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Tim Hudson
02-09-2008, 02:22
I have a EEE Laptop with XP on it and was thinking of taking it on my hike. It weighs 2Lb, 1/2oz, and I figure all the rest of the stuff for it weigh 1lb. Has anyone taken a laptop with before, and how did that work out?

scavenger
02-09-2008, 02:42
Don't really see why you'd wanna do that...

EWS
02-09-2008, 03:37
I've taken one on bicycle tours before, where weight matters less and the internet is more accessable. Not worth it. I wouldn't consider throwing one on my back. Pen and paper are better if you really want to write.

fiddlehead
02-09-2008, 03:38
You might get a lot of flak for it but, if you can make money while hiking, i say go for it. I would if it meant hiking with or not hiking. i feel the same about a cell phone (but i wouldn't pull it out in front of others)

Sometimes I am very surprised that people use ipods/walkmans, etc while hiking. They seem to be missing out on a lot of the beauty of the hike. Especially on the AT where the views tend to be the same but there are a lot of birds, animals, etc. talking to each other and us so many times it's senseless to me to turn them off like that.

If you are a fast hiker and find yourself often waiting for others, then take a book, laptop, guitar, or work along with you if you like. HYOH (of course)

Tennessee Viking
02-09-2008, 04:23
Won't be a lot of places to charge it on the trail. And not a whole lot of WIFI on the trail either, except for hostels and bars.

Plus, it is going to dinged up easily. Shake and bounce while inside your pack. Weather. Food and water spilling onto it.

Unless, you are just doing a weekend hike with a lot of photography or finish up a report before Monday, its not worth taking.

I admit I am no purist, I have my own trail vice, my Shuffle. It actually helps me with my pace. Nothing better to listen to some classical or favorite song on a mountain top.

If you are wanting to do trail journaling, use a voice recorder or notebook. Or get a smartphone or PDA to make things a bit more modern.

Panzer1
02-09-2008, 04:29
I don't think it would pack very well. And I would worry about it getting wet. Even if you keep it in a large zip lock you still have humitidy issues. There's also the jarring that it would get with every step you take. Things like that were not really made to be out on the trail everyday in the cold/heat/rain.

One week on the trail would put about a year of wear and tear on it.

You might be better off carring 2 extra pounds of food/snacks ect.

Panzer

Mrs Baggins
02-09-2008, 07:09
You might get a lot of flak for it but, if you can make money while hiking, i say go for it. I would if it meant hiking with or not hiking. i feel the same about a cell phone (but i wouldn't pull it out in front of others)

Sometimes I am very surprised that people use ipods/walkmans, etc while hiking. They seem to be missing out on a lot of the beauty of the hike. Especially on the AT where the views tend to be the same but there are a lot of birds, animals, etc. talking to each other and us so many times it's senseless to me to turn them off like that.

If you are a fast hiker and find yourself often waiting for others, then take a book, laptop, guitar, or work along with you if you like. HYOH (of course)


As addicted as I am to my laptop I wouldn't put it through a hike even if I could carry the weight.

As for music on the AT, I only use my MP3 on the steep ups.........believe me, I'm working so hard to make it that I am not listening for the wildlife! But if I have some music going I am also not listening to myself work so hard to breathe and I am not thinking about how much I hate the "ups" -- I'm distracted by the music and the next thing I know I'm at the top of the mountain, and then I put the MP3 away until the next "up".........:rolleyes:

Frolicking Dinosaurs
02-09-2008, 07:52
A PDA or a Treo700 series phone or a blackberry would be better choices. You absolutely will not need 95+% of the utility of a full laptop on the trail. What you plan to do with the device on the trail would be the deciding factor on which of the devices is best for you.

If you are planning to journal on the device or to do a lot of email or actual work on the trail, you may want to consider a flexible keyboard - mini (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=LK-606A&cm_mmc=googleproducts-_-Keyboards-_-Keyboards-_-LK-606A&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=LK-606A) or full size (http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/5a7f/) as an add on.

Marta
02-09-2008, 07:57
Why not try it on a weekend hike, and see how that works for you?

My son says they've gone over to Toughbooks for field work. He says they seem to be pretty rugged.

WalkingStick75
02-09-2008, 11:06
Normally I wouln't want to carry a computer while backpacking but I'm planning on a trip to Europe this fall with my son where we will be part backpacking in the Alps and part more or less tourist stuff and a small pc would be really nice. For those that have teh eee couple questions:
What kind of batteries does it use, and battery life being the primary concern. Overall durability

warraghiyagey
02-09-2008, 11:09
Tim, I wanted badly to set myself up with a system to type text while on the trail (laptop/notebook etc). After having been on the trail(without that setup as an additional issue), not worth it.
Pen and paper friend, pen and paper.:)

jnohs
02-09-2008, 17:42
get the iphone that thing cruises the internet pretty good and its small it has the music and all the goodies you are saying you want.

bmike
02-09-2008, 18:44
how bout a nokia 800? (http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/2007/06/nokia-n800-computer-for-nomads.html)

kent p loves his for his bike travels. might work well for journaling (with the keyboard) and email / blogging.
what do you want to do on it?

Frosty
02-09-2008, 19:18
I've carried one of these for about 3 years now, off and on, backpacking and whatnot:

http://alphasmart.com/k12/K12_Products/neo_K12.html

and it has worked out swell.

It is not a computer, but only a low level word processor. I write, and I find this very useful to me as my handwriting is illegible. It runs for hundreds of hours on three AA batteries (RAM only, no drive mechanism).

It connects to any computer with a USB port and uploads your noble thoughts into Word or a similar program.

I have never had a problem with water. I just keep it in a small trash bag in my pack. It has gotten wet a few times, and it fared a lot better than a paper notebook would have under the same conditions.

Every so often (maybe a half dozen times in three years), someone is offended by the sight of it, and will tell me that I cannot enjoy my hike unless I write with a pencil, but a lot fewer than you would think. Of course there may be a lot more who say nothing but afterwards tell stories about the loony geezer with the kiddie laptop, but that's okay. :D The point of hiking is too have fun, and I do.


ps I have mailed an inexpensive Averatec laptop to myself many times, and it is still gong strong despite the Post Office's best efforts. Laptops are not nearly as fragile as they used to be. That said, I bought the extended warranty :-?

spittinpigeon
02-09-2008, 19:31
Make sure and pick up a USB firestarter.

The Old Fhart
02-09-2008, 19:44
On my 1998 thru I carried an 11oz HP100Lx palmtop computer that ran on 2 AA batteries. I had a couple of dozen novels, dictionary, Bible, A.T. Databook, my journal and other neat stuff loaded. It rode in a pouch on my sternum strap unless it was really raining and it not only survived the entire trip but still works today. I would type my journal entries with my thumbs by candle light in my tent at night and transfer to my desktop PC when I got home.

With the advances made in the last ten years it is very practical to carry a much more powerful PDA, Blackberry, or other device if you are careful.

rafe
02-09-2008, 19:50
how bout a nokia 800? (http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/2007/06/nokia-n800-computer-for-nomads.html)

kent p loves his for his bike travels. might work well for journaling (with the keyboard) and email / blogging.
what do you want to do on it?

Newegg has some cheap ($300) very light (2 lb) and compact Linux-based laptops. (eg. this one (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220267).)

wrongway_08
02-09-2008, 19:52
It would be worth it to drop around $400. on a small palm computer thing, if you really want to bring one. smaller, compact and use less energy.

One was bought for me to take along on my thru-hike this march but I'd rather not take it, one more thing to look after and recharge and repack every day. But it is neat and easy to use.

I'll just pack pen and paper.

brotheral
02-09-2008, 20:35
The Appalachian Trail : A Footpath for Those Who Seek Fellowship With the Wilderness !!!!! :-?

warraghiyagey
02-09-2008, 20:40
One was bought for me to take along on my thru-hike this march but I'd rather not take it, one more thing to look after and recharge and repack every day. But it is neat and easy to use.
.
I'll test it SOBO for ya.;):p

Wise Old Owl
02-09-2008, 20:42
It would be worth it to drop around $400. on a small palm computer thing, if you really want to bring one. smaller, compact and use less energy.

One was bought for me to take along on my thru-hike this march but I'd rather not take it, one more thing to look after and recharge and repack every day. But it is neat and easy to use.

I'll just pack pen and paper.

I am with Wrongway with this one, An affordable Palm or the 2gb cheap Trio Mp3 with voice record. Don't get me wrong, I like my laptop, I can connect to home from the campsite. Watch a movie or place a video call, all from a WiFi spot with the car as my power. But for backpacking? Once again what would you use it for?

bmike
02-11-2008, 11:37
The Appalachian Trail : A Footpath for Those Who Seek Fellowship With the Wilderness !!!!! :-?

with our breathable fabrics, tents, hammocks, carbon fiber trekking poles, lightweight backpacks, instant oatmeal, mail drops, hitchhiking, flight or bus to the start, bic lighters, jetboil stoves, etc. etc.

hyoh

Footslogger
02-11-2008, 11:47
I have a EEE Laptop with XP on it and was thinking of taking it on my hike. It weighs 2Lb, 1/2oz, and I figure all the rest of the stuff for it weigh 1lb. Has anyone taken a laptop with before, and how did that work out?
===============================

My wife carried a small computer, more along the lines of a word processor, called a "Psion" with her in 2001. It was about the size of a "Pocketmail Composer" and weighed about the same. She was gathering data for her dissertation and needed to be able to transcribe interviews and such on the fly. She chose the Psion because it had a Microsoft OS and allowed the use of SD Media cards. Battery life was excellent and she could dock the unit to a PC to download MSWord documents. It did not however have e-mail, which she would have appreciated.

'Slogger

ScottP
02-11-2008, 12:07
I met a hiker that was able to hold onto his web design job while hiking by bouncing a laptop and taking frequent zeros to work. Awesome. Bouncing it may be a better idea, since you can insure the laptop.

Bulldawg
02-11-2008, 22:43
I met a hiker that was able to hold onto his web design job while hiking by bouncing a laptop and taking frequent zeros to work. Awesome. Bouncing it may be a better idea, since you can insure the laptop.
That's pretty cool there for sure. I would have never thought of that!

paradoxb3
02-12-2008, 00:42
anyone had any experience with these? I'd love one, but they're still a lil bit too expensive for me to consider.

http://www.oqo.com

still, recharging would be a constant issue any way you go. personally i dont care one bit about using a computer on the trail, but thats just me... over here H'ingMOH.

warraghiyagey
02-12-2008, 00:44
"And inside it, your father said, holds the treasure to all the lands. . . . . may I keep it?"

bmike
02-13-2008, 21:01
check out this post... (http://www.solar-umpc.com/2007/10/solar-umpcs-on-appalachian-trail.html) guy planning to thru with a raon everun. (http://www.cube13.com/search/label/raon)
and he's starting at the end of feb...

Odd Thomas
05-24-2008, 06:45
I don't think it would pack very well. And I would worry about it getting wet. Even if you keep it in a large zip lock you still have humitidy issues. There's also the jarring that it would get with every step you take. Things like that were not really made to be out on the trail everyday in the cold/heat/rain.

One week on the trail would put about a year of wear and tear on it.

You might be better off carring 2 extra pounds of food/snacks ect.

Panzer

Jarring wont be a problem, the EEEPC has no hard drive and is completely solid state, bang away!

Bare Bear
05-24-2008, 07:44
Of course you will need to carry that three pound back up battery pack too. HYOH but geez...................I recall a guy at Neels Gap that had a GPS mounted on his 50# pack, insisted he was going to carry it all the way to Maine. I heard he left the Trail at Clingmans Dome never to be seen again. Weight is Everything, everything is weight.

Shadowmoss
05-24-2008, 08:33
I am about to order on of the new eeepc 900 models. Taking it hiking is one of the reasons. I may not use it as much as I think, but I also travel a LOT for work, and taking 2 laptops through security along with all my external electronics is getting old. At least this is much lighter than my D800 Dell personal laptop.

Since it is solid state (memory cards/chips instead of a mechanical drive) and has a larger keyboard than the one on my phone, I'm hoping it will overcome the issues I have with the data enabled phone. I find it funny that folks tell the OP to take a data enabled phone/mp3 player instead of this. It is not that much bigger (size of 2 CD cases sitting side-by-side), and is basically a more fully featured piece of the same type of equipment. With the Wifi and real keyboard (ok, my hands are small), I wouldn't have to wait in line for the public computers in town, just use the Wifi at the motel/hostle/MickyD's/Starbucks/whatever.

However, I would like to hear why this plan isn't as rosy as I think. Yes, the 2lbs is heavier than a phone... Oh, and the battery - I think with the extended battery you can get maybe up to 6 hours? I don't know the weight of the extended battery pack. With the stock one, you get 2.5-3 hours, and that one is included in the 2 lb listed weight. Type fast while journaling on the trail.

DavidNH
05-24-2008, 08:38
Well I remember Gary, who hiked the trail in 2006. He carried a full lap top. He also had a 75-100 pound pack! Far as I know he made it.. even if on the slow side.

To me it doesn't make much sense. Its heavy and I would suspect that moisture could do harm.

DavidNH

Johnny Swank
05-24-2008, 10:53
I think about this exact topic all the damn time it seems. I wrote a newspaper column during both my thru-hike and when we paddled the Mississippi River, which helped fund both of those trips. The Mississippi river articles were the impetus for a book that I hope to get out in the next few months, which should help fund the 2010 trip.

http://sourcetosea.net/category/mississippi-river-book-excerpts/

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2141/1624462519_5afcc7b1b0_m.jpgFor both those trips, I just used public library internet access or wherever else I could scam some computer time. I also had a Pocketmail unit and an old Handspring and folding keyboard on the river. I really liked PDA setup, but it had two problems.

1. No wifi on the PDA, so that meant I still had to use another computer to send out files and documents.
2. I couldn't come up with a clean way to transfer files from the PDA onto whatever random computer I hooked up with. Granted, the Handspring was ancient, and I didn't have a MS Word-compatable program on it that could export even basic text files toa compact flash card. I basically ended up either transcribing from my notebooks or the PDA to the library computer.

Here's the setup I used on the river.
http://sourcetosea.net/writing-while-traveling-on-the-mississippi-river/

Honestly, it was a real pain, and it ate up time in towns, which increased my time in town.. you see where this going.

Basically all I really want to do is be able to write, edit, and send out a 1,000 word document and about 6 medium resolution photos whenever I get to a town that either has some wifi connection or cellphone access, and I'd love to not be dependent on libraries or other public access computers again. I really need something close to a full-sized keyboard to bang out something in a timely manner too. I'd also like to update our blog via email with some smaller posts and photo attachments. Screen size doesn't really matter all that much as long as I can read and email, but weight is a killer, anything coming close to 1 lb just isn't going to happen, so....

I plan to use either a Treo or Iphone in combination with a folding keyboard to do all this. (I'm hoping that Apple will come to their senses and enable bluetooth keyboard use with the next generation of Iphones). I'll probably still do most of my personal journaling and general writing with pen and paper, but all the web and newspaper stuff will go directly into the pda and edited there. This will be augmented with occasional use of public computers for the heavier lifting (uploading 100's of photos to flickr for example) and tweaking the website, but most everything will start from the PDA. I'll probably take one of those cheap AAA battery adaptors you can get at most any RadioShack and pillage batteries from my headlamp if recharging becomes an issue.

All those should come in under about 12-13 ounces if I play my cards right. My folks aren't getting any younger, so we'll be carrying a cell phone to touch base every few days in any case, so the extra weight comes mainly from the keyboard. I've made a real effort to get our packs down to about 10 lbs each w/o food or water, so 4 ounces one way of the other isn't going to be a dealbreaker.

Roots
05-24-2008, 11:56
I have a friend I was hiking with that had a lot of trouble being able to send out her journals on her pocketmail. There were others that used EnV phones or even i phones. The coolest thing I saw was a foldable keyboard that attached to a cell phone. The cell was a port. It gave the appearance of using a computer. The keyboard was the most ingenious thing I've seen used so far. Powder River is the one using it. He has a website--walkingnorth.wordpress.com. Check it out. You could probably sign his guestbook and ask him about it.

rafe
05-24-2008, 12:00
I'm as techy as the next dude but I haven't lugged a computer into the woods yet -- except the one in my camera, and the one in my cell phone.

PS there's a wild turkey the size of an ostrich squawking in my back yard. Noisy sucker.

Odd Thomas
05-24-2008, 15:23
Of course you will need to carry that three pound back up battery pack too. HYOH but geez

Additional battery is 10 ounces

Johnny Swank
05-24-2008, 15:25
I've got an old folding Stowaway keyboard that I use with my PDA sometimes. It's about on its last legs, but man, I can really gets some words down using that thing. I don't have internet access with my PDA, so that's probably half of it right there.

Odd Thomas
05-24-2008, 15:42
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f205/Edge767/burner/eeepc3.jpg

Still can't get over just how freaking tiny and light this thing is. The spacial footprint is equal to 2 CD's in cases.

NICKTHEGREEK
05-24-2008, 17:38
If you have $$ look at the OQO computer. The top of the line has solid state memory and gets really great battery life. We have several of the lesser models at work and with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard they are simply marvels of technology. The wi-fi works flawlessly,
http://www.oqo.com/products/index.html

Johnny Swank
05-24-2008, 17:58
I think this is just the tip of the iceburg too. Flash memory keeps plummeting in price, and folks seem to be getting the idea of what these little, cheap laptops are all about. I've got a Macbook loaded with all the goodies, but there's no way I'd drag it along on a trip just to check email and do some minor web surfing.

We've got a couple of those Asus EEE pc's running linux at work. People love playing with those things and checking them out when travelling instead of lugging a "real" laptop around.

The Weasel
05-24-2008, 18:00
If you're determined to have that kind of thing, consider getting an internet PDA phone with bluetooth and then getting a bluetooth folding keyboard. smaller, less intrusive, lighter.

TW

Johnny Swank
05-24-2008, 18:04
The N810 also gets good reviews when used with a bluetooth keyboard.

http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-N810-Portable-Internet-Tablet/dp/B000Y4AH3C

wahoo
05-25-2008, 00:29
Hey Odd Thomas -
I've got an EEE and an HP Pavilion like the one in your pic. I thought you must have came over and snapped some shots of my desk...!
I have been tempted to take the EEE out in my pack, just haven't done it yet. I'm sure it will hold up fine, since the fan is (I think) the only moving component in it.
I use a Sprint Mogul phone on the trail with me most of the time, works great with a data plan, where service is available. Internet, Word docs, GPS software, music, videos. It's all on the phone.

Wake
05-25-2008, 07:26
Not exactly off-topic: I'm typing this in my back yard right now after having spent the night in my new tent. Good topic! I've been investigating the possibility of a PDA myself. I don't think my Macbook Pro would survive the trail, let alone be worth its weight. :(

Patrickjd9
05-25-2008, 16:19
Make sure and pick up a USB firestarter.
They're cool, but a little hard on the old battery charge.