Laptop - Coco View & AKR

[leadweight]

Internet service is slow in Roatan. It could take you a long time to upload photos, especially if they are shot raw. How about burning them to optical media?

 

[amaxey]

I can't imagine uploading many images from CCV, it's very slow and really best used for checking email or googling some piece of trivia to settle an argument at the bar. I personally avoid any prolonged use of the internet while on the island!

I also stay in Bungalow A, probably the closest guest room to the clubhouse, but do not get good enough reception to get anything done. The clubhouse has lots of space, two levels, and two or three outside areas that you could work on battery power at least. Plenty of places to plug in if you're inside.

Check the travel gadget section at best buy for a travel sized surge protector. I think I actually got mine at the grocery store! It will look like a 3-way adapter with a green and red light on it, so you can protect 3 items. And as someone said, the charger on your laptop does essentially the same thing, but it's a good idea to use it with your camera/light/laptop chargers anyway.

Enjoy it! I'll be there again next week myself.

 

[robint]

I am sooooo jealous! YOu guys have a fantastic time and be sure to take lots of topside and underwater pictures to bring back and post!

 

[Fab]

All very helpful info. Great idea about the travel size surge protector, I'm going to look for a one today! Also, I'm going to bring dvd's for back up, and maybe a second back-up, like a usb key.

So, I'm assuming the electricity and outlets are the same as here?
How about the humidity,...wondering if that's an issue for the laptop?

 

[Doc]

So, I'm assuming the electricity and outlets are the same as here? How about the humidity,...wondering if that's an issue for the laptop?

Yes, electricity is the same, no transformers or adapters.

Of course the sea level humidity is an issue for your laptop. Worth worrying about? Not for a visitor. Locals view hardware as disposable items. They usually puke out in time for the next necessary hardware upgrade, unlike the dinosaurs that we have back home.

I think you are looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. If you are looking absolutely preserving images? The best way would be to download them on site or back home to 2 seperate CD discs. If you're going to be anal, go all the way.

You have to draw the line and distinction between "perceived need" and "unquenchable desire". The price of memory cards is so low at this point, why not just take a dozen along? If you're shooting hi resolution stills, it would really be hard to fill a 2 gig card in a week with enough decent images to fill it. With seven 1 meg cards, you could have one for each day. No muss, no fuss~ you could even keep the large mass of "pitch-outs", the bad stuff that you'll never use.

Before cards came down in price, I bought an Epson p-3000, the "adult I-Pod" for media freaks.

If you haveta gotta drag a laptop to paradise, that means you have the "luxury" of doing so. These days, that luxury has became more dear with the airlines squeezing us every which way.

K.I.S.S. Oh I know, this is almost as emotional a subject as gloves arguments, Spare Air and taking Regulators as carry-on.

What it all boils down to is: what must I carry along to make this dive trip (or is it a vacation with diving?) a success. Will it be my own gear? Will it be my perscription mask? Two wetsuits? What must I pack in my bags to make this trip functional?

My "jones" is dive lights~ I am nuts for night diving. I have about 9 different lights, all different & for very specific applications, also about a dozen various "back up" secondary lights (all the same). Blacklights to 16 watt 1956 Chevy Headlamps. I can only take what is needed for a specific trip.

Same with my media storage issues. Sure, I could bring a computer and fuss with all of that connectivity stuff and worrying about whether the technology will survive the humidity or the power... or I can take the KISS method. Or is it, as my Psychiatrist brother-in-law asks, an issue of refusing "to be out of touch" for a week? I asked him if something else plays into it... The inherent fixation of all of us SCUBA divers (me included, too, no doubt) with lust in our hearts for BSO's? (Bright Shiny Objects, things with serial numbers, stuff we gawk at in dive magazines). I believe that my brother in law is barred from this discussion as he has a pair of Porsche 911's that he races on weekends. To each their own- it's like women and shoes or guys with power tools.

You aren't wrong if "you must" take a laptop, you just have the luxury of that size and weight commodity option. This list of what you take with mutates and evolves as you accumulate bottom time and focus on different aspects of the sport.

Travel as lightly as you can. This is advice from two lifetimes (my wife, too) of adventure travel. Roatan is one of those places where you really won't need 1/2 of what you brought. It isn't really part of a third world country so much as it is a suburb of Houston. Distressingly civilized in it's own weird way.

Especially the shoes. :blinking:

 

[Isaac-1]

While we are on the subject of notebook computers, who else carries a "disposable" notebook computer when traveling. Mine is a 10 year old Compaq Armada M300 with a P3-500 processor, it was a top of the line $4,000 unit when new, but now they sell on ebay for $150-200, I find it is fast enough for web browsing, even for playing things like you tube videos (just barely), weighs in at under 4 pounds (with the power brick), and thanks to being a high end unit when new, it comes with a heavy duty light weight Magnesium case.

 

[Doc]

While we are on the subject of notebook computers, who else carries a "disposable" notebook computer when traveling.

I are ignorant. I'll bet there's more than a few of us out there who are.

What are the minimums you look for when searching for a "disposable" laptop for dive travel? I suppose you'd want wireless internet access, burning discs from media cards or cables or...? What are the model's "numerics" to ask for at the local computer resale bodega?

 

[Isaac-1]

I think as a guideline for buying now for most people I would place the specs around:

Pentium III <500 Mhz
Win XP compatible
less than 6 pound total weight
CD/DVD drive a plus, but not required (it is in an external base on my Compaq, that adds about 2 pounds to the weight) USB drives are small enough and cheap enough to move data around on these days
Hard drive size is a personal choice, most will come with a drive big enough for basic tasks
Wireless probably using a now cheap PC card or USB adapter

Any number of high end computers from around 8-10 years ago meet this spec, and offer quality contruction, and can be found on ebay (or other sources) in the sub $250 range. Here are a few models I spotted in a brief search:

IBM T-21 T-22 or T-23 series (pushing the upper weight limit and price range)
Sony Vaio PCG-R505 series (lighter weight, with detachable base)
Sony Viao PCG-3112 series (sub 4 pound, no optical drive)
Dell Latitude assorted C and D series models (too many to list, most on the heavy end)
Compaq Armada M300 (the one I have, on the low end of the specs and price range)

These are just the ones I spotted on ebay at the moment, there are probably other quality units from lesser seen manufacturers (fuji, etc) as well as plenty that fell just above this price range for now (but with everything computer like, prices fall).

Ike

 

[Fab]

Well, we don't have to carry much on the plane. We don't own our own BC's or regs, no fancy flashlights, just wetsuits.

What if our computer is not disposable?.....

 

[Doc]

What if our computer is not disposable?.....

I have never heard of one that wasn't

Don't worry- it will be fine.