Has anyone ever taken a mini notebook computer on tour? They are not much bigger than an a A5 diary.

These look ideal for travelling, quite light and small. I wonder if it would be worth taking one to download the photo's and send email etc? I am guessing that you would need one of those pen drives to accomodate all the photo's, given that on a European tour one could be expected to take 1000's of photo's.

I would never take a full sized notebook, they are more costly, more bulky and probably more attractive to the would be thief.

I am travelling soon, so would appreciate any tips.

Thanks
JDee

Definitely looking at one of these for our next trip. I am putting off purchasing it until the last possible moment as these things have a habit of geting cheaper and better every year. I would never bother with one of the full size more expensive ones. I think you will find a whole thread on this under what every modern tter must have.

Hey - I just became regular! Now I am seriously concerned about my addiction to this BB.

Hi Having just come back from 5 weeks of travel, i can assure you that finding interent access is hard. Many hotels have room/lobby access if you have your own which I didn't. Some have 1-3 available computers in lobby which are rented for 15+ minutes for so many Euros. These are often hard to access as so many people want to get on and check their e-mail or facebook etc. Some are not English keyboards so finding the @ sign and typing is more time consuming. Internet cafes are hard to find and you often don't have the time or
energy to go looking.

Several people had laptops but I didn't want to cart that extra weight around and airlines are getting so picky about weight. They didn't always work in each hotel. Many had photo cell phones as well so they kept in touch that way.

I think one of these little notebooks would be great. I would have loved it. I am not sure about downloading pictures. My kids wanted me to send them pictures along the way but I didn't know how to get them off my camera onto a rental computer to send.

I had 4 memory cards with me and I just put the old one away and inserted a new one for each tour. That way if my camera got stolenor lost I didn't lose all my pictures just some.

Good luck
sandy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sandry,

definately worth taking one, I'm looking at the ASUS Eee PC 900 with a 12GB flash drive which would cope with all the photos one could take (plus ability to use wired or wireless networks) but as Tony54 suggests wait till the last moment prices will come down

quote:

Originally posted by arebee:
definately worth taking one, I'm looking at the ASUS Eee PC 900 with a 12GB flash drive which would cope with all the photos one could take (plus ability to use wired or wireless networks) but as Tony54 suggests wait till the last moment prices will come down

We brought one with us, and we hardly used it. We found that bringing multiple memory cards for the camera was easier than trying to download them. Most of the time (except for in Delphi) we couldn't find any internet connection, so we couldn't send emails. We ended up using internet cafes when they were convenient.

Forgot to add, this was in Greece. It might be different in other cities/countries. Plus, we spent some time on a ship, so we didn't have any internet while cruising. I think it was available, for a large price, someplce on board.

quote:

Originally posted by JDee:
I am guessing that you would need one of those pen drives to accomodate all the photo's, given that on a European tour one could be expected to take 1000's of photo's.

Why take a laptop just more to carry. We took about 2500 photo's and they all fitted on to 2 SD cards with room to spare. Memory cards for camera's are quite inexpensive and have a huge storage capacity and take up very little room.

agreed, I would not a laptop along either, but I would take what is called a subnotebook and it would primarily be for internet access. Obviously not everyone will have a need for such a device but as JDee is already thinking along those lines that is the way to go..

Meggs, I wouldn't take a laptop, they are too big and cumbersome and, as I said more likely to be stolen. These notebooks are very tiny and not much bigger than a novel you might take on holiday.

quote:

Originally posted by arebee:
definately worth taking one, I'm looking at the ASUS Eee PC 900 with a 12GB flash drive which would cope with all the photos one could take (plus ability to use wired or wireless networks) but as Tony54 suggests wait till the last moment prices will come down

Arebee

This is exactly the model I was looking at. I have seen it for $480.00. It is teeny-tiny, so tiny that it would fit in my handbag, and it weighs next to nothing.The changer, which is also very light has the same fitting that my Cannon camera uses, so I could use the same cord for both. It also works on wireless internet which is another bonus.

I know that I can buy large memory cards for the camera but I find that I can't see the photo's properly on the tiny camera screen so thought If I were able to download on to one of these the screen is a bit bigger for viewing. I can also use it to write my journal as I go. I am not one for putting pen to paper, guess I have become lazy in that way, I am a secretary, I am used to typing everything up.

If I were able to get internet anywhere, I could contact my family using Skype which is much cheaper than a phone call and these also the ASUS Eee PC 900 also has an inbuilt camera so my family will be able to see me while I talk to them.

I have three more weeks to go, so will think on it a bit more before making a rash decision. It is certainly very tempting.

Thanks for the input
JDee

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JDee,

quote:

Originally posted by JDee:
This is exactly the model I was looking at. I have seen it for $480.00. It is teeny-tiny, so tiny that it would fit in my handbag, and it weighs next to nothing.The changer, which is also very light has the same fitting that my Cannon camera uses, so I could use the same cord for both. It also works on wireless internet which is another bonus.

I know that I can buy large memory cards for the camera but I find that I can't see the photo's properly on the tiny camera screen so thought If I were able to download on to one of these the screen is a bit bigger for viewing. I can also use it to write my journal as I go. I am not one for putting pen to paper, guess I have become lazy in that way, I am a secretary, I am used to typing everything up.

You seem to have done all your homework so these mini notebooks should do you. What we found was that we were too busy to use email we just got phone cards for our daughter to ring us. We use SMS messaging with the room ph no and she would ring us.
I looked at those mini notebooks some time ago and thought they were just expensive toys as they had small keyboards but now with the increased memory I think they might have moved out of the toy department.
One thing to remember is don't do your tour looking throught a viewfinder as we shared our photo taking between myself and our grandaughter.
Have a good trip.

Try also ...

http://trafbb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/544104/m/833109083

...

quote:

Originally posted by arebee:
definately worth taking one, I'm looking at the ASUS Eee PC 900 with a 12GB flash drive which would cope with all the photos one could take (plus ability to use wired or wireless networks) but as Tony54 suggests wait till the last moment prices will come down

The eePCs look interesting but I'm concerned that they are only wireless. If the hotel doesn't have wireless then it's useless, isn't it? I have an Ipod with wireless on it and found I couldn't use it very many places on my last trip to Italy.

Yes, the Asus Ee is a wireless computer.

However, by taking a network cab;e with you you will be able to access internet when wireless connection is not provided.

quote:

Originally posted by Penny1:
Yes, the Asus Ee is a wireless computer.

However, by taking a network cab;e with you you will be able to access internet when wireless connection is not provided.

Ah, thanks, Penny, that's what I wanted to know. I had read somewhere that it was only wireless. These computers look great for travel - they're only 1 kg!