Aby The Liberal

Dmitri April 16th, 2007

This is a handy guide I made for you to have a pleasant experience having a laptop (or notebook, as you call it) as a traveling companion. For those who own laptops, extra care is needed when you are traveling to prevent damage or theft to your laptop. You also need to be able to connect to internet or charge your laptop on the move, otherwise it beats the purpose of having one. I will use the word laptop to define laptop or notebook, whatever you call it is your personal choice.

Plan Your Packing Before Journey
First you need to plan your journey and packing in advance, otherwise you might miss out things or ignore precautions in a hurry which you could regret later. This might mean you forget your charger, cable or it could anything which you need with your laptop or travel.

Get a laptop case
This is very important. You need a case with soft paddings inside which can take the rigours of travel without much shock to your laptop. You also want a case which is comfortable for you to carry, I recommend you buy one from reputed brands like Targus, Samsonite, etc. Get a laptop bag with extra pockets so that you could pack in chargers, mouse, CDs, documents, etc. without getting too cramped. I suggest you avoid the manufacturers case as the brand logo could be an invitation to laptop thieves.

Charge the Battery
Charge the battery well in advance before you leave so that you have ample power to enjoy your laptop during your travel. If you have an extra battery, charge it too. You never know when your next opportunity to charge will be on way so you need to be prepared. Even if you are sure to be able to charge at your hotel, keep your batteries charged. You could be delayed while on travel.

Backup Your Important Data
Backup your important documents, pictures, videos or any files either to your desktop (if you have one) or write them to a storage media like external hard disks, CDs, DVDs, etc. You don’t want to find yourself in a sticky situation after a hard disk crash where all your valuable data is lost and you have no option but to cry.

Save Web Pages, Ebooks and Movies
You can save some web pages, Ebooks or movies from discs for entertainment while you travel. It could be a good use of leisure or a productive use of your travel time. Not to mention a respite for those boring moments when you don’t have internet and nothing much to do, which happens often with me when I am on travel.

Pack in Everything You Need
Pack in your charger, mouse and any necessary laptop accessories which you need during your travel. And do not forget your laptop, it would be a pity if you packed every accessory but left your laptop behind. Pack some screen wipes and a couple of blank CDs or DVDs too which could be handy in case the need arises. If you listen to music pack in your headphones.

Start Your Journey
That is the most important step during your travel. Unless you start your journey you wouldn’t go anywhere beyond your home on a travel. It would make all my present and forthcoming tips a waste of your reading time. Quips apart, get going and make sure you read my next article on laptop care which will be out soon.

Adieu,

Dmitrious Poulos

• Technology , Computers
• Comments(3)