Author	Message
Stephen Spooner Member United Kingdom (Great Britain)	# Posted: 29 Jul 2006 20:18:49 Hey guys, going travelin in january. i am goin to asia, oz and the u.s. i am wondering whether or not i should take a laptop. i want to take one for to store all music on, store my photos on and have have constant internet access. However i am worried about security. will it be safe? what should i do ?

syl Member	# Posted: 2 Aug 2006 11:49:00 Hi, according to my experience you should definitly bring one with you. I've been travelling around oz, asia and india with my Apple PowerBook12" and i never had any problem. Of course, in some place you will feel that it's not appropriate to bring it with you for check your mails, but you will easly feel it it's just common sense! Else, you totaly right it's a must for bring music, check your mail (it's possbile to plug a laptop allmost everywhere, oddly you will find more internet cafe which accept it in Asia than in oz ...) Go ahead!
david young Member edinburgh	# Posted: 8 Jul 2008 22:04:44 any other thoughts on this.. i am more worried about security and it getting stolen..going to hong kong bangkok then down to singapore before onto oz
see the world Member United Kingdom (Great Britain)	# Posted: 28 Aug 2008 22:16:43 i think security might be a problem, when i was in a hostel in brisbane someone got there laptop stolen, and in a perth hostel somebodys bag was stolen, which had a laptop, camera and all documents/money. i would say you wont need your laptop as everyone uses internet cafes and most hostels have internet avaliable for a small fee. i would suggest taking an ipod for your music and get an extra memory card for your camera as you can transfer your photos on to cds or straight on to facebook/websites like that. your laptop could be even more of a problem in asia, you shold be fine in singapore and hk , but then again these places will have lots of internet axcess. im guessing you will be going through vietnam across cambodia through thailand and down to singapore. vietnam has reletivly low crime rates however cambodia and southen thailand are quite dangerous places to be at the moment. a laptop could make you a target in these kind of places. another problem will be the american/british/canadian/european travelers.......some people will be running out of money and will do anything to spend thta extra two/three weeks in thailand or whereever they are. all in all i would not recomend taking a laptop, you wil not need it, it will cause you security problms, and it will take up room in your bag. hope this helps
rikkardomi Member Italy	# Posted: 21 Oct 2008 17:54:00 Hi all I have been recentely travelling in Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Turkey and everywhere there are internet cafe, and all hostels have internet access ( most for free ) and wifi. If you do not have a laptop this is not a big problem. anyway you can still carry one of the new ultra mobile pc, very small, and they are very usefull when u need to find a hostel, a buddy or even to contact your family. I ve been using my Nokia N95 and even with that is great, as i can do most of the things i need from internet.... and is a phone, and a music player. i am now looking at Acer One Ultra Mobile laptop, and other Asus one. they can have video camera, and good lasting battery. i met people travelling without a phone, and thay are fine with that. to close I think is better to carry something with you during a long trip, that allow at least wifi connection. so a good phone or new Iphone, or a palm would be enough if you don t care about storage size. peace
iain Member United Kingdom (Great Britain)	# Posted: 14 Mar 2009 17:07:47 I think a laptop would be a big no no. people have already mentioned about internet cafes and thats exactly what im planning on exploiting, and im looking at getting a 16GB Mp3 player to take with me for storing music onto. and decent memory cards to accompany your digital camera don't cost much plus you can always take a spare surely. although my laptops very small its fairly heavy and its not cheap either. and security of your kit would have to be doubled because if people know youve got a laptop then im sure they'll be sniffing about your bags for it. i havent got one
Piero Member Australia	# Posted: 15 Mar 2009 07:50:52 · Edited by: Piero Yes take a laptop but a small one like i did I took the Asus eee pc 901 which is only 10 inches big and it was awesome Don't even think about going to internet cafe as they are so damn expensive. If you take a laptop you ll be able to use free wifi pretty much everywhere
iain Member United Kingdom (Great Britain)	# Posted: 15 Mar 2009 09:20:43 good info there piero, ive just ordered an Archos, i was originaly planning on taking a 16GB ipod for music. but if you havent already heard of an Archos i sugest you take a look at this link. theres a newer version out than the one im showing you. but as far as i can see theres not much of a difference. in short you can transfer/download upto 200 movies. store upto 95,000 songs. and upto 1.6 million of your photo's. http://www.gaj-it.com/793/detailed-look-at-the-archos-705-wifi-portabl e-video-player-160gb/ i havent got one
Randall Member Canada	# Posted: 31 May 2009 18:25:23 At first glance this computer might seem like a joke but it has some features that a traveler would love! OLPC XO - http://laptop.org/en/laptop/ This computer is so small, lightweight, tough, and very versatile. You can almost plug it into anything including 220, 110, and solar or other types of standard power. The screen can work using the light from the sun and you actually have better resolution and the screen is much brighter in the natural light. Solid state hard drive (no spinning parts), so this means you can drop it and not worry about destroying the hard drive and it stays cooler. Built in WiFi, built in Video Camera, Add extra storage space by adding a memory card. You can get a Linux version and do or have some custom programming done to have it do exactly what you need it to do or you can even install Windows XP... (I have read) And they are cheap....
litbour Member Singapore	# Posted: 18 Jun 2009 06:10:15 Most hostel have free internet access so u can just use them. You might consider bringing a smartphone like N97, blackberry, iphone etc so that you can check email and surf net thru the wifi of the hostel. Bring along a portable harddisk drive so that you can xfer your pic into it. If you wan to bring a laptop, i suggest bringing a netbook like Asus Eee pc series...they are light and small good for travelling... Sometime it is better to relax and take a step back
manuakes Member Melbourne	# Posted: 20 Jun 2009 11:42:00 Randall How do you buy one of them ? I can only find the way of donating them to some child overseas ..
anouk Member	# Posted: 24 Nov 2009 17:52:43 I would hesitate before bringing something so valuable as a laptop... especially if you are traveling for a long period of time and staying in hostels. I would worry about it getting stolen, and also the fact that it would weigh me down- laptops can be heavy and are fragile, so you really need to watch how you carry/handle it. Having consistant access to internet does sound attractive, but I've always managed to find internet cafes on my travels.
autumn Member	# Posted: 16 Dec 2009 16:44:16 Very helpful advice anouk gives you. Really, inernet cafes are everywhere nowadays so taking laptop in trip with you is not as much nassasery as it maight have been few years ago but... but there's one 'but' it's hard to have all your photos on camera card, so you have to think about some outside disc or sth like that
Emilyroggers Member	# Posted: 22 May 2010 12:53:09 Stephen Spooner : Hey guys, going travelin in january. i am goin to asia, oz and the u.s. i am wondering whether or not i should take a laptop. i want to take one for to store all music on, store my photos on and have have constant internet access. However i am worried about security. will it be safe? what should i do ? Yes, you can if you have wireless laptop computer as it is portable, compact and light weight. 'Wireless' here refers to Bluetooth connectivity that you can get on your laptop for connection without wires within a maximum distance of 10 meters to Bluetooth equipped mobile phones, Bluetooth equipped transceivers, Bluetooth equipped barcode readers, or other such Bluetooth equipped devices.