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Raileurope.com: See Europe by train
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Old 06-21-2006, 09:28 AM   #1
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Well, this has to be my 10th post probably in 24 hours, but ... so be it.

Laptop Computer. Mine is fairly small, luckily... but that makes it a question of if its worth it to bring. I'd like to keep an online journal of my travels... but.. how prevelant is free Wi-fi all around Spain, Italy, Germany, Amsterdam, Greece... All of Europe for that matter?

The Pros are that I can easily dump my photos onto my laptop, and do all my personal computing at my leisure. The cons, obviously, are weight, possibility of losing/theft of the computer, and possible iffy useage of WiFi.

Whatchaya'll think.

Wow, I'll refrain from using y'all again... especially "Whatchaya'll"... I'm from Jersey... we don't do that here.

As you were.

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Old 06-21-2006, 09:54 AM   #2
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Hey ya'll. Sorry, couldn't resist. I'm from the midwest. We don't either.

The infamous question. I personally wouldn't (again). They're heavy and cumbersome. They're very breakable (and you can't just throw your bag anymore). Also, I was so paranoid about it being stolen. Internet cafes are very prevalent. Even in small towns, you can usually use the library's computer.

Downloading photos is another issue though. I'll let someone else handle that.
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Old 06-21-2006, 10:24 AM   #3
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I only take my laptop traveling if I'm staying in private rooms/friends houses/hotels... While there are great benefits to having one (I can barely live without my PowerBook) the security/weight issues don't seem worthwhile to me.

Pretty much everything you want to do, you can do at internet cafes, whether it's burning your photos to CD, loading up your iPod, using Photoshop - of course, your mileage may vary depending on where you are, but I've found that if I look hard enough, I can find facilities to do everything I want. Hell, in Prague I even found a Kinko's like print shop where I was able to get a whole lot more done than download photos, and cheaper than internet cafes because I had all the stuff I'm used to and could work much faster.

Having said that, I have traveled with the 'Book before and it was great being able to have everything at my disposal. But I survived 1 month Down Under without it, so I guess I'm not as addicted as I think!
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Old 07-10-2006, 02:06 PM   #4
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I have to take my laptop because I work on the road as well but work aside it has been awesome having it.

I have found countless free wifi spots, I compose emails offline then upload them via a flash drive in an Internet cafe, manage digital photos, store all my music in case my ipod gets lost (which happended in NZ) and lots of other useful things.

The laptop really comes into it's own when you combine it with a flash drive though. I used Portable Firefox so I could capture whole web sites and pages and then view them offline saving me time and money online.
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Old 07-10-2006, 06:49 PM   #5
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Am I the only person that thinks a mobile with the keyboard is good 'nuff??? you have MP3/4, Camera, Rec, Net, Timer, messengers + it's a phone!
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Old 07-11-2006, 11:27 AM   #6
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I am carrying my laptop now. I am in Rio at the beginnings of my RTW trip. I dont really have a choice since I no longer have a home. I actually calculated that by all the burned cd´s and such that I would gather along the way would end up weighing the same in the end. It is a risk and would suck to lose but thats what lockers, backups, and common sense are for.

If I had a choice I too would leave it behind for simple weight reasons.

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Old 07-11-2006, 07:51 PM   #7
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i thought about leaving mine, but i would rather keep it if not just for photo editing and stuff
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Old 07-11-2006, 09:05 PM   #8
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((( Vote For Love by Tiamat ))) :greenguy:

I'm done! I've decided I'm getting a new Nokia 9300 or up I don't care Nokia never let's me down I'm getting the phone from the site then I'll simply buy the card over Cingular and that's the end of that!
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Old 07-20-2006, 05:28 PM   #9
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im also pondering wether or not taking my laptop on a 3-4month treck through europe. its an old laptop so loosing it wont make me cry but its sooo heavy and cumbersome to take it around for that length of time!

one of my buddies turned me on to this site called flickr.com. it gives you unlimited space to upload all your pictures but limits you to a specific MB amount of upload per month. but you can pay $25(USD) for a whole year and you can uplaod as many per month as you little heart desires.

thought i would share that info cause its whats making me lean towards not taking the laptop cause i can just upload pics when i get to internet cafe's. i also have a 1GB memory stick which at 1024x768 can hold well over 3000 pictures. i'll still miss my laptop................. what do you guys think?!?!?

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Old 07-20-2006, 05:54 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally posted by ImChino@Jul 20 2006, 06:28 PM
im also pondering wether or not taking my laptop on a 3-4month treck through europe. its an old laptop so loosing it wont make me cry* but its sooo heavy and cumbersome to take it around for that length of time!

one of my buddies turned me on to this site called flickr.com.* it gives you unlimited space to upload all your pictures but limits you to a specific MB amount of upload per month. but you can pay $25(USD) for a whole year and you can uplaod as many per month as you little heart desires.*

* thought i would share that info cause its whats making me lean towards not taking the laptop cause i can just upload pics when i get to internet cafe's. i also have a 1GB memory stick which at 1024x768 can hold well over 3000 pictures. i'll still miss my laptop.................* what do you guys think?!?!?


[snapback]131809[/snapback]

flickr is awesome, another cool site, is tagworld.com you can upload as many as you want, and there is no monthly allocation,
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Old 07-21-2006, 09:22 AM   #11
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i did check out tagworld.com and it kind of looks like myspace.com except you can add more pictures. thanks for the info.
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Old 07-21-2006, 10:58 AM   #12
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Yeah, Flickr is awesome, I'm in the process of setting up an account there. If you do it, you might want to check something out called "geotagging" - you can add tags (cities, countries, lat/long) to photos and get them displayed on GoogleMaps...its a pretty sweet looking thing
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Old 12-15-2008, 09:09 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Echeverry View Post
Am I the only person that thinks a mobile with the keyboard is good 'nuff??? you have MP3/4, Camera, Rec, Net, Timer, messengers + it's a phone!

I'm with you on this one, I am going to buy an HTC Tilt. it does everything and fits in the palm of my hand (lol well almost). as far as a smart phone goes it is a little bulky, but something that is gps, internet, phone, camera, doc writer, storage for music and photos, ect.... is well worth the "bulk". Going to buy an unlocked version and download skype onto it, and in areas where wifi is not as prevelant will buy a local sim card and stick it in. I have looked into this a ton, and this little baby does everything I need and more.

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/phones/ATT-Tilt.htm
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