03 February 2009

favourite travel items: Asus Eee PC netbook

Oh how we love our tiny netbook computer! We love it because:
  • it weighs very little (especially compared to my usual laptop) - at 1.2kg it doesn't take up too much of our weight limit
  • the physical size (with a 7 inch screen) means it doesn't take up loads of valuable bag space. 
  • it can be put into a daypack and taken on excursions rather than being left in hotel rooms or cars.
  • it even fits into hotel room safes
  • it can be recharged quickly, and with different power strengths (240 volt, 220 volt, 110 volt) without a power adaptor, though you may need a different plug for the socket
  • it has an SD card slot so we could download the photos taken each day onto it, thus keeping the camera card relatively empty
  • you can take advantage of free wi-fi zones as you travel. Some airports (e.g. Hong Kong) have it, as do some parks, hotels, cafes etc. You can use this to check your email, search the web for directions, opening times for sights etc.
  • you can write your travel diary straight into it without carrying a relatively heavy book
  • you can download and store travel guides, phrase books and other useful information to access directly instead of lugging a whole heap of paper (and I adore my paper travel guides)
  • it came with free gaming software for the kids - useful if stuck somewhere boring
More recent models have been released onto the market with larger memory and larger screens, and therefore larger keyboards (better for fingers and typing!), but one assumes they are also heavier. We are very happy with ours.

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