Traveling Laptop

Sisson2011

Sisson2011

Well-Known Member
I'm in the market to get a new laptop. There are so many options out there right now and I'm trying to narrow down my search. I'm curious to here if anyone has any good or bad comments on laptops they have or have had before or suggestions.

I'm looking for an actual laptop (not tablet or netbook). The max size I want is 14". I mainly use the laptop for internet, Microsoft office and outlook, Logbook Pro, Email, Pictures, and watching movies off netflix. Of coarse it has to be able to handle the pilot life style, portable but able to with stand living inside of luggage.

Thanks!
 
Go Cheap

Honestly if you are just going to do the things you mentioned with it, why don't you get the cheapest thing money can buy?

You're going to have this thing in and out of a suitcase quite a bit, taking it out on layovers and in terminals, watching movies with it on flights, and so on, and it is going to get beat up more than an average laptop.

I wish I had gotten something cheaper than the MacBook that I bought for this very reason. If you're going to haul something around a lot it is going to break -- at that point you can either fall back on a warranty (if I had purchased that with mine, the cost of the entire ensemble would have been triple the price of another type of laptop that I could have bought) or look at getting a new one.

Next time I do this after my current laptop dies, I'm going to get the cheapest possible thing that will still get the job done for me.

Any extra money after that, I'll put towards desktop computer items -- I don't mind spending more on that stuff since it sits calmly on my desk and doesn't break nearly as fast.
 
Re: Go Cheap

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad X201, it`s bullet proof. I take it with me on every flight, I just put it in my flight bag, no sleeve...nothing, it gets beat up a lot around the plane, gets massive shocks in the car on the way to work, from my house to the airport there are not many paved roads. I dropped it several times, never, never had a single problem, battery lasts more then anything else I ever owned, with the wifi on I get 5 hours without over 7....
 
I know you said no tablet but I still must interject that a tablet is the best road warrior device, IMO.
 
I have an Acer Aspire 5532, bought it during the fall of 09. Since then I flew a season of aerial survey, so it was being tossed in and out of my bag, and in and out of the airplane almost daily for 7 months. It never missed a beat. I've since used it for homework, watching movies, basic games, and it's been great! Now with my schedule, I'm throwing it in and out of my backpack every day, which goes in and out of the airplane every night. The bag (basic backpack) has been dropped, banged, and has had PAX bags thrown on top of it, a few time I even said 'there goes the laptop', but it still hasn't missed a beat. Best part is that it only cost $430 after taxes brand new. If all you're looking to do is email, word processing and watching movies, I would buy another Acer in a heartbeat!
 
subpilot said:
I know you said no tablet but I still must interject that a tablet is the best road warrior device, IMO.
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Eh, I like my laptop on my long trips. I'd go crazy if I only had a tablet. I have a 13" MacBook Pro and it works good, lasts long time.
 
Don't mean to hijack a thread here, but for those road warriors that have purchased an Ipad, how does it hold up?
 
Macbook Air 11 in, especially with the latest updated model, once you have it you will never go back to anything bigger.
 
I have an Acer Aspire One D255. Picked it up at Costco last year for $250. Very convenient for traveling.
 
I take my Macbook with my everyday, it is a very strong computer. It sits in my backpack in the cargo bay and doesn't flinch. Not to mention the battery will last longer than any PC you can buy, you just won't find one with a better battery. It is expensive but worth it.
 
flyer8 said:
Macbook Air 11 in, especially with the latest updated model, once you have it you will never go back to anything bigger.
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I second this, but make sure to get 4GB of RAM. The RAM module is sodered to the motherboard so it is impossible to upgrade if you decide you want more RAM later.
 
Troy said:
Is that the one that is really thin??? How's the battery?
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Holds about 4 - 4 1/2 Hours worth of websurfing, new one should be slightly better. It is ridiculously thin and small, I carry it in my lunch box.
 
I have a 15" MacBook Pro and have Windows 7 on it. I travel constantly with it and use it a ton. The laptop is lighter than any laptop I have previously owned, has a great battery life, built rock solid. It also can run Mac and Windows programs so I can pretty much do anything I want with it and it plays movies great. I didn't buy the apple care warrant but went through my insurance carrier and got a seperate policy for it as it is a required work item. If anything happens to it (coke, fire, loss, theft, or accidental damage) $50 bucks gets me a new one.

Just be sure to get the anti-glare screen.
 
Inverted said:
I take my Macbook with my everyday, it is a very strong computer. It sits in my backpack in the cargo bay and doesn't flinch. Not to mention the battery will last longer than any PC you can buy, you just won't find one with a better battery. It is expensive but worth it.
Click to expand...

One of the reasons I bought my Lenovo was that the battery lasts more then the Macbook and produces a fraction of the heat a Mac does......
 
ljg said:
Don't mean to hijack a thread here, but for those road warriors that have purchased an Ipad, how does it hold up?
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Bought my iPad 3G April '10, I've used it full time since. I fly pt 91 so its not quite the road sched of 121. I avg prob 6 overnights a month, though latley its been 15-20. I will probably never go back to carrying a laptop. If all you need it for is web, email, movies, music, books, magazines, logbook pro, and a 100,000 other apps then it's perfect. In fact I have my MacBook plugged in as my "desktop" but I almost never use it. The iPad is always sitting right there next to me.

Some one else mentioned having only hardwired Internet in hotel rooms. You can get an Airport Express from apple. It's about the size of a phone charger, plug it into the wall, plug the Ethernet cable into it and get instant wifi.
 
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