computer use

Depends (I had a professor who said the answer to every question is "depends". If all you use it for is entertainment - watching movies on the flight over, surfing the web, playing video games - leave it at home. Or find other, simpler ways. However, for some of us, a computer is a working tool. I plan my entire trip on an Excel file - rail schedules, accommodations, maps of towns, etc., so I don't want to be without it. In addition, I keep accurate day-by-day track of my expenses with Excel and can project how much more I need to finish the trip. I keep a journal with Word, save and organize my photos, and keep in touch with home with email. Finally, I use it to write new web pages and upload them to my website so friends can follow my trip.

I'd vote for leaving it home. Why do you need it? Email? surfing the web? Blogging? Can you do some of that on your phone? I can't imagine lugging my computer with me. I take lots of photos, but have enough memory on my cards. I'll play with my pics when I get home. I surf the web, but use my iphone, I email/text; iPhone. Think of the weight and the worry of having that valuable machine with you. If lost, what about security of your passwords? It's a vacation right? Make it one! Travel light with less worry. You really won't miss it. If you still really need a computer, most hotels have one for your use, and there are still a few internet cafes around for your use.

We always take our netbook with us - to be able to use skype, and internet for maps, restaurants, weather etc. And if I am away for more than a few days, I may need to read and respond to work related e-mails. It is light and easy to carry, it is not a main computer for either of us, and while it would be upsetting to lose it, it has nothing of great value on it. It is now 2 years old and has been invaluable to us.

We always take our netbook with us - to be able to use skype, and internet for maps, restaurants, weather etc. And if I am away for more than a few days, I may need to read and respond to work related e-mails. It is light and easy to carry, it is not a main computer for either of us, and while it would be upsetting to lose it, it has nothing of great value on it. It is now 2 years old and has been invaluable to us.

richard, My answer is much the same as Lee's. It depends on what type of tasks you intend to use the computer for, and what type of Laptop you're using. I packed along a Netbook for the first time this year, and found that it was a very useful addition to my travel gear. I'll be taking it on every trip from now on. There were a number of occasions when the sole Hotel computer had a long queue waiting, but the Netbook allowed me to avoid that (and also the frustrations with foreign keyboards). I only use it for travel, so there are no sensitive files on the hard drive. I normally use a MacBook Pro at home, but there's NO way I'll travel with that as it's too large, too heavy and too expensive. If it was ever lost, stolen or damaged, it would be very expensive. I also travel with an iPod Touch and while that's useful for quick checks of E-mail or whatever, the small display and keyboard becomes very tedious after a short time. Cheers!

Maybe my thinking is out of date but isn't a vacation a way to GET AWAY FROM IT ALL? Try living without the computer, cell phone, etc while in Europe, I do and have found the world does not not end and it lets me become more immersed in what I call my "Euro Life."

Jerry, "isn't a vacation a way to GET AWAY FROM IT ALL?" I tend to have a slightly different viewpoint on the subject of "getting away from it all". The technology that I travel with has evolved over the years as I "fine tune" my travel methods. I go to the trouble of hauling the tech. gadgets around Europe as they either: > Make my travels easier in some way (ie: Netbook - checking rail or air schedules, confirming Hotel bookings or whatever) > Enrich my travels in some way (ie: DSLR Camera - one of the things I find most rewarding about travels in Europe is taking photos, and this is one thing I won't compromise on! iPod Touch - nice to have music to listen to on long train journeys when there's no one to chat with. Also works great for quick checks on the Net if I don't have the Netbook with me and Wi-Fi is available) > Allows me to keep in touch with family and friends back home (Cellphone - this is somewhat pragmatic, as the people that are looking after my house and pets may need to contact me for urgent matters. As I travel alone some of the time, I also like my Sons to have some idea where I am, so I send a text when I arrive in a new city. Netbook - this allows me to share my trip with family and friends via a Blog or photos. As most of them don't have the ability to travel to Europe at the moment, they enjoy following my adventures) I've found that I DO "get away from it all" to a great extent, as I spend most of my time exploring Europe and visiting with the locals or other travellers, rather than spending a lot of time with the tech. "tools" that I'm travelling with. Cheers!

I tend to agree with Ken. I traveled in Great Britan in May and used hotel computers when I could or went to a internest cafe. Most everyplace we stayed had wifi but few had a computer for their guests. I got a notebook when I returned and am looking forward to using that in the future not only in Europe but in my USA travels.

I have a work computer and my computer and I took my computer with me the last two times I went to Europe. I used it mostly to upload my pictures. I was traveling with friends from the UK, Netherlands and Germany and it was great fun to look at my shots at the end of the day over an Ale in the pub. Also, I was able to share the files immediately wit my Dutch friends as we got a flash drive and I just copied them over. It worked out well. If I were traveling every day, I probably wouldn't take it with me. Pam

If you are serious about your photography you need to bring a computer to back up photos. There are some nice small options now from little sub $300 netbooks to the new Macbook Airs. Also tablets like the iPad are a nice small item you can use very easily and they are light and easy to carry, I call mine the anti boredom machine, you can read books, do online research, play games, watch videos, listen to music and audio books and more. Since traveling often entails lots of waiting and transportation time these devices can make travel downtime lots more fun and productive. You can keep copies of all your travel documents on the ipad and easily call them up anytime.

How big is your laptop? How upset would you be if it got lost, damged, stolen? How reliant are you on the information and communication capacity that it has? There is absolutely no right or wrong answer to your question. Personally, I would sooner go without a camera than without a small computer. But I know that others feel just the opposite. So you have to ask yourself what you would tend to use your computer for, how bulky or heavy it is, etc. In the end, you have to do the cost-benefit analysis based on your personal needs and desires.

I most likely would not, unless I had a netbook. I'd much rather bring a cell phone with internet access then a computer. I'd be worried about it getting lost/damaged/stolen. A phone with wi-fi would be a better option for me although I can see why people would like to take their laptop.

I travel with a netbook. There is no way I trust my photos to cards only, as far as I am concerned, that alone makes it worthwhile. When we travel, I also do a travel blog and having your own computer makes that a lot easier (I don't like trying to type on phones.) We have also used it to check railroad schedules and museum times etc....not to mention the occasional map. We also check e-mails and stay in touch with family.... which I like doing from a hotel room with WiFi at the end of a long day. So, for me, a netbook is worth the extra 3 pounds or so.

"Also tablets like the iPad are a nice small item you can use very easily and they are light and easy to carry" The iPad footprint is only a couple of square inches less than my Netbook's. True, the netbook is a little thicker due to it's clamshell design that protects the screen. My netbook weighs less than a pound more than the iPad. So, you can't use "light and easy". As for afraid of losing it, my Aspire One cost me about $250. Wifi iPads go for $500-$700. The Netbook has a real keyboard, replaceable batteries, can store information on flashdrives, and doesn't have to communicate with wireless on my network.

iPad or Netbook? The new "what kind of money belt should I take" debate. I vote iPad as if anyone cared. P.s. You can use excel on an iPad. I do every day.

Try HTML on the miserable excuse for a keyboard.

Last two european trips I took my netbook and used it every day to keep in touch with family and keep up with the sports news in the USA. A few hotels have computers you can use however they use the european keyboard and most charge a fee. Last week in Hawaii I used my netbook during a delta flight which offered free wifi however once you get well away from land the wifi did not work. The hotel I stayed at had 3 free computers which was nice.
I will always take my netbook with me whenever I travel.

"If you still really need a computer, most hotels have one for your use, and there are still a few internet cafes around for your use." Must illustrate how differently we travel. I've stayed a 21 places the last 3 years. 14 small hotels, 7 Privatzimmer. I have had an available hotel computer in only 3 places. One wasn't on the Internet; one was a standup terminal in the lobby, only accessible when the lobby was open. The third was in a hallway and connected to the Internet, but I also had WLAN in my room there. 9 Places had WLAN if you had an enabled device. One had wired LAN. As for Cybercafes, I didn't look in 9 places because I had suitable access where I was staying. Of the other 12, there were 9 Cafes, 4 were unavailable to me (only open during the day or not functioning). In summary, of 21 places, 2 had guest-accessible Internet computers, five were in towns with Cybercafes, 10 had access if you had your own device. Seems like having your own device is becoming more important.

' Its great for reading downloaded books' You've got to be kidding!! What happens to your eyes after they bleed to death? They make all kinds of ereaders that don't hurt.

Why would ones eyes bleed using a netbook or Ipad? The screens are bigger than a Kindle.

Of course it "depends". Personally, I would not take any full-size laptop computer as that would be 5-7lbs and would also likely have lots of non-trip-related data that would be painful to lose. They are also almost impossible to use in coach airline seats and tight in trains & busses. However, as has already been noted, there are numerous smaller options and they get better all the time. Starting on the small end is the amazing iPod Touch which does all the web-based work you do on a laptop, allbeit awkwardly. Still, it's so tiny and multi-functional that a person could be completely "connected" with an object so small and light you could literally forget which pants pocket you put it in. Then there is the iPad, which has all the functions of the Touch, but in a much more comfortable form factor (and the ability to do light "work" with the iWork suite) but you can't fit it in your pocket. Then there are 1001 choices in the "netbook" category. Many people love them. And they do have the "asset" of being so cheap and crappily built that there is little risk involved in misplacing it or having it stolen. I just traded in my 2-year-old 13" Macbook Air for the new 11" model. It's not cheap, but it has a full-size keyboard and a 1300x750 screen and is only 2.3 lbs. It will be with me at all times, so the risk of theft is minimal and the weight is hardly an issue at all. But I would hesitate to bring any full-size laptop.

The darn glare. My sony does the job. Maybe an Ipad might work, don't own one. It's hard to imagine trying to read a book on a computer. Probably something I don't know or understand.

trust me your eye won't bleed: http://ebookstore.sony.com/download/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311