling and at home and part of the set-up is knowing your modem to be able to set up your user profile for using the modem. In the same effect, when dialing in, I want the fastest possible modem so that my dialing in isn’t slow and cumbersome. Most phone/land line dial-ins will only connect you at 26.6 baud even though your modem is a 56 baud modem but with new satellite, cable modem and DSL lines, you can take advantage of the higher baud modems to increase your dial-ups and productivity.
7. Ease of upgrading. How easy is it to upgrade your modem with additional ram, memory or adding a newer/updated modem. Purchasing a laptop isn’t a cheap function so you want to make sure that as new technology comes out, you can easily upgrade to meet new demands.
There are several others things to consider as well such as pre-installed software, security measures, etc. Now that I have the laptop and have been using it, I don’t ever see myself using a desktop model again. The convenience, portability and usefulness is perfect for an active person be it business or personal. Just plug it in and go.
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mrmazda
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Member: Todd
Location: Conway, AR
Reviews written: 379
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