Laptop for Overseas Travel

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chockomonkey

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I'm going to be taking a long vacation in SE Asia for 6 months and want a laptop while I'm there.

I won't be using it for much more than web browsing, picture processing, and storage (pics, music, etc) I'd imagine... but as I'll be backpacking, I'll need something light, small(ish), and durable.

My roommate suggested a Thinkpad... I read some review and such, and people seem to be saying the Lenovo has ruined it, and that it has a ton of stability problems...

I'm looking for more suggestions or confirmations.

Thanks,


Chocko
 
People complain about everything. I prefer using my X61 Tablet to any of my friends' various Dells, Gateways, and HPs. It feels better-built, it's much better to type on, and, in my opinion, it looks better. The only thing making the Thinkpad line a less attractive proposition is price and hardware spec--you can't get a good Thinkpad for gaming.

For what you're doing, though, it sounds like you don't need a whole tone of power. You might look at used Thinkpads if you don't want to spend a ton of money; the X30 and X40 lines are pretty nice machines and you can get one in good shape for $300-500, depending on which model you go for.

Either way, I wouldn't worry about Lenovo's quality. I would wipe the hard drive and install Windows fresh upon receiving one to remove all the bloatware, but that's true of any OEM.

Good luck.
 
chockomonkey said:
My roommate suggested a Thinkpad... I read some review and such, and people seem to be saying the Lenovo has ruined it, and that it has a ton of stability problems...
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Don't believe it. The first units (the T60's) were a little under-engineered, and had some issues with body-flex. The T61's (their succcessors) don't (and the other lines, with smaller footprints never did). I can pick my T61p up, open, by a corner and the body doesn't even creak, let alone flex. I wouldn't do the same thing holding the screen, but it's not a Toughbook.

One thing I'd recommend is buying an extra hard drive and bay carrier for it and put it in with your check luggage when you travel to and fro. This way, if you get stopped at customs, and they want to rifle through (or heaven-forbid, image) you system, you have a nice clean Windows install with very little on there.
 
Chas said:
...but it's not a Toughbook.

One thing I'd recommend is buying an extra hard drive and bay carrier for it and put it in with your check luggage when you travel to and fro. This way, if you get stopped at customs, and they want to rifle through (or heaven-forbid, image) you system, you have a nice clean Windows install with very little on there.
Click to expand...

Thoughbook... is that joke? (nevermind lol)

...and will they really look at my laptop and shit? (or even image it??)
 
Toughbook? A joke? Only if you want a high performance laptop.

If you need in-de-fscking-structible? You could do a LOT worse than a Toughbook. Granted, get ready to shell out four to five large on one.

As to whether or not they'll image your system. They are within their rights to demand that you power it on. And currently, it is defined that they ARE allowed to peruse the system if they so choose. Most don't, but if you happen to fit a certain, shall we say "PROFILE" (not that anyone profiles anyone, that'd be discrimination......*COUGH*), they can look through it at length, image it, or simply confiscate it to be given back "at a later date" (see "after the heat death of the universe").

Your best bet for avoiding this is to simply keep nothing of real importance on the thing during it's journey through customs. Hence the recommendation for an additional (or external) HD. This way they can look as long as they like and won't ever find a thing.
 
Don't know what bloat ware your talking about, I just got the Thinkpad T61, theres no free AOL trial, no free trail software (excpet for office 2007), though disk checker is the basic version. Yes there is a whole crap load of lenevo sofware, but none of it bloat ware, as they all have their uses. Unless you had better options to go with, that would be understandable, but since its pretty good to begin with, I have grown accustomed to it. note though 1GB + Vista = not to much fun.
 
Thanks for clearing up the stuff I read about the Thinkpad. I'll look into those more seriously now. Any suggestions on where to look for getting these cheaper? or should i just use their site?

Also, can anyone provide some info on those tiny PC's? It would be cool to have something the size of the Dell D430 or an eee PC (i theory... I've never actually used one), but I am curious about durability...
 
chockomonkey said:
Thanks for clearing up the stuff I read about the Thinkpad. I'll look into those more seriously now. Any suggestions on where to look for getting these cheaper? or should i just use their site?
Click to expand...

You're best off just buying directly off the site. Or if you can't make one fit your budget, look in the outlet. You can pick up a used one from there at an okay price a lot of times.

Also, can anyone provide some info on those tiny PC's? It would be cool to have something the size of the Dell D430 or an eee PC (i theory... I've never actually used one), but I am curious about durability...
Click to expand...

I've used the Eee. They're fairly durable. They're just not very capacious. Also, I'd look at the Eee 900 12G. Larger screen, larger SSD, more memory, and Windows. I'm not enthused about the Windows OS. But hey. If you're not a Linux-head, it'll give you a more familiar interface. Also, the larger screen will be a boon. The original Eee is okay, but the odd geometry 7" screen caused some readability problems which are addressed in the 900 series. The price isn't bad either. $550
 
Chas said:
Nah. Airports don't grok the MacBook Air.
Click to expand...

You are really frightened of traveling with laptops. I have been through a lot of airports, including several in Southeast Asia, where the OP is headed, with my laptops and have never had them even glanced at, much less inspected, searched, imaged, or confiscated, nor have I known it to happen to anyone else. And I doubt if a Macbook Air causes much commotion; surely, any TSA agent who was confused by a Macbook Air several months ago has had to deal with a few stylish travelers by now.
 
j-dawg said:
You are really frightened of traveling with laptops. I have been through a lot of airports, including several in Southeast Asia, where the OP is headed, with my laptops and have never had them even glanced at, much less inspected, searched, imaged, or confiscated, nor have I known it to happen to anyone else. And I doubt if a Macbook Air causes much commotion; surely, any TSA agent who was confused by a Macbook Air several months ago has had to deal with a few stylish travelers by now.
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Frightened? No.

One, I have nothing to hide.
Two, I don't fit most of the profiles.

I honestly care less if they want to look on my laptop.
And if they want an image of it, great. Just let me call my employer to let them know it's happening so we can document the incident.

My objections are simply to the hassle of it all.

Most of my suggestions are just that. For people who ARE more likely to get stopped.

Additionally, my post about the Air was a joke.
 
I'm waiting my T61p right now, and I am positive Lenovo won't ruin IBM's reputation IMHO.
Before I ordered the laptop, I stopped by Local Frys' and loved the 13" Fusitsu Lifebook in terms of design and built quality.
Since you are not looking for any serious power, (and use it for 6 moths on the backpacking) any brand will do alright, since I guess you want to sell it out anyway after the trip, I guess.
Some are available at reasonable price @ eBay or CraigsList etc.., so pick one of them, you are good to go.

I'd also recommend get a on-line backup service such as JungleDisk or Carbonite. If your laptop is stolen it may be replaceable but personal data won't be. Backup every day...
 
rybeck said:
I'm waiting my T61p right now, and I am positive Lenovo won't ruin IBM's reputation IMHO.
Before I ordered the laptop, I stopped by Local Frys' and loved the 13" Fusitsu Lifebook in terms of design and built quality.
Since you are not looking for any serious power, (and use it for 6 moths on the backpacking) any brand will do alright, since I guess you want to sell it out anyway after the trip, I guess.
Some are available at reasonable price @ eBay or CraigsList etc.., so pick one of them, you are good to go.

I'd also recommend get a on-line backup service such as JungleDisk or Carbonite. If your laptop is stolen it may be replaceable but personal data won't be. Backup every day...
Click to expand...

I just got my T61p and it's an excellent piece of hardware. You might want to invest in a 7/9-cell battery if yours came with a 4 though. It's built like a tank and you get a lot of bang for the buck. On the downside, you're going to want to either do a custom recovery or a clean install to avoid having 80 processes running the background.

Lenovo certainly didn't ruin IBM's reputation. If anything, I like them better than when IBM owned that division.
 
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