One of the things we can’t live without is a laptop. It has so many different purposes. Besides working remotely we also use it for watching movies/TV, playing games, and planning our trips. A big advantage of a laptop is that you can place it everywhere. Café, restaurant, hotel, Airbnb… Although I don’t recommend the beach.
But is a laptop really needed if you travel and what kind of laptop do you need? In this blog, we focus on traveling with a laptop, why we do it, what accessories we bring and what you need to keep in mind if you want to start traveling with a laptop.
When we first started traveling back in 2016, we brought one laptop. After 2 months we realized this wasn’t going to work. If we both wanted to use it we had to toss for it. In Shanghai, we bought a small Samsung laptop. One that was perfect for Rieneke. Now, in 2022, we have said goodbye to this little monster and replaced it with a newer laptop.
We use laptops for a lot of different reasons. Rieneke usually uses it for writing blogs, editing photos, e-mailing, and watching Netflix. I use the laptop for editing videos, writing blogs, software development, and mild gaming. So you can understand when I say that both our laptops are a bit different if it comes to specifications.
I bought a laptop in 2021. An 15″ Asus ZenBook, Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, and 1TB hard disk. Works perfectly when I need to develop software, edit videos, or type blogs. It even runs some games very well. Don’t expect the newest games to run in the highest settings.
Rieneke’s laptop is a 13,5″ Microsoft Surface Laptop 4. With 8GB and an i5 processor perfect for blogging, browsing, photo editing, and some light video editing. The downside is the hard disk, which has a capacity of 512GB. Doesn’t sound low, but with the pictures and videos, we take she does need an external drive.
This doesn’t mean that the above laptops would meet your requirements. But what does?
If you want to bring along a laptop, keep a few things in mind.
First of all the size. Not the hard disk or RAM, but the dimensions of the device itself. In 2016 we brought a 17″ laptop. It was heavy and not easy to put in the bag. The specs were the same as the laptop I have now, but the dimensions were just too big. The ZenBook and Surface are smaller, weigh less, and thinner.
A laptop isn’t allowed in the check-in baggage. Something you shouldn’t do anyway. So you have to bring it in your carry-on. If the laptop is heavy it’s not a great way of walking around in an airport. Also, if you have a heavy backpack, the laptop would be in a day backpack on your chest, if you carry them both. Then there is way more weight on the front.
A laptop comes in all colors and sizes. I recommend a 13″ or 14″ laptop. But there are so many styles. Most of the laptops are black/gray. But some are yellow, purple, and much more. Some come with a touch screen, and some with a special mouse pad. Do you really need that? Most people use an external mouse. Touch screens are cool, but they get dirty quickly or worse.
But don’t look at the outside much. Look at what’s inside the machine. Now, before you go to the store with a screwdriver, read what I really mean: The specifications are important.
Which specifications you need depends on what you want to do. In my case, I need more RAM, because I am a software developer and I want to edit videos. These things take up a lot of RAM. Now I have 16 GB, but 32GB would be better. But that would make the device bigger.
Most laptops come with an I5 or I7 processor. But it’s not always better to go for an I7. If you want to blog, browse, and e-mail an I5 is perfect. If you want to game or video editor; I7 is better. The I5 is an all-purpose processor and the I7 is more for performance in gaming and stuff. I5 is also a little bit cheaper.
But whatever you do, never go for a Celeron. These are cheaper versions of the Intel processors. AMD is also good but is more for gaming.
Planning on taking a lot of pictures and videos and want to store them on your laptop? First of all: don’t. A laptop is fragile and you don’t want to lose your holiday memories. Better is to get an external disk drive or, even better, online storage. Second: Get a big hard disk. Most laptops come with 512GB. I would recommend 1TB.
Another thing to look out for is the USB connections. In this case the USB-C connectors. These are smaller than the USB-A (“normal”) connectors, but perfect for charging. If you are in an internet café and need to charge your phone, use the USB-C port.
USB-C is also way faster, so if you have an external drive, connect it to the USB-C port.
The operating system is usually Windows. If you would buy a new laptop changes are it has Windows 10 (with a free upgrade to Windows 11 coming soon) or Windows 11. There are other operating systems. The MacBooks have iOS and Chromebooks have ChromeOS. Keep in mind that you can’t use Windows applications on iOS or ChromeOS and vice versa. Although MacBooks are perfect for video editing, I have a Windows laptop.
If you have an ugly laptop that has the specifications you need, you can always put stickers on the laptop.
Besides a laptop, it’s also a good idea to think about other stuff you might need. Here are a few ideas.
Although laptops have a mousepad, it doesn’t really work that well. Especially when you are in hot, moist environments. The cursor is stuck or moves a bit strangely. That’s the reason I have an external mouse.
I have big hands, so the mouse is a bit bigger too. I choose the Logitech MX Master 3. A wireless mouse that can be connected to three devices. One is for the laptop, one for the Android Tablet (yes, you can connect a wireless Bluetooth mouse to an Android device), and one is free to use when needed.
It can be charged by connecting it to the laptop, where USB-C charges it very fast. But I must say that I don’t have to charge it that much. Usually once a week, maybe 1 1/2 weeks?
A big plus of a wireless mouse is that it is a sort of remote control when the laptop is connected to a TV if we want to watch a movie in a hotel room. No need to get up to pause it and stuff.
Rieneke has a smaller mouse with a cord. Works just as well. No need to charge it.
Not really a laptop thing, but more something to think about. We both have wireless headphones that can be connected to the laptops via Bluetooth. They both have noise-canceling functionalities.
Although we use headphones when we are on a plane or in really busy areas, it’s nice to have a good sound quality when listening to music while working, like I am now while I am typing this blog.
Some headphones can be connected with a USB, which works fine. Keep in mind that these are usually USB-B and phones are becoming more and more USB-C. I would recommend a good headphone that you can connect to the phone, tablet, and laptop.
I mentioned this earlier, but let’s get into it a bit more: External disks. There are many shapes and sizes (dimensions and capacity). We have a Samsung T7 SSD of 1TB. We use it to store photos and videos we need to use in our videos on YouTube.
An SSD is advisable because these are less fragile. An SSD is a chip that has storage. Other types can have a real disk, with a needle to read and write. These are more fragile and can break faster if you drop your bag or something.
Make sure it’s USB-C, so it reads and writes way faster. The capacity depends on what you are using it for.
To relax a bit and watch our favorite movies on Netflix, we have a Chromecast. A small device that you can connect to a TV. With your mobile device, you can cast Netflix, Disney+, HBO, YouTube, and much more onto the Chromecast, which shows the image on the TV.
This only works with a network that has a username and password. Hotels don’t have these. Usually, they have a portal; Connect to the network and you have to log in through a web browser. In this case, a Chromecast is useless.
That’s where the HDMI cable comes in. A laptop usually has an HDMI out, which can be used to connect an external screen. A TV is also an external screen. We have Netflix installed on our laptops and we can view the laptop on the TV via the HDMI cable.
Sadly, more an more hotels have their TVs mounted firmly on the walls and it’s almost impossible to get behind the TV to connect the HDMI cable. Still, 8 out of 10 times this “trick” with the cable works and we can what a great movie while resting from a trip.
If you are on the move you don’t want to damage your laptop. You could buy a laptop bag with all the padding in the world, but … How will you take that with you if you travel the world?
A better idea is to find a day backpack with a compartment for a laptop. The joke is: Most laptops don’t fit in there. But it does indicate that the bag has some protection. To add a little bit more protection you can place your laptop in a sleeve.
Sleeves are small covers with some padding that can prevent bumps on your laptop. Bumps usually are more than just physical damage. It could mean some serious damage to the battery or other important ‘organs’ of the laptop.
If you want a sleeve, don’t buy one that is bigger than the size of your laptop. Sleeve sizes are set to laptop sizes. So if you have a 15″ laptop, buy a 15″ sleeve.
In the end, traveling with a laptop depends on what you need to do on your laptop. The better the specs, the higher the price will be… And the laptop will be bigger and heavier. Some people can perfectly work on a small laptop with less capacity than a gaming laptop.
If you travel a lot, you already carry a lot of weight with you. A smaller laptop weighs less and is easier to bring along.
Protect your laptop with a sleeve and a good day backpack. Don’t think “oh, that doesn’t happen to me” because it will. Your bag may fall off a trolly, someone could trip over it, or you might drop it in a hurry.
A laptop is more for us than just work. When traveling, with a laptop we watch Netflix by connecting the laptop to a TV via HDMI. But we use it to relax or play a game as well.
And one last tip: Don’t keep your important documents on your laptop only! Even if you have a copy on an external disk. If you lose it or it breaks, you lost everything. Look into good online storage to keep your travel memories and important documents safe.
What do you do with your laptop while traveling and what kind of laptop did you bring with you?
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