Anyone has experiences in traveling with a Macbook?
I am thinking of bringing mine on a 8 day trip but I have a major concern. Where to I store the laptop? It's gonna be rather inconvenient to bring it around for the whole day but also not really that safe to keep it in the hotel. It's not a must for me to bring it along but it would be nice if I had it. Then I would actually have something to do while waiting for my 7 hour transit.

u can always have a messenger bag .... Mac is not that heavy i can see . i always bring to school everyday , my school uses macbooks

I got a Crumpler sling back lor. Carrying it is not a big problem. Its how to keep it safe that has me worried.

What do you do with your Macbook that you need to take it on a trip? If it's work related, why not look into travel insurance that will cover your Macbook, also make sure you have a backup obviously. I've travelled with my Macbook and previously iBooks since the late 1990s. The key is to use the least obvious but most comfortable bag. The Crumpler is a good choice overall but the bright ones stand out.

Oh I suggest buying an iPhone or iPod Touch and leaving the Macbook home


This post has been edited by tishaban: Dec 12 2007, 10:30 PM

if you wanna do more.... it would be great to bring along MacBook.
if you only need entertainment-wise stuffs.... iPhone / iPod Touch would be enough i think. Or iPod.... any of the generation would satisfy you i guess !

Think twice before you act.....

if u wanna leave it in the room , leave it in the safety box .. if u dun wanna leave it in the room , pass it to the concierge to keep it for u.
does this help?

My Crumpler is bright green.
It's not work related. If I brought it there, it would be used for web surfing, MSN, gaming and mail. I can live without that for a week.
I got an iPod Video that I could probably fill with videos and my PDA can be used for doing the internet stuff.
Safety box is not that safe apparently. I went over to Youtube and people were opening safes with pliers and paper clips. I doubt I'll bring it la after consideration. Its not THAT important and I cant bear to lose it.

This post has been edited by sugarboi: Dec 12 2007, 10:41 PM

how wud the cleaners know how to open it .. 1 thing if u love yr macbook u will find more ways to keep it safe !

ok, you have a crumpler. then, juz bring over the macbook la.
i carried mine with Codex 13 all the time when i travel.
light and easy to handle.

It's always safer to carry your precious with you wherever u are. It sounds like you're going for a holiday. Most people I know carry a bag pack or sling bag along with them. Perhaps you can use your Crumpler and fit whatever else needed along with your MB - it should be comfortable enough.

If u don't want to dirty your nice Crumpler, then use any other bag pack. Just put your MB in it - with a sleeve. If you have a Crumpler bag pack, u should be able to detach the sleeve and use it separately. I usually put mine in a sleeve when I travel except I use a Dicota sleeve.

Haven't had problems with hotel security either but it really depends on where you are going. Another thing - ask urself if ur going to really need / use the laptop. If you're going on tour, u may not even have time to boot it up (am sure u can keep urself bz during the 7hr transit).

Think about the convenience/hassle u've got to go through before lugging ur MB along with you on a holiday. Sometimes, u ought to give urself a break from your MB too, ain't it?

FYI, some hotels do provide safety boxes with built-in laptop chargers. so that you can charge your laptop in the safety of a safe box.

as to the staff stealing your Macbook, should that really happen, do report the loss/theft to the hotel's Duty Manager. who will then investigate with the Security Manager. a staff doing something shifty leaving the room or just brazenly walking around with a Macbook is easy to spot on the security cameras.

as an extra security/retrieval measure, you can also get an anti-theft/retrieval software/service like BAK2U for the Macbook...i think they have this for iPod & iPhone even!

Just a reminder. Not ALL in-room safe(s) will be big enough to accommodate your MB. The last one I'd wanted to use to keep my passport was just right for pocket items. Didn't use it in the end cause it was showing the 'low batt' signal so decided it was safer to carry the documents with me

What about bringing a book or a magazine to keep yourself busy in that 7 hr transit period?

So far my MacBook has traveled to more than 30 countries with me, cumulatively spending about 4 months on the road. In the past few weeks alone it's been everywhere from RM20/night Syrian youth hostels to RM800/night serviced apartments in USA. And I'm still typing on it right now, so I guess nobody stole it yet.

I think mostly people only steal stuff that is really easy to spot and get away with, so here's my basic plan:

1) If I am staying in a dorm or in a cheap place with bad security, I don't let anyone see the MacBook. If I am in a dorm, I only use it at internet cafes or restaurants outside of the hotel. I carry a long power cord which I also use to charge my handphone, and kind of bury the cord arrangement under my dirty laundry, so people don't notice that I am also charging the laptop.

2) If I am staying at a nicer place, I just leave it in my bag when I go out from the room, with the bag locked (the charging cord can sneak through the gap in the zipper).

3) If I use left luggage service, I just leave the bag locked.

4) All data is backed up online using rsync whenever I get to a net cafe or am at a hotel with wifi.

The thing is way too heavy to carry around with me all day when I don't need to use it, so if I didn't feel comfortable leaving it in the hotel I wouldn't bring it at all.

buy a Kensington notebook lock... lock it up in your room... i'm sure they have immovable furniture.

You quit school already la. Last time you only carry your MacBook to school not now. Your in boarding school. I am the one who carry my MacBook to school.

codex cant put power plug rite ?

wad r the travel case dat u guys use now ?

I jz use a cheap sleeve n wif my own messenger bag which tide but cant feel safety with it. Plan to get a better travel case like Codex 13 or Incase.

You can always leave it with the hotel front desk. It's never a good idea to leave anything out in the open in the hotel room.

last time la , share my experience wit other forumer leh

I lug around my Powerbook and it's kinda heavy, I'm sure Macbook will weigh a lot less. Make sure you have a nice sleeve as well.

You can buy those backpack that can store your macbook. Very easy and convenient


What school you go to? all macbooks?

@scum_bag,
Generally the bag gets heavier because we're carrying other stuff besides the laptop

@don8ld,
Yeah.. u sure go to a pretty hi-tech school. I had to lug many text books those days and ur complaining about having to lug 1 MacBook !!

Well as for OSX , keep encryption on. So that the Data stays safe. Just password protect it. Secondly , enable Password on EFI boot (not too sure bout EFI but they have this feature in OpenFirmware). This way you KNOW that nobody , I mean nobody could sell your MacBook and its data. Even if he replace the HDD .Its locked !

prasys check your PM

yeah, encryption is good... but we're trying to prevent theft. thieves don't even know what the machine can do. so... don't put too much trust in software solutions like this. make it difficult for the thief to remove the laptop from your room. that's the goal...

woah encryption ! i likethe sound of that, makes me feel at ease evenmy macbook is gone, im a careless guy so, locked and encrypted thinggy always makes my life much happier.

p/s prasys - mind show/direct me on how to this encrypted thing tx

Also, what happens if we forget the encryption code? Is it oh-oh and goodbye too? *gulps*

We're from Sekolah Sri Cempaka (Damansara-Secondary). As for Don8ld he left school so don't count him in.

@TechnoDude94,
And does that define u as 'spoilt rich bratz'? *grins* Ok.. we better stop spamming.

@TS,
Have u decided on how u gonna carry your MB? Please don't tell me u haven't taken your MB out of the house since u got it?

A few things.

1. Encryption only guarantees that nobody can read the data without a password. Make sure you have a backup as well otherwise your data is gone for good.

2. No thief is going to say "oh let me check if there's a firmware password on this laptop before I steal it". The goal is to try and minimize your *own* loss. Someone can still easily take the Macbook apart and sell the parts for at least several hundred RM/$.

3. The Intel based machines no longer have Open Firmware so the password capability went with it. I can't tell from googling if the EFI on Intel Macs have a similar password utility.

So whatever it is, make sure you have insurance if you're travelling and just make it as inconspicuous as possible. If you're going on a vacation, leave the Mac behind, you can always check email at a cybercafe

This post has been edited by tishaban: Dec 14 2007, 12:01 PM

Nope, it doesn't define me as a spoilt rich brat. Are you from Sri Cempaka?

Let's see. I'm going to some hot spring, volcano, snow mobile riding and Disneyland. Not exactly laptop friendly places.

@sugarboi,
It doesn't look like ur going to need your MB - don't bring it with u and just enjoy ur holiday will ya?

@TechnoDude94,
I wouldn't be calling myself a spoilt rich brat would i?

Okay, my bad.

Decided not to bring my MB after all. I just brought along a PDA and an iPod. Luckly I didnt bring it along. It is about minus 3 celcius here.

This post has been edited by sugarboi: Dec 16 2007, 10:16 PM

Good choice. Besides, your fingers must so frozen that you can't type well

Without gloves, my finger went numb in less than a minute. I dont dare to take out any electronics in this weather.

good heatsink though ... hehehe

Overclock max there.. Hehehe

Camera's considered 'electronics' too

U have fun and enjoy yourself.. Stop thinkin about ur MB/iPod/PDA and enjoy ur holiday! Come on... "get a life"! *grins*

what you want do with your macbook? i normally bring my laptop to everywhere i go and just leave my laptop lock in luggage beg and leave in hotel... so far so good..