Laptops for Travel (and Electronic Reading Device)

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I was intersted in the previous thread, concerning refurbished laptops. In association with this (or new laptops) has anyone any recommendations for a travel laptop. The problem seems to be that one either goes small and light with very little memory or larger and heavier with more memory. Would it be possible to have a small and light laptop with perhaps and external storage device (like a Western Digital). I am thinking about travelling Asia on the railway networks and will need this to keep in touch (with some business matters) and order tickets etc. This is my first experience as being a traveller, rather than a holiday maker (when I usually leave all business etc at home). However on a longer trip, this will not be possible.

My normal laptop is a Dell XPS 15" with Windows 10 c/w Microsoft Office Pro (not 365), with Outlook for my e-mails and I would like to keep compatibility between the two devices if possible.

Another issue is I need to get an electronic reading (books) device such as a Kindle, but I do not want to be tied to one source to buy e-books and listening books. Again, never needed to before, because I just took paperbacks, but on this trip, I will really need to keep the weight down and thus the need for an electronic reading device.

Any help and assistance with these matter would be very much appreciated.
Kind regards, whitesix
 
Ok so with regards to your laptop, there are two kinds of memory, RAM memory (which comes in the form of micro and Will really add nothing to the weight of the device and The Hard Drive, which can add some small amount of weight if you get a regular hard drive and basically nothing if you get a SSD (solid state drive)

Laptop hard drives are more often than not upgradable so you could have a 1 or 2 TB SSD fitted to your Dell to give you more space to save photos, Audio etc.

Some things to consider is, larger laptops may have larger screens, larger batteries, a more advanced graphics card which requires
 
more cooling adding to the weight.

The only devices that are similar to laptops but are usually not upgradable are often called net books or chrome books, they are usually in the 10 or 12 inch screen size and don't have the room inside for a full sized laptop hard drive.

Then you have two options you can use an external USB hard drive of any size you like or you can use a cloud storage (like Google Drive or Microsoft One Drive) but that will require an internet connection
 
As mentioned: A tablet or a Chromebook are great options. The latter are inexpensive - you may be concerned about theft or damage whilst travelling. To save taking any external storage - I believe that you get 100gb cloud storage via Google Drive.
 
I'd second the proposal for a Chromebook. You can use the Microsoft apps through the web client (from outlook.com) and install Android apps for whatever else you're interesed in, say eBook reader, VLC, Plex, etc.

I have a really cheapo ASUS 12" I take on my travels, preloaded with a stack of films to watch, things to read and then the apps for when I have wifi. Oh, and the battery last ages!
 
Thank you; I will look at the chromebook. I have considered a tablet, but relly need a keybourd function, for reponding to e-mails or perhaps writing the odd letter. The combinations seem very expensive. My current laptop, is the top of the range Dell, with 15" screen, but invairably it is connected to a separate keyboard and 42" monitor. This laptop would be far too heavy for travelling. Unfortunately I do not like any of my personal/business information strored on a cloud; I just do not trust the security aspect of doing this; so I will therefore be stuck with external hard drive or laptop storage.
Can you down load all e-books and talking books to a Kindle. For example I will need to take some Rough Guides with me along with some other reading material?
Thank you again, whitesix.
 
Definitely go for an iPad. The on-screen keyboard that pops up is very decent and if you wanted you can buy a case with keyboard for less than £30; I use the 9.7" iPad with separate bluetooth keyboard and it all works really well. Tbh I don;t need the external keyboard but occasionally it's just useful
 
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Thank Loofah; would the ipad be compatible with windows 10 and Office Pro, as I need compatibility with my main Laptop, which I use as a PC and need to be able to transfer documents between the two devices? I also need to reclaim all of my e-mails and be able to write the odd letter. I anticipate that I will probably need to take a storage device with me, as I may need to retrieve some personal/business files, if something comes up whilst I am travelling that I need to deal with.
 
Hello MrK1, looking to get away with as cheap as possible to just do the job, with the criteria stated. As previous, I have a top of the range Dell XPS 15" laptop, windows 10; offce pro, 42" monitor etc as my main unit. The new device is merely for travelling, but needs to be compatible with the main unit so that I can transfer documents betwen the two units. From what I have seen thus far there is an HP Stream 11.6, which "may" surffice c/w an external hard storage. As you have probably guessed; I am no computer whiz, so probably most of the issues I raise may seem very simplistic to those that obviously know what they are talking about and are in all probability a lot younger than me. I need the device only when travelling in order to deal with some business matters when away (no complicated stuff); order rail tickets on the move (but this can be complicated in the countries I will be going to); sending e-mails when absolutely necessary; etc. I need a key board facility, as I am not used to, nor do I want to use my mobile for such issues as perhaps doing some banking transactions etc (again only if absolutely necessary). Hope this helps.
 
Well it obviously runs the Apple operating system (ipadOS) but you can get the MS Word, Excel etc apps from the store; there's also other suites of apps which are compatible with .doc etc file formats but if it's essential then I'd stay with the official app. You can link your Google drive or iCloud to both your laptop/desktop and the iPad so moving files is a doddle. Built in email app is good but again if you're using it for work then the MS Outlook app is available. Later incarnations of the iPad have allowed for use of portable storage devices (thumbdrives etc) but I haven't actually ever had the need for them since using cloud storage (one off transfer then the files are available on whichever device I want and the thumbdrive just sits in the drawer)
If you haven't used apple devices before it takes a bit of getting used to (I came from android and currently use an android phone, windows for work and iPad for on the move or wasting time!) but when you're used to it everything works really well if not always intuitively.
 
Have a look at this:

Linx 12X64 - 12.5-inch Tablet with Detachable Keyboard Intel Atom x5-Z8350 / 1.44 GHz (1.92 GHz Turbo) Quad Core Processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB Storage, Windows 10 - LINX12X64
I have never used one, so can't comment on the build etc, but it ticks all your boxes. It wont have MS Office on it, so you will need to factor in the licence cost for that unless your workplace will install it for you. Plenty of free software that will allow you to read ebooks on it as well.

Don't expect the same performance as your Dell though.
 
Thanks MrK1, looks very good; and can I connect an external hard drive to it; appologies, if this is a dumb question in advance?

Thanks as well Loofah; good advice; I have had no previous experience with Apple
 
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