Thread: Laptops suitable for travel in the bush

Your decision will be more dependant on what you want the laptop for, rather than which tough laptop is available on the market. I've been traveling overland from Ireland for almost two years now, living out of a rucksack, and I've had a Sony Vaio with me for the length of that time. Fairly expensive compared to what is available, but I neded it to edit my photography on the road, so I couldn't settle for anything less. It's far from being the most rugged of laptops, and I did suffer a cracked screen in Pakistan, but as a laptop it has stood up just fine to the rigors of being on the road.

If, on the other hand, all you want is to be able to surf the web from time to time, or bring some music on the road, keep a journal or whatever, the Asus Eee is a great choice. I've seen quite a few people traveling with them, and they all have good things to say about it. It's light, compact, has a flash based hard drive so you can bounce it about the place a bit more, and it's cheap enough that if you do manage to break it, you won't lose too much sleep over it.

So, to answer your question, yes, yoru standard laptop kept in a decent case will be more than sufficient, or if you want to go the cheap option, take a look at the Asus Eee.

I'd pretty much second what Mike has said. Everyone I know with an Eee PC loves it for travel, but as mentioned they're not for photo work, more for keeping in touch.

The ToughBooks are very good and expensive but they are designed for field use. The equivalent option would be a standard laptop and a Pelican case to store it in when travelling or not in use.

I have an acer aspie one
its small with a8.9" screen and has taken a beating including me runing it over in the wheelchair i also use it for a gps it the car

the only thing i dont like is no cdrom but i do have a portable one

I've been thinking about one of the Eee PC with the SSD coupled with a portable HDD.

Mainly for mapping but also so I can download photos, the cautious side of me says I need 2 portable drives to be safe.


Martyn

For photo backups when travelling consider this:
Download to Hard drive
Copy to portable hard drive
Copy to DVD and store in your luggage
Duplicate DVD and post it to home

You now have:
The original photos
A hard drive copy
A DVD copy in your luggage
A DVD copy in the mail to home

This allows you to:
Loose/damage the PC/Hard drive
Loose/damage the portable hard drive
Loose your luggage
Loose the DVD in the post

As that's a lot to be unlucky with the odds are you'll come through with at least one copy of the pictures somewhere.

We have an Asus R2HV, it is a UMPC (ultra mobile PC) it has all the funtion of a Laptop but is half the size.


Asus R2HV-BH035E Ultra-Mobile PC




R2Hv Ultra-Mobile PC for the New Mobile Computing Era
7-inch LCD touch screen with handwritten input support and solid security protection -The R2Hv offers full PC functions and more!
Specification

• Processor & Cache Memory Intel® Pentium® M 723, 1GHz, 2MB L2 Cache
• Operating System Windows® Vista™ Business
• Chipset Intel® 915GM
• Main Memory On board 1280 MB DDRII-667
• Display 7" active matrix TFT(800x480)
• Hard Drive PATA 80 GB
• Card Reader SD card slot push / push type
• Integrated 802.11b/g
• Interface
  
  • 1 x R2H Port Bar connector for external hub(S/PDIF, VGA, DC-in, 3 USB, LAN) / VGA function support via VGA Cable
  • 2x USB 2.0A ports
  • 1 x mini-USB2.0A port
  • 1 x Microphone
  • 1 x Headphone
  • 1 x AV (Audio + Video) out
  • 1 x RJ45 (Lan port)
  
  
• Audio Built-in 1 mono speaker and 1 microphone
• KeyBoard External foldable USB KBD ( optional accessory )
• Battery Pack & Life 2cell Polymer battery 3430mAh, 24W/hr, 2 hours rundown life
• AC Adapter
  
  • Output : 12V DC, 3A, 36W
  • Input : 100~240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
  • 3/ 2 pin compact power supply system
  • 12V Car Charger Cable (optional)
  
  
• Dimension & Weight 234 x 133 x 28 (WxDxH) 830g (for Primary Battery)

Baz.

If you're looking for a good rugged laptop to cart around you can't go past a Panasonic Toughbook. They are simply outstanding as they are designed to survive in a tough enviroment. These are a Milspec ( military specification) PC and have a lot of "tough" features not found on traditional Laptops.

For example

1/. Has a hardened plastic and metal case which is extremly durable, you don't need a soft case to carry them. I've seen these run over and still work.

2/. Battery management firmware/software that alows them to be be safely charged/discharged over a wide temperature range. This is very important as the amount of charge a Li-ion battery can safely store is very much temperature dependant. You won't find this in any other PC that I know of.

3/. Soft rubber seals on all external orrifices and keys to stop dust, moisture, bugs etc. from getting inside.

4/. Abitity to have NextG SIM fitted to allow internet access.

5/. Have a real RS232 (comm.) port for connection to external gear such as OBD cable etc.

6/. Touch screen is great for ease of use and would probably be good for use with an external GPS receiver and mapping program. Though I have not used one for this.

7./ Can be used as a tablet PC if this is your thing.

8/. Specially designed HDD to withstand shock if dropped/bashed or treated harshly. It really works.

In short these would have to be the best robust travelling PC that you could buy. Fair dinkum, they're not called a "Toughbook" for nothing.

No I don't have shares in Panasonic nor do I sleep with one. But I have spent the last 4 years rolling out and managing these PC's for a large Australian companys field workforce in my region. They are widely used by the Military, Telstra, Fire Brigades Ambulance Service and other utilities.

The CF-18's (most common) are now obsolete and have been replaced by the CF-19 although other variants are available. Brand new, about 4 years ago, they cost over $4K each. Now they can be bought second hand end of lease for less than $400.

Typical spec would be Pentium Mobile 1.4 Ghz, 512 Meg of RAM, HDD of 20, 40, 60 or greater depending on variant. CF-18's came as Mk.1, 2, 3 or 4's though I've never actually seen a Mk 1, I think they were bought out as the prototype.

If you want to run the latest high end game this is not the right machine for you. If you want to run Windows XP, Office and access internet and e-mail as well as downloading and managing your photos then no problem.

CF-18's have no internal FDD or CD/DVD as this would compromise their ability to be dust/moisture/bug proof. They have two USB ports so you use an external drive if neccessary. Has PCMCIA slot(s) and SD (not HC) port on the Mk.4.

Even second hand at 4 years old you will find Toughbooks in good condition. Of the hundred or so that I managed none were worn out when returned at end of lease, and remember these were used daily in the field. Some had physical damage but none were worn out as you would normally find with a conventional Laptop at EOL.

IMHO for outback or travel use a Panasonic Toughbook is a far better bet than an eePC or any other type of conventional laptop which are just not designed to beat the heat, dust etc. I like 'em so much I bought one.

Deano

You can go for the tough book or Dell ATG or a proper mill spec laptop like the pioneer link here but the latter you'd would easy spend $5000-$7000.

If it where me I'd take a cheapo and maybe a spare hard drive to back stuff up onto.

If you want it for navigation though don't go the cheapo option as you'll want reliability. But put it in a padded bag when your not using it and maybe in a hard case if its likely to get something falling against it but laptops are pretty safe getting bumped around if they are off at the time. IMO take whatever you budget allows and make regular back ups