As you all read this, I am boarding a plane to the Dominican Republic. Be jealous, it’s OK.
Anyway, this Tech Tip Tool Thursday is all about best tech travel gear. What should a mobile workhorse always bring?
Best Laptops
The Macbook Air from Apple is always a great choice to travel with. It’s one of the lightest laptops available on the market and it still gives you a 15″ screen. While it may not be as powerful as some of the others, it gets the job done.
If that doesn’t satisfy your needs then I would suggest looking into a Netbook. The guys over at Laptop Magazine can help you decide based on your needs and wants what you should buy.
Checkpoint Friendly Laptop Bags
For starters, a TSA compliant laptop bag is always helpful when you are in a rush to get through security. We have all had to get on line and take out all of our gear but now you don’t have to. You can find a huge selection of checkpoint friendly bags on www.ebags.com.
Mobile Devices
Of course the hottest device anyone wants these days for travel or not is the iPad. It’s small, lightweight and slowly but surely starting to replace the laptop. Some people have already discussed replacing the Macbook Air with the iPad. You can kill many birds with this one device. No i’m not referring to the Angry Birds game either. The device offers you the capability to get some work done, read a book and have some fun all at once.
Another great mobile device to get for travel is an Android phone. Many of the carriers are rolling them out as subsidized upgrades and you can also buy the Nexus One straight from Google for certain providers. The Android Marketplace is rapidly growing with new applications to download that can make traveling easier such as language translators, cab finders, public transit maps and schedules as well as apps for local restaurant reviews.
For those of you looking to not be connected, an iPod or other MP3 player is always a safe bet. But seriously, don’t you want to be the only cool kid on the plane with one? C’mooooooon.
Mobile Broadband
Most of you probably are iPhone users and can’t wait to get your hands on the new OS so you can multi-task etc. However, you don’t have to rely on your iPhone to take a look at a PDF anymore because what happens when you need to download that PDF onto something that you can edit it with? This is where the MiFi steps in. A MiFi device is a wireless broadband device that allows up to five separate devices to connect to a mobile broadband service. All of the major carriers offer them. I would suggest shopping around for best prices before you dive in. I would also think about where you travel the most and then look into who has the best coverage for that area.
The MiFi may seem like a waste of time, but it will cost you less than whatever your hotel charges and will also give you a better connection.
Headphones
For some, sitting on a plane, train or in a car is our only downtime. These environments can either be noisy because of engines or from people sitting next to you. The best way to drown out this noise is with noise-cancelling headphones. The best place to start to look for them is at Bose. They offer you the best quality audio equipment you can buy. If you’re not a Bose fan then I would suggest you checkout SkullCandy who also makes a mean pair of head phones.
GPS
You get to your rental car smoothly and are all set to leave the airport, but you have no idea where you are going. Us Android lovers have free turn-by-turn GPS with Google Maps so that isn’t a problem for some but others may not be so lucky. A Garmin GPS device is always a safe bet. They make great quality products. Most GPS devices now also include a free subscription to its traffic service which can be critical when you are in a hurry.
I of course am traveling with only a book and an iPod. The beach is no place for fancy toys like i’ve just listed. Trust me.
If you have questions or a topic you want to see included in an upcoming week, let us know!
