I am new here. I just signed up for a RS Tour in Greece in October.
I am considering purchasing the Convertible Carry On or possibly the Rolling Carry On. I want to travel with a laptop. Does anyone have experience traveling with a laptop in either bag. Do you put it in a sleeve? Did it feel secure?
Have you considered a tablet instead of a laptop? Laptops take up quite a bit of room and are heavier than a tablet. The only reason we might take a tablet or laptop is to upload pictures, but to save space and ounces we just take several memory cards instead.
I recently purchased a mini IPAD to bring along for travel. I had taken a short trip here in the states with a borrowed IPAD. I found the weight of carrying a full size IPAD much more of a nuisance than I expected, so I can't even picture a traditional laptop. I did another trip with the mini and found it fit the bill for me perfectly. The guide bag sold in RS store worked great as my personal item/purse and for carrying IPAD.
We are also going on our first RS tour! Congrats to both of us :)
I purchased a small laptop from Dell for this trip. I mainly wanted something to put my pictures on besides my sd cards (i am paranoid with my pictures). This laptop is actually a 3-in-1 and is only 11.6". My regular laptop is 17".....I think you will want something on the smaller side but perhaps that is just me talking. I wouldn't want to add any more weight to my suitcase than necessary.
@Kathy...I am interested in knowing how the small Dell works for you!
I have an Acer netbook (a little over 2#), and I have found it to be so handy for so many things, I don't mind the little extra weight (all my travel information is on it, I keep an ongoing account of my expenses and the amount of money I need to finish the trip, store and organize my photos as I go, send emails to friends and relatives, pay bills online, post my travel on my website, keep a journal, etc). But I wouldn't want anything bigger. The netbook goes in a case with important papers, and I always keep it with me (I doubt that it weighs more than most women's purses). I'll often take it out at lunch and review my plans for the rest of the day.
I've been looking at an Asus Transformer tablet with a detachable keyboard. I could carry the tablet during the day and use the faux keyboard, which I hate, only rarely, then attach the real keyboard when I'm in my room at night and want to do real work.
I carry my electronics, camera etc and stuff that I wouldn't want lost in my "personal item" that will fit under the seat. Even it your "carry on" bag meets airline size and weight criteria, it could get gate checked if your fellow passengers have the overheads stuffed.
Having vulnerable stuff like computers and camera under the seat also protects fragile items from damage if your bag gets dropped out of the overhead or compressed as another passenger attempts to rearrange the overhead or jam an oversized bag into a tight gap
Thanks for all the helpful replies. I get that keeping it light is paramount. I will either take my iPad or a very light laptop. Today I visited my local Apple Store and the new MacBook is small and very light. But it is pricey.
