Which Laptop for Bicycle Touring ... ?

[GadgetJim]

Which laptop would you recommend for bicycle touring ? Earlier this year I got the Dell Inspiron 5770 17", which is a very nice laptop, BUT definitely NOT any good for traveling !!! I'm lucky to get 60-90 minutes max, when I'm working on typing, editing images and videos, which is what I would be doing while touring. So, this really nice, high-end laptop is useless for touring !!!

I need a laptop with maximum battery life, and at least one USB port, and a reasonably nice keyboard. I'm thinking of maybe 10-12-inch screen size. Don't really need all the bells and whistles that my Dell laptop has (almost everything !!!). Would be nice to have an SSD drive though …..

I will be going online to upload images and videos while traveling, and may need to tether to my T-Mobile service through my cell phone ….. I can do some editing with my Note 8 to save on laptop battery.

Price is really not a big deal. I'm thinking of spending around $500-900.00 (US) … ?

[max_volt]

10 years ago the netbook was released with the puny atom cpu but now i5 ultraportables are obtaining 15 hours of run time.

[AZguy]

Here's a website dedicated to laptop GPS use: http://www.laptopgpsworld.com/

[tklop]

Older, but fairly tough and reliable, are the family of Lenovo x220 series laptops and tablets. They remain decent-performing machines; I think they're all i5's or i7's. When combined with dual SSD's (one regular, one mSATA), and 16GB RAM, they're plenty fast enough.

With lots of room for expansion or upgrading of components, they're pretty easy to set up how you want. Want GPS? No problem. What GSM? There's already a SIM card slot. Want the latest version of Bluetooth? Just upgrade the BT daughter card under the right-side of the palm-rest. Might cost you ten bucks shipped--from Uncle Ali. These machines are plentiful and popular, so parts are easy to come by. Plus, there are many YouTube videos describing how to open up the machines, and how to identify and replace the various components inside.

Often you can find x220's second-hand on Craig's List (or the like) for a reasonable price--like a couple-hundred bucks--much less than a comparable new machine. Yes, you may then have to dump more cash into upgrades, to get it set up just the way you want it--but that's still going to be a lot cheaper than anything comparable, which you can buy new (and IMO, the x220 will still be a great deal sturdier too). For when I'm on the go, I prefer carrying high-tech gear which isn't too expensive. I've learned the hard way, that trips and travel often kill high-tech items. I figure if I kill one, I'll not be crying so loudly, if my investment was lower!

There are many battery options available for these as well, many offering decent capacity. If you buy a used machine, it's wise to assume the battery it arrives with is probably already near the end of its usefulness anyway, so if you're already prepared to buy a new one--just get the fat one!

Having said that, video rendering and editing is very processor-intensive, and on any laptop will drain the battery much more quickly. If you can wait until you get to an A/C outlet to do that "heavy-lifting" (or until you've folded out your solar-generating set--whatever), that'll help your battery-life too.

Anyway, just tossing that out there in the idea pile: Lenovo x220 series notebooks and tablets. They're good, sturdy, capable and configurable high-quality enterprise-level business notebooks and tablet-laptops--which, because they're second-hand, can be gotten for a real bargain.

Good luck!

Tklop

[treolan]

Check out Dell Inspiron 13 5379. It comes with an SSD and the battery can last up to 12 hrs.