MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: LJs GU on August 01, 2012, 10:46:51 PM
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For our upcoming trip, have been thinking of taking the laptop, basically for internet connection (tethered to our HTC phone). However I've been contemplating getting a tablet instead.
So questions for those in the know...
What's a tablet like for things like up dating blogs/posting photos?
Can the photos off my camera's SD card be easily transferred to the tablet for uploading? (This is my main concern)
Is it a pain typing on a tablet rather than the laptop keyboard.
Are tablets heaps more energy efficient than laptop?
Any other pro's and con's. Impress me with your knowledge Myswaggers...
LJ
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We just use our IPad now as its smaller, easier and good battery life. Works for us....
PS: not sure how it goes with blogging as I don't play that game.....:-)
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I am with teabag love my iPad :cheers:
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We left with an iMac and have since bought an iPad as well (also have iPhones). We bought a case which has an inbuilt keyboard for the iPad ($70ish). We use Blogpress app for the tablet and phones and FB app for our page. The biggest thing with our iPad is no USB port so we can't connect the hardrive to it for movies. Not sure if that's changed with the new one. We have a camera to iPad connector, so no need to remove the card from the camera (cable for camera to iMac too, so no issue for us). The iPad takes about as long to charge as the laptop on 12V. The iMac also has a disc drive...may be something else to consider if you think you may want to hire DVDs or for a multitude of other reasons (disc of photos to post to someone/backup, etc).
Lil :)
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keen to see how this goes as i'm about to make the same decision for a trip in september,keep them coming.
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What's a tablet like for things like up dating blogs/posting photos?
You can get an SD card reader for the iPad that will allow you to transfer photos of your camera's memory card. I think you'd find Android to be more flexible though ... but a laptop will be even more flexible IMHO.
If you do get an iPad, look at dx.com for a less expensive option for the SD card reader.
Can the photos off my camera's SD card be easily transferred to the tablet for uploading? (This is my main concern)
As above, IMHO, order of preference is laptop, android, iPad (but I'm sure others will disagree).
Is it a pain typing on a tablet rather than the laptop keyboard.
If I need to type on a tablet for any more than the odd email, I'd be looking at getting a bluetooth keyboard, or, preferably, one of those cases that includes a keyboard ... but then you may as well use a laptop!
Are tablets heaps more energy efficient than laptop?
Yes. Ultrabooks are pretty good though. But if you've already got a laptop, see if you can get a 12v charger for it off eBay and go with that.
Any other pro's and con's. Impress me with your knowledge Myswaggers...
An ultrabook would be my first choice. Flexible, efficient, light and they're reasonably priced too.
Regular Win 7 laptop with a 12v charger would be next, for reasons of flexibility.
Then an Android 4.0 or 4.1 with a keyboard (or keyboard case) ... you'd probably want a Bluetooth-capable unit to get the keyboard working, and a GPS in the unit would be nice.
I find the iPad a bit too "Apple" for me (great if you want to do what Apple thinks you want to do, but a bit restrictive if you want to do anything else).
Disclaimer: I've been in IT for more years than I'd like to count, and I've always been in the Microsoft camp.
Mind you, those Macbook Airs and the Macbook Pros with the retina display are pretty bloody nice, and running virtualisation software on one of those to give you access to Windows apps is the best of both worlds. But don't tell anyone I know that I said that!
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We take a netbook (small laptop) and a tablet, saves on arguments 8). So I need a both option.
I use the netbook for route planning and internet by tethering to my phone and the android tablet is our on dash gps using ozi android (which is great) and entertainment for my wife who likes playing word games. Our little princess also likes to play afew educational games on the tablet which is a good evening wind down for her while we are cooking or doing other things.
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Another vote here for the iPad. With the right apps they are a brilliant bit of gear.
Shane
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For our upcoming trip, have been thinking of taking the laptop, basically for internet connection (tethered to our HTC phone). However I've been contemplating getting a tablet instead.
So questions for those in the know...
What's a tablet like for things like up dating blogs/posting photos?
Can the photos off my camera's SD card be easily transferred to the tablet for uploading? (This is my main concern)
Is it a pain typing on a tablet rather than the laptop keyboard.
Are tablets heaps more energy efficient than laptop?
Any other pro's and con's. Impress me with your knowledge Myswaggers...
LJ
A lot of what your asking depends on the brand/quality of the tablet/Ipad.
We use a tablet and a netbook.
They both do the exact same things but each has their good and bad points, and those good and/or bad points are only my opinion based on the products we use.
In our case both the tablet and netbook are similar in processor speed, ram etc so I am comparing apples with apples as far as performance goes.
Both of them accept the cameras cards and both have usb ports so they are the same for taking pics off the cameras.
The netbook is easier to type a lot of text using the key board but the mouse pad is a pain.
The tablet is great to use as far as using the touch screen for navigation but its a pain to type a lot of text using the screen imho.
Sure I can use a plug in key board for the tablet or I could use a proper mouse with the netbook...and we do both with both at times.
Our net book has a battery on steroids......it lasts 10 hours. The tablets battery is lucky to last 3 hours. But once again this is due to the brands we are using and doesnt mean our experience is that of all netbooks or tablets.
So in our situation they both have a place in our life.
The tablet is the tool of choice for comfortable web surfing and small amounts of typing. It also has the convenient apps.
The netbook is the thing to use for any serious typing and pretty much everything else.
We use our iphones hotspots to wirelessly connect both when on the road.
And now I mention the iphones, the majority of the time we just use those when on the road. We dont get too far into the computer thing when on holidays ;)
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Ipad with a keyboard is Morags preference.
I usually just use my iPhone to read forums...
Bill and Morag
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We use Laptop for movies TV and camera picture storage on Samsung 650Gb plugin HDDs.
My Chinese Android 4 tablet 7" has Wifi , GPS , Bluetooth & 3G phone so its coupled to my handsfree BlueAnt in the Jeep.
Everything we have has a 12V charger - My work gave me Navman MY75 so we don't get lost in retirement.
When they all run out of charge at the same time we are in deep kaka ...LOL . ( never happens coz Solar Power won't let it happen !!!)
Cheers
Steve
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Laptop for mum and dad for the internet, photos, tv and all those bits. The kids then have a 10" android tablet each that they use for movies and games.
at home we use the same laptop as our main PC.
I think the flexability of the laptop would be the best option for me. Also android seams to be more flexible that the apple store for games etc which is why the kids have android tablets.
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I just take the iPad with me - I have a 64Gb 3G iPad 1 (no camera) which has built-in GPS. Apple sell an adaptor which allows an SD card or a USB connection to be made to the tablet, so downloading photos is not a problem.
I used to take a laptop around with me, but the tablet is much more convenient - when not being used it fits down between the passenger seat and the centre console. Don't do a lot of blogging, I use Tapatalk to connect to these forums and find the on-screen keyboard OK for my two fingered typing technique, but a good typist would benefit from an external keyboard.
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Well I'll go with my standard line and say anything from Apple sucks :)
I have the Asus Transformer Prime, which comes with a keyboard dock so you can use it as either a tablet, or as a netbook. The keyboard has a USB port and at SD card reader built in, as well as an additional internal battery which charges the tablet when docked.
It uses the Android OS so if you already use a HTC phone you should be right at home with it, and all your apps will install on the tablet no problem. I've watched HD movies on it without any issues and haven't noticed any speed problems.
http://eee.asus.com/eeepad/transformer-prime/features/ (http://eee.asus.com/eeepad/transformer-prime/features/)
Best of all, it isn't a crappy Apple product ;D
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I'm with Symon, my dad has one of the Asus transformers and it seems to do almost everything a laptop does. I've got a tablet and a laptop and only use the laptop occasionally now.
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Well I'll go with my standard line and say anything from Apple sucks :)
I have the Asus Transformer Prime, which comes with a keyboard dock so you can use it as either a tablet, or as a netbook. The keyboard has a USB port and at SD card reader built in, as well as an additional internal battery which charges the tablet when docked.
It uses the Android OS so if you already use a HTC phone you should be right at home with it, and all your apps will install on the tablet no problem. I've watched HD movies on it without any issues and haven't noticed any speed problems.
http://eee.asus.com/eeepad/transformer-prime/features/ (http://eee.asus.com/eeepad/transformer-prime/features/)
Best of all, it isn't a crappy Apple product ;D
X2.
I'm waiting to see what the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 cost when it is finally released here. NO chance if it will be the $999 being whispered about.
Renno :cheers:
Renno
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I have been thinking about this for months.
Every time my wife is asking when the tablet will arrive.
Every time there is a new model on the market which I need to "research".
Noew she told me that she will buy one from her own earned money.
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A proper tablet is the go...
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/products/latit/topics/en/us/latit_xt_landing?c=us&l=en (http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/products/latit/topics/en/us/latit_xt_landing?c=us&l=en)
Then a old Toshy A9 with Solid state drive as a backup for kids movies, with the large screen.
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We were given an iPad by my work as a retirement present the day before we headed off to the Cape. I was already taking a netbook, so took both, together with our iPhones. I haven't sorted the photos on the iPad yet, so copy the photos from the camera to the netbook as a backup. For everything else I use the iPad. I have fallen in love with the iPad, although I do find some of its limitations frustrating. It does have a 3G card, but I am thinking of going with Telstra's wi-fi 3G dongle so I can connect iPhone, netbook and iPad all at the same time (not a great fan of tethering, the iPhone seems to not handle multitasking too well).
Mal
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Whatever you buy
It will be outdated by the time you get it home.
That's why I don't upgrade, its just all too difficult. The new model will be cheaper, faster,better, smaller, (or bigger) and have more features. And you'll just know your being oft behind if you don't have the latest.
Its all too difficult.
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G'day.
Just made the plunge and i went with a netbook. Cost and things like usb etc was a factor. I think you just have to way up what you will use it for and what features you need and see whats available.
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Whatever you buy
It will be outdated by the time you get it home.
That's why I don't upgrade, its just all too difficult. The new model will be cheaper, faster,better, smaller, (or bigger) and have more features. And you'll just know your being oft behind if you don't have the latest.
Its all too difficult.
Hear what your saying and I agree, my Apple II still works a treat. ;D
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I used to take a notebook for photos and as a backup for OziExplorer. Don't bother now, just take an IPAD (64Gb 3G) with SD card reader connection for photos. Movies on ITUNES if you want (there are many apps to convert AVI to MPEG4 around) plus music streamed via bluetooth to car head unit and currently researching and testing mapping solutions (MUDMAP & BITMAP). Will probably settle on MEMORY MAP down the track as this seems to becoming the default for IPAD mapping..
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Whatever you buy
It will be outdated by the time you get it home.
That's why I don't upgrade, its just all too difficult. The new model will be cheaper, faster,better, smaller, (or bigger) and have more features. And you'll just know your being oft behind if you don't have the latest.
This is true but the last part about it being better and faster is garbage. Unless you are running memory hungry programs any new PC will do most jobs. My netbook (HP Mini) and my Tablet (Motorola Xoom) were top of the line gear that I bought when they were superceded for less than half the original price. They are both more than capable and spending the extra for the latest in my mind is just keeping up with the Jones which is what apple is all about (yet another reason I hate apple).
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Another iPad vote. Some very handy apps and so handy to use, even when driving (by the passenger of course :D)
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Since I bought an Ipad, I hardly use my PC. But I will still take my laptop when I go away to file away photos using Lightroom. I don't think I could store many 36 Mp photos on my 1 gB iPad!
Internet connection will be 4G phone.
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iPad ofr us we have 1each no waiting for the other to finish
:cheers:
Smoko
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I luv my iPad
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I have all the toys (I'm an I.T. nerd) but when we travel we generally take a netbook to access work servers (I can do it on the tablets but it is painful) and a couple of tablets in the form of an iPad and a Acer A501 (Android 10" tablet) so the monsters (aka the boys) can have one each whilst we are covering distance or watching a movie before going to sleep. The devices are all excellent but if I had to pick one to take I would probably take the Acer because is has a USB slot and a SD card slot so you can plug in and transfer between all the storage you could possibly need.
In terms of blogs, I think you'll find most of the blog providers will have an app for updating etc for both the Apple and Android platforms so I don't think it would give you much of an issue. if they don't have an app then you could no doubt just use their website portal to update but if that portal was to use "flash" then your only option is an Android tablet.
Also, I would suggest having a bunch of memory cards for your camera so you don't have to delete any photos whilst you are travelling. If I was doing the once in lifetime type trip I would upload my photos from my camera to my tablet/removeable storage each night without deleting them from the memory cards, as the memory cards fill I would store them away from the camera and tablet in a secure out of the way spot. This process works best with smaller memory cards as you spread the risk further ie. don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Probably also worth noting for campers is the power consumption, tablet chargers are usually around 10w (about 2a @ 5v) whilst from memory netbooks are 30-35w (<2a at 19v). Tablets use less juice, charge faster and last longer.
Jasman.
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I love my eyepad to
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IPad works great for us.
Pluses for us are
- 12 hour battery life (we are mostly free camping)
- small and lightweight. We take it with us in small bag when away from camper. No need to take extras with you ( mouse, power cable etc)
- huge range of APPS (mostly free or very cheap)
- 3G great for forums, SKYPE, surfing Internet etc
- camera front and rear ( rear camera not great but can use as back up)
- on screen keyboard okay for brief emails , forums etc.
- with PC laptop we would find free WIFI and hook up only to find that whole range of programmes were seeking to update. Tried and failed to prevent defaults to upgrades. Often our free time used up on these upgrades. Apple updates a couple of times a year. APPS upgrades you have to select and action
NewMax
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Picked up my work iPad yesterday, so next trip I will be taking both it and the laptop.
The iPad will get most use for browsing and maps, but I want my full copy of photoshop on the laptop so if I feel like editing some pics or movies of an evening I can. The iPad doesn't have the storage, and I am not expecting to have very good Internet access so I can't rely on uploading or using online editors.
I didn't vote since I wanted the 'both' option.
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I have a laptop, so chose laptop.
It does movies, dvd's, cd's has an SD slot and takes 4 usb's at a time. Battery is crap at 2 hours tops, but I have a 12V cord. Takes less than a minute to warm up and less to warm down. Much better for seeing and working on photos, doing my blog, etc. I prefer a keyboard to a hard flat screen. I don't use the internet when I'm not at work or at home, so no need to when I'm camping because I'm camping.
If I want a map, I get it out of our map bag and unfold it. I like to use these when I'm camping or going camping or coming home from camping or dreaming about camping.
I have a regular phone. It's an LG and works like a phone, it's not a wanna be laptop disguised as a phone, so therefore I only make calls and send texts on it. I don't use it when I'm camping because I'm camping.
Works for me. ;D
Kit_e
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Also recently switched to an Ipad and found they are great when travelling. We did a 6 week trip through Europe and used skype and a VOIP app to connect via my home Mynetfone account so we could call anywhere in the world for a few cents. Never bothered with a sim card as we went to many countires and too much hassle. Would just connect to the camp ground wifi network for a few euro's or free.
Best thing with the tablets like others have mentioned is the battery life with is a MAJOR plus while travelling. Also dumped the photo's on the pad via a SD/USB adapter almost every night for viewing and backup.
I have a few laptops including a HP netbook but don't bother taking them anymore.
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Personally I'd go with a tablet.
If you spend any real time off road you will find the Lap top will Fail;
I've been down this path and find the tablet much more accommodating
Just try and get one with a USB socket as well as SD card
Norm
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http://www.microsoft.com/surface/ (http://www.microsoft.com/surface/)
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Have an IPad which was brilliant on our last trip. Downloaded photos each night so I had them stored in case anything happened to SD card. Great for Internet, checking emails, weather and so on. My biggest issue was trying to get photos on my blog. Drove me nuts. I tried various things suggested on here when I put the question out there but I just couldn't get it to work. So very, very frustrating. Am thinking about a small laptop now just for this purpose for future trips. I was heartily sick of spending hours each evening, instead of enjoying other things trying to get it to work. Typing is easy though on the IPad as I use it to type this. Charging was easy and battery life is fabulous as I have my books on hear as well.
Cheers
Louise :laugh:
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Have an IPad which was brilliant on our last trip. Downloaded photos each night so I had them stored in case anything happened to SD card. Great for Internet, checking emails, weather and so on. My biggest issue was trying to get photos on my blog. Drove me nuts. I tried various things suggested on here when I put the question out there but I just couldn't get it to work. So very, very frustrating. Am thinking about a small laptop now just for this purpose for future trips. I was heartily sick of spending hours each evening, instead of enjoying other things trying to get it to work. Typing is easy though on the IPad as I use it to type this. Charging was easy and battery life is fabulous as I have my books on hear as well.
Cheers
Louise :laugh:
And that Louise is probably why I'll stay with my laptop... Couldn't agree more about directing your precious holiday time to the right cause. :cheers:
LJ
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And that Louise is probably why I'll stay with my laptop... Couldn't agree more about directing your precious holiday time to the right cause. :cheers:
LJ
:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
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I have lap tops(Acer, HP and a no name ), desk top, Compaq 1850R servers , EePC and my partner has her Ipad. Her kids have Iphones and Ipads as well. But when we are away, the Galaxy TAB 10.1 is what goes with me.
The laptops are too fragile - sick of replacing hard drives and cracked screens, the EePc does about every 2nd trip as it is a tough little machine, but the missus is the one that uses it for longish emails.
The others are not travel friendly in any way.
Apple stuff is for consuming internet gunk, you need to get to MacBooks before creating ( editing photos and videos, decent length emails etc) stuff is feasible for me.
Touch screen keyboards are just way too painful to use. But the Galaxy TAB with a roll up keyboard, tiny Bluetooth mouse and a couple of 8Gb memory cards plus a 1Tb portable drive works a treat.
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Thanks so much for all the replies everyone. At one stage it looked like being an iPad vs Android war, but it got there in the end... Great info. :cheers:
Anyway I've decided to stick with the laptop (it's killing me not to buy a new toy though) and tether it to the phone for internet connection. Got that working last night after a bit of frigging around. Using Telstra 3G the connection speed 'seemed' no different to the landline ADSL connection. (That means it's either really good... or they both suck!)
So the next question is...
The mobile plan is Telstra 3G with 1.5GB monthly data allowance. Is this going to be enough for uploading photos to a blog? I know it depends on the photo size and how many etc, but as a 'gut feel' what do you think?
The other option, which I haven't really looked into is to buy a USB modem dongle/SIM card (what the hell are they called?) and just plug that straight into the laptop. From my limited understanding the data usage runs out after a month. Anyone used these 'things' and have any feedback?
Go on, impress me again. ;D :cheers:
LJ
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The mobile plan is Telstra 3G with 1.5GB monthly data allowance. Is this going to be enough for uploading photos to a blog? I know it depends on the photo size and how many etc, but as a 'gut feel' what do you think?
Only you can answer that. How many photos do you usually take? How big? 300x300 or 4999x2934 in RAW?
Remember McD's has Wireless you can use too.. make use of it when you get to cities...
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Only you can answer that. How many photos do you usually take? How big? 300x300 or 4999x2934 in RAW?
Remember McD's has Wireless you can use too.. make use of it when you get to cities...
McD's !! Never thought of that... great idea.
My 12MP camera averages about 3Mb per photo. So 1.5Gb is 500 photos... which is A LOT. Way more than I intend to upload, even allowing for an amount for non photo usage.
How's the logic, have I missed anything?
LJ
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McD's !! Never thought of that... great idea.
My 12MP camera averages about 3Mb per photo. So 1.5Gb is 500 photos... which is A LOT. Way more than I intend to upload, even allowing for an amount for non photo usage.
How's the logic, have I missed anything?
LJ
I'd be uploading all photos to a server for backup 500 photos - your going for how many months?? Laptops die....
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I'd be uploading all photos to a server for backup 500 photos - your going for how many months?? Laptops die....
4 months... but don't forget that's 1.5Gb/500 photos per month. For back up I was planning on loading the photos to USB stick.
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4 months... but don't forget that's 1.5Gb/500 photos per month. For back up I was planning on loading the photos to USB stick.
I prefer portable hard drives to back on to.....and 2 of them. (keep 1 in the car and 1 in the CT).
Minimises risk
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4 months... but don't forget that's 1.5Gb/500 photos per month. For back up I was planning on loading the photos to USB stick.
Yea fair enough ... Workout 20-30 photos a day :)
USB/Burn to CD.... and upload :)
I had a 4Gig SD die when I got home from first trip to the Flinders and had to pay thru the anus to get it recovered.
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Ive just bought one of these google nexus 7 things through work.the IT guys at work give them a bit of a wrap.Good bang for buck.$249 8gb, I picked up the 16gb for $290.Wont replace a laptop but looks like fun
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/tablets/google/nexus_7/428680 (http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/tablets/google/nexus_7/428680)
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We have internet dongle thing and you can load it with how much you want from c/c and I not sure about them all but ours what is loaded lasts a month but you can check what you have left etc
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I too use my iPhone for connecting to iPad and laptop for mobile Internet. I get 3 gb a month, so trick loads for normal browsing. As for back up I would buy a couple of say 32gb USB sticks and put one in car one in camper. Much more resistant to vibration than a hard drive. Always remember to properly stop any USB device before unplugging it. I know it's rare they die from stopping them but it does happen
Shane
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We have internet dongle thing and you can load it with how much you want from c/c and I not sure about them all but ours what is loaded lasts a month but you can check what you have left etc
How much is it Nay-DMAX?
I checked Telstra's pre-paid dongles and they seem pretty expensive. They have 3G & 4G types, differnet Gb amounts. For the money they wanted, I think I'll stick with the mobile plan we're on and use the data allowance in that. (I'll be paying it regardless while we're away as it's still in contract.)
LJ
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I too use my iPhone for connecting to iPad and laptop for mobile Internet. I get 3 gb a month, so trick loads for normal browsing. As for back up I would buy a couple of say 32gb USB sticks and put one in car one in camper. Much more resistant to vibration than a hard drive. Always remember to properly stop any USB device before unplugging it. I know it's rare they die from stopping them but it does happen
Shane
I thought that 'safe to remove' procedure was only for powered usb connections (like external hard drives). I've always just yanked the sticks out!
LJ
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How much is it Nay-DMAX?
I checked Telstra's pre-paid dongles and they seem pretty expensive. They have 3G & 4G types, differnet Gb amounts. For the money they wanted, I think I'll stick with the mobile plan we're on and use the data allowance in that. (I'll be paying it regardless while we're away as it's still in contract.)
LJ
We have had ours for quite a while before we had internet on mobile phones etc think initial purchase was around $150 but it did what we needed. Then if we have the need to use it usually load $20 on it and it does what we need and can load more. It is 3G has reasonable coverage. My phone plan is 1.5G and I have never gone over that but dont use it alot and have not used it really for tethering if we do more travelling would have to look into it more. We travelled 2 weeks in March had the internet or phone on it's own. Our laptop has built in tv tuner so when it rained for 3 days we used laptop to watch tv and plus there was cricket on whilst we were away :) and could watch dvd's but when weather was good didnt use it.
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4 months... but don't forget that's 1.5Gb/500 photos per month. For back up I was planning on loading the photos to USB stick.
Remember that your wireless upload speed is not going to be flash, so it will take some time to upload hi-res photos to a web host.
I personally do not trust mechanical drives for storage of important data, this includes the portable USB disks that you get. I have had way too many of those things fail on me over the years to trust them. When travelling I carry a heap of 8GB and 16GB SD memory cards. When at camp I copy the photos out of the camera onto my laptop, and onto another SD card. I also leave the photos on the original card that was in the camera. So in short they are stored in three places - 2 x SD card, and the laptop internal hard drive.
Yes I've had SD cards and USB sticks fail on me in the past, but not as often as portable hard disks....
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Remember that your wireless upload speed is not going to be flash, so it will take some time to upload hi-res photos to a web host.
Bugger forgot about that... think I'll resort to taking a few courier pidgeons with us!
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I make my staff bye the 180 - 365 day plan. All others have an expiry of less or equal to three Months. I know it sounds a lot bit over a year it isn't much at all. I just can't stand loosing credit because you did use in 1-3 Months..
Anyway, works well for my team through out the Kimberly.
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iPads are not a one product does all.
A laptop will do everything, maybe some things not as well as the Ipad.
If you're concerned with power, just buy one of these Waeco Canverters. I have used it many times in the car to power my laptop. It's perfect and easy.
http://tentworld.com.au/products/power/item/Waeco-150W-Can-Size-Inverter.aspx (http://tentworld.com.au/products/power/item/Waeco-150W-Can-Size-Inverter.aspx)
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MacDs internet connection is pretty abysmal every time I have tried to use it. Ok for a quick email check, but any thing else is too pain ful to use.
I woudl stick to the telstra mobile plan you have, and use the phone for the internet connection. Telstra plans are garbage, their main strength is the coverage Telstra have out Black Stump way. Also ask any locals or other bush trekkers if theu know of any 'telephone hills' on your way.
As you wrote, you are paying for the data part of your plan any way, and 1.5Gb seems to fit your needs OK.
Many caravan parks and motels have inetrnet connection available for a few dollars ( on long trips, a motel/caravan park for a night or two is a good thng for the relations ship - long , hot shower, no cooking/cleaning for your selves etc) that for a big 'memory dump' are the way to go. Get yourself a 'cloud' photosaving account ( hp and canon include one with their printers and cameras) as a backup, just wind the privacy settings to most restrictive you can.
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Laptop DC Chargers. Saves converting DC to AC then back to DC.
http://www.aussie-battery.com/laptop_auto(dc)_adapter/ (http://www.aussie-battery.com/laptop_auto(dc)_adapter/)
Was worried about backups for our trip as well. Love some of the ideas here and will certainly research the SD card backup idea. Although I was thinking of one of those rugged, unpowered USB drives.
For what its worth, I was planning on taking my laptop and 2 tablets. Have 2 kids. ;-) I'm not really an Apple fan. Too much hype for me and I don't like their attitude. While that would normally leave me with just Android to chose from, I plan on waiting until early next year so I can see what will happen with Windows 8 and the new tablets that will run it.
For internet I currently use my Samsung Galaxy II's ability to setup a WIFI hotspot. Works really well. That plus the additional 1Gb data pack on my Telstra SIM. I don't believe I will use all of this. I'll probably just get Picasa to upload only the starred photo's so should reduce my usage.
Rossco
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In July we did 6500km / central australia and back, plenty of 1 nighters etc.
We took an iPad and my daughter took a laptop.
I used the laptop for general Internet browsing, email, weather, MySwag....
Whilst the iPad can import photos, we took some 1700 photos and the laptop was better for photo download and then manipulation of photos.n my daughter did a travel blog which included some photos and this was much easier on the laptop. With the laptop we had more flexibility in totally transferring photos from the SD card to manage the SD card capacity.
With the iPad we also rented one movie before we left, it gave 30days to view and then another 48hrs post pressing play and this was quite good on the iPad for something different on one of the nights. Actually watched The Good, Bad & The Ugly.......
If we did not have to manage the photos and my daughters blog, which could be done post trip if needed, I would be happy travelling with the iPad only.
Rural
Sent from my iPad
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Friends use blogsy for blogging on the iPad, they say it works really well
http://blogsyapp.com/ (http://blogsyapp.com/)
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Last year we did nearly 20k around Oz. we had a netbook with a Telsra dongle for internet when we could get it. Our daughter had her DVD player with usb. We took twenty dvds for her and she had some shows on a memory stick. We used our netbook for mapping with Oziexplorer software and for the internet. I now have an ipad and will take it with us for mapping when OziE brings out new software for ipads. H now has a tablet and Will download her shows etc for her entertainment. I wont take a laptop as it is a bit more fiddly. I can download photos onto the ipad with the connecter I bought. I have a biggish sd card in the camera so I dont download too many photos. My tuppence worth
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I use a Asus EEEpc. I think it is 9" screen and had a solid state hard drive. I run Oziexplorer on it for mapping. I also use it to transfer my photos from the camera to a 500Gb external shock proof hard drive. I access the internet by tethering it to my mobile phone. We have an Ipad at home, but the kids use it much more than we do. I think the net book is a lot more flexible than the Ipad.