I work as editor of the trade journal Scrapbook Update, and travel several times per year to attend trade shows and other events to report on them for my readers. When I’m on the road I need to be able to access email; keep up with news and do research on the web; update and maintain my site; and upload content to various platforms such as Flickr and Facebook.

I currently haul a 13” MacBook and an iPhone, along with a dSLR, a Flip camera and various peripherals with me when I travel. After closely examining the specs on the Apple iPad, I believe that I could probably function fairly effectively on the road using the iPad as a MacBook substitute. Here’s how I reached that conclusion, and why I like the idea.

Weight: One of the biggest appeals of the iPad is how lightweight it is. While the iPad weighs only 1.6 lbs, my current white 13” Macbook weighs in at 4.7 lbs. I could save 3 lbs — or a whole two-thirds — of the weight I’ve been toting around by using the iPad while traveling instead of my MacBook. True, a protective case would add some weight to the iPad, but I already use a neoprene sleeve on my MacBook now.

Battery: According to Apple, the battery life on the iPad is ten hours when it is being used on Wi-Fi. My MacBook is rated by Apple for seven hours, but in reality is good for about four. Outlets are still hard to come by, especially on aircraft, and more battery life for my mobile computing would be useful.

3G: As I wrote recently, I have been looking for a back-up system that will give me a way to bypass our local cable company to access the Internet in emergencies. I’ve been shopping around, looking at various types of tethering and access cards for my laptop, but the price seems prohibitive for the amount of use I would get from it. The iPad’s built-in 3G at a reasonable price point with no contract seems like a great backup solution.

The 3G would have another benefit as well, in saving me money on Internet access while I’m traveling. On a trip like the one I just took, I encountered Internet access fees everywhere I went: at airports, in flight, in my hotel, and at the convention center. I had to make hard decisions about when to limit my activities to what was possible to achieve on my phone and when to pay as much as $12.95 for a “day” of access to spend possibly just a few minutes doing what I needed to do. Obviously a 3G device doesn’t help at 30,000 feet, but purchasing Wi-Fi on this most recent trip for all the places I could have used 3G would have cost me $120. Those savings add up quickly, and the always-on access would make my workflow easier while traveling. No more having to make hard decisions about where and when to pay to connect, and no more having to wrestle with connecting to unfamiliar networks.

Form Factor: This particular trip I just got home from was transcontinental, involving a five-hour flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles. A trip like that provides plenty of time to work in transit, but anyone who has ever tried to open a laptop on an airplane tray table knows that is easier said than done. With the seat in front reclined, even my 13” MacBook doesn’t want to open to a comfortable viewing angle and feels claustrophobic as I try to type with your hands trapped between the keyboard and the angled screen. The iPad’s tablet form would sit flat on the tray for typing (or at a slight angle on the accessory case) or could be propped directly on my legs.

There were admittedly a few sticking points for me in the initial description of the iPad as it applied to making it my mobile computing device. Initially, the lack of a camera seemed like a deal-breaker. Then after thinking about it, I realized that when I am mobile I only use a camera for two things: taking pictures, and to make video calls. For taking pictures, I have my iPhone and my dSLR. As for the video calls, more times than not, it seems that the bandwidth in the locations I am using WiFi at won’t support a video Skype call. So having the camera or not is moot, since I don’t have the services available to utilize it very often.

Another sticking point, initially, was the seeming lack of a way to get pictures from my camera into the device, since a major activity of mine on the road is often taking pictures and uploading them to my web site. This was solved with the announcement that one of the accessories will be a Camera Connection Kit that includes two components: an SD card reader that plugs into the iPad’s dock connector; and a Camera Connector that attaches to the dock connector, designed to let users connect their camera via USB cable. Despite its camera-specific name, it appears to be simply a USB adaptor for the dock connector, not necessarily camera-specific. If that is the case, it raises questions about what else might be able to be plugged into it, such as thumb drives containing iWork files to edit or a Flip camera to upload videos to YouTube.

I currently use Lightroom and Photoshop Elements on my MacBook to deal with photos and create web site thumbnails while I travel. But I could probably live without those by dealing only with the JPG files of my photos in iPad apps (I shoot RAW+JPG when working on the road to save time processing hundreds of RAW files when I am rushed to write a story), and by using something like the online version of Photoshop to edit the pictures.

One of the reasons that I’ve stuck with a 13” MacBook is that I need my computing to be very portable. I can barely imagine hauling a 15” MacBook around an event like I attended this past week, and could never take a 17” on the road. Yet my laptop is my primary computer, and having a larger screen would be nice. Leaving a bigger laptop at home in favor of toting an iPad when I travel would let me get that larger screen without having to worry about how portable it was.

The iPad is tempting because, looking at it, I can see the day where my computing line-up consists of three devices: iPhone, iPad and 15-17″MacBook Pro. My iPhone would be always with me. My MacBook Pro would be my primary heavy computing machine, with a large screen but still portable to move around to various places in my house or to other places in town (like for coworking). Then for being ultra-mobile, such as going to trade shows, I would have my iPad to use alongside my iPhone.

Would the iPad solve your mobile computing needs?

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So what happened when legions of Apple fans were faced with being unable to change out the batteries on their beloved notebooks? Did angry mobs descend on Cupertino? Not exactly. After the initial shock wore off, we began to ask ourselves how important removable laptop batteries actually were.

There are good arguments for removable notebook batteries, especially if you compute on the go a lot. Power outlets are frequently unavailable in locations such as conference rooms, convention centers and aircraft. Power access is improving in newer facilities but it is still easy to find yourself without power. Having the security of the second battery in your bag makes the quest for power a little less panicked. Also, replacing a battery that has outlived its hardware life requires no downtime.
A sealed battery has its advantages too, though. It can provide more power for the same weight/space as a removable battery, because you aren’t sacrificing some of the footprint to the hardware and case to make it removable. Your onboard battery will thus get you further with no need for extra power (or to carry around the weight of the back-up).

This debate was front-and-center in my mind when I purchased my latest computer, a MacBook, last April. My choices were narrowed down to a white MacBook with a removable battery, and the MacBook Air that has a sealed one. (Obviously these machines have a lot of other major differences, including their prices.) I was finally convinced to discard the battery difference as an issue when my geek husband pointed out that I rarely if ever used the backup battery that I had for the machine I was replacing. I realized that the spare battery was more of a security blanket that I hauled around than a necessity. Although I eventually purchased the white MacBook, I haven’t felt the need to buy a spare battery for it yet.

The reality is that only a small percentage of notebook users do purchase and use extra batteries. Apple seems committed to this path, and Dell is also trying the concept out. Others may follow.

But heavy battery users are not completely out of luck, and we aren’t all doomed to a future of using our notebooks for four hours at a time. An accessory market has sprung up for external batteries for MacBooks. While not as convenient to use as (and definitely more expensive than) an onboard battery, they do fill that need for people who must have additional power.

We should remember that technology advances. Batteries will continue to improve and soon will be easily capable of getting a notebook through an entire workday. New aircraft are being built with in-seat outlets to power passenger electronics through long flights. Maybe Apple will even realize that there is money to be made by offering its customers the option of a battery upgrade at purchase.

Do you have a spare notebook battery? Do you use it?

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However, these sleeves are fairly expensive (around $86 for the mitemite sleeve, or $62 for the ItaliaCraft sleeve, not including international shipping). If you’re concerned about laptop theft, making your own version out of a padded envelope or even some old newspapers could be a cheaper — and more convincing — option.

Do you deter thieves by disguising your laptop while you’re out and about? How?

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Around town I carry more basic kit, of course: usually, just my computer, power cord and surge protector. But when I’m traveling, the kit gets more complicated.

The Bags

Yes, bags is plural. For flying, I use a Kata Digital Rucksack. It holds all my digital gear and still fits under the seat of a 757 for security and easy access. Once on-site, I use a rolling bag. (When flying, the backpack is my “laptop bag” and the rolling bag is my “carry on” item.) My current roller is a Targus, and will be until I find the budget for the Jill-E bag I covet. For day trips, I have a Timbuk2 Hacker bag, a vertical messenger bag that also has tuck-away backpack straps.

The Basics

The two devices that I take on the road are my 13” white MacBook and my 8GB iPhone 3G. I have to agree with Imran; I have also questioned my laptop choice. I was torn between the MacBook and the MacBook Air when I bought my laptop. Several times since when I’ve been toting the MacBook I’ve wondered if I should have chosen the MacBook Air instead. The iPhone has proven itself an invaluable purchase that I’ve never questioned.

The Gadgets

My bag ends up stuffed with all sorts of peripherals and extra gadgets. The line-up changes but a few are constants.

• Surge Protector. I use a three-outlet portable surge protector by Belkin that also has USB outlets on it.
• Portable Hard Drive. Especially if I’m taking a lot of pictures, I like to back up new files while traveling.
• Ear Buds. Sometimes, I just want to plug in my iPhone and tune out while traveling.
• Battery Pack. My iPhone battery pack by Kensington doesn’t get used often, but when it does, it is a lifesaver.
• Ethernet Cable. Sometimes you get better access by plugging in (and sometimes, it’s the only kind of access available). Even in places that provide cables, I’ve encountered broken ones.

Other items (not pictured) include charging and power cables for my gadgets.

The Camera

Traveling with a dSLR really increases the amount of gear that I have to carry, as Simon described in his gear bag. My basic camera kit for traveling includes my Canon Digital Rebel XS with 18-55mm lens. Then there’s the battery charger, my SD card reader, a Spudz microfiber cloth and Nikon lens pen, and a Tamrac wallet containing extra SD cards and my back-up battery. Sometimes I’ll also carry my 75-300mm or 50mm lens.

My camera equipment is either carried in my Kata Digital Rucksack, a Tamrac Adventure Messenger 4, or in a Tamrac Aero Zoom 25, inside another bag. (Yes, bags is plural again.)

The Non-Gadgets

There are a few non-gadget necessities in my traveling bag when I’m on the road:

• Business Cards. Full-sized and mini Moo cards so I can make new friends and update old ones.
• Moleskine and Pen. Sometimes nothing can replace pen and paper for scribbling quick notes. Yes, that flowery thing in the middle is really a Moleskine Cahier. I own a scrapbooking web site, so I decorated it.
• Zip-Away Tote. It seems that I can’t go to an event without coming home with more than I started with. Hauling catalogs and swag is easy with my Timbuk2 Hidden Tote.

I’m on a never-ending quest for the perfect bag. What’s your road gear quest?

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Many WebWorkerDaily readers are Mac users, and, as jkOnTheRun notes, Best Buy is already slashing prices on almost all MacBook models that they sell. “Most models are a cool $100 off but a few others are noteworthy,” they report. “The 13-inch new MacBook is discounted $150 making it just $1449.” Here are some more ideas on where to look, and where not to look, for bargains.

The deals on Macs noted by JKOnTheRun are particularly notable because Apple tends to strictly control how Macs–especially new models–are priced. Right now, though, you can get a nicely stocked MacBook Air at Best Buy for $1,299. This notebook is number one on my tech wish list right now, really a marvel of design.

As good as the MacBook Air is, though, Lenovo and Toshiba have some very competitive notebooks available on the PC side now. As noted here, some of the PC notebooks are going to be very cheap on Black Friday as well. Best Buy will have a Toshiba 15.4-inch Dual-Core Turion 64 X2 with 3GB of RAM and 120GB hard drive for $379. That is a truly nice notebook, well-stocked, for the kind of price you would expect a netbook to go for.

As you probably know, Circuit City is shutting down almost 160 stores nationwide, and there are some deep discounts at some of the stores being shut down. As far as good tech products, go, though, I was in one of the outlets being shut down over the weekend,and I found the prices pretty high. It may be worth checking how the prices look on Black Friday.

If you are going to go tech bargain hunting on Friday, keep in mind that things are going to start very early at big outlets. Best Buy and Circuit City are opening their stores at 5:00 a.m.

Staples is also slashing prices on several kinds of technology products in honor of Black Friday, and the prices are already down on many of them. I have my eye on this 21.6-inch flat-panel LCD monitor for under $140.

While I’m probably not going to spring for a MacBook Air on Friday, I am going to go looking for a good price on a larger capacity USB thumb drive than the one I have now. The capacities on these have gotten incredibly large at low prices, and it’s very convenient to store lots of software applications on them.

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Jobs did announce a whole bunch of revisions to the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro product lines, including one-piece aluminum shells, glass trackpads with multitouch, dual graphics chips, and bigger drives. Apple is reducing the entry-level price of the white plastic MacBook to $999 – but there’s a lot of psychological distance between that and the $800 price point that was getting kicked around in the blogs.

There were some significant price decreases in today’s announcements, but they generally amount to reflections of the normal, continuing advance of technology, and not a decision by Apple to play in new markets. For example, the $1300 model of the MacBook now has an instant-on backlit display and a fast graphics processor – which yesterday you would have had to pay $2000 to get in the MacBook Pro line. And at the high end of the line, there’s a $2500 machine with 4GB of RAM, dual graphics chips including one with 512MB, and a 320GB hard drive – more power than you could have gotten in any Apple laptop before this.

Despite the fantasies of low-price MacBooks, it seems pretty clear that Apple knows its core audience well. Some of the statistics that came out at the event include that Apple sells more notebooks in education than Dell does (with 39% of the market), and that Mac sales have outgrown those of the industry for 14 of the last 15 quarters.

Today’s announcements didn’t include anything that most web workers will see as game-changing. If you’re already an Apple fan, you likely saw some new models that you’d like to have. If you’re happy with a Windows box, nothing shown today is likely to make you switch.

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• MacBook Air markdowns from $1800 to $1400 and $2100 to $2300
• 15″ MacBook Pro models starting at $1700 insead of $2000
• 17″ MacBook Pro models starting at $2300

They also have regular MacBooks as well as a variety of desktop Macs for sale. All of these machines are refurbished, which means Apple has tested, cleaned, and repackaged them with full documentation and original software. They come with a 1-year warranty. Of course, you won’t be on the cutting edge when new models are announced – but sometimes it’s worth avoiding the cutting edge to get substantial savings.

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Apple MacBook

I’ve been asked to live blog an event for a client and their members. Actually, I’ll be live blogging, podcasting, Twittering, Uttering, and live streaming an event.

I am putting together my equipment, securing accounts with all the online tools and services I need, and reviewing the schedule so I’m prepared. This will be a major undertaking that will include two 12 hour days as well as pre- and post-blogging.

Normally, live blogging a conference is done with a team, but this is a proof-of-concept so I’m on my own.

While I’ve live blogged and live tweeted conferences before, this is the first time I’ll be doing it formally for a client. The conference is not my usual fare – it is about philanthropy instead of Internet or technology. I’ve worked with many nonprofits over the last 15 years – including running a nonprofit in New York City in the mid-90s – so the issues aren’t foreign to me. Still, I’ll have to be on top of my game – with a healthy dose of caffeine – to keep up.

Here’s what I’ve put together so far for my Live Blogging Gear.

Keen Oswago Bag

The Bag
I almost attempted to make a bag that could handle my MacBook, assorted digital devices and a variety of accessories and that would keep everything at my hip, fairly ergonomically balanced, and extremely accessible. Luckily, I found something close to what I needed at REI. The Oswago Keen bag sits neatly on my hip, and I can quickly access my MacBook, a notebook and pen, my digital camera, my video camera, my iPod Touch, extra batteries, and all of my power cords and accessories.

The Computer
Black MacBook. Perfect size, weight, capabilities, sleek and good looking. Why use anything else?

The Digital Camera
I’m using a Nikon Coolpix L5 – 7.2 Megapixels, 5x Zoom. An older model but still going strong. I’m still on the fence about upgrading to a slimmer, lighter model. I’ve been using a variety of Nikon Coolpix for many years after graduating from an old digital Olympus. Any recommendations? Keep in mind I am not a professional photographer, and these photos are mostly for the Web.

Flip Mino

The Video Camera
I’ve got The Flip and love its self-contained utility. I’m upgrading from the original model to either an Ultra or a Mino. I should go for the Mino because in addition to the sleekness, it is rechargeable via USB port as well as power adapter. I’m planning to try live video streaming from Flip to Web.

The Digital Recorder
While I’d love to get the Marantz 660 because I also do radio (you remember radio, right?) in addition to audio podcasting, I’ve decided to be a little more frugal at the moment and get the Edirol / Roland R-09HR Portable High-Resolution Audio Recorder. Both were recommended to me by radio producers, although the latter choice was focused more on podcasting so that definitely works for the live blogging. I’ll be interviewing panelists and speakers before or after their sessions.

The Blog
At the moment, the client is setting up the blog. I’ll be consulting to make sure it is “social media ready.”

Ustream.tv

Ustream.tv
I’m planning on using Ustream.tv to live stream parts of the conference. I’m still checking with the client about whether to keep all of this private (for their members only) or public.

Utterz
In a pinch, I’ll post some Utterz when I don’t want to mess with the digital recorder and want to have some audio up on the organization’s blog quickly.

Flickr
There will be a private collection of photos uploaded each day from the event on Flickr. These will also be posted on the blog along with additional cross-posting.

Twitter
But of course I’ll do a little live Twittering on Twitter. It will be private though, only accessible by my client’s members.

Other Miscellany
I’m packing all the powercords and chargers including a slew of rechargeable batteries and a multi-battery recharger. Rule of live blogging: Never run out of power. And of course I am packing a notebook and pens to give my wrists a break. I’m pretty sure there is no way I can type notes on that many sessions without some repetitive stress injury.

As I look over my list, I wonder about overkill. However, even though there is some crossover of functionality, every device can serve a backup function in one way or another so I feel like I’m covered for everything.

What am I forgetting? What do YOU use when you live blog an event?

[photos from Apple.com, REI.com, TheFlip.com, Ustream.tv]

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But last week, my 10-month old MacBook crashed. And died. And now I’m slowly uncovering the depth and breadth of my arrogance. Because, my dear readers, I had not backed up my computer for 10 months. And the only reason I had a 10-month old backup of my data is because it occurred as I was getting my files from my old G4 laptop to my MacBook last Fall.

This is a cautionary tale for anyone out there who is still finding every excuse in the book not to back up their computer. And I had many.

My biggest excuse for not backing up was that I just couldn’t wrap my head around how to get it set up and how to make it happen. I think I also had a secret fear that I would set it up incorrectly and somehow save my files in the wrong place causing the disappearance of everything on my computer. I’m not sure how I got it into my head that backing up was going to be hard, but I avoided it like the Plague.

Today, less than a week after the Big Computer Meltdown (and my own tearful personal meltdown), I am assessing the business impact of lost data. My tears last week weren’t actually about my work files but about losing 10 months worth of photos and videos of my 2-year-old daughter. This week, I can’t muster up tears, but can see some dollars spinning down the drain as I have to:

1. rewrite half a dozen proposals that I was readying to send out to new and existing clients.
2. rewrite a new book proposal that was almost ready to send to my agent to shop around.
3. do a salvage expedition through my Gmail Sent Box to find any documents I sent to clients so I still have some semblance of a business record.
4. upload any documents I can find to Google Docs – the only other place where I had put some critical documents as part of my “experiment” with using Google Docs.
5. rewrite my long list of sites that I use to market my various projects and client projects that took me over a year to compile.

And for backups?

I left my local Mac store last week with red eyes from crying, a black MacBook, and an Apple Time Capsule. I charged the owner of the store to make sure I walked out with everything I needed to be up and working immediately as well as to be able to back up my files without any effort or thought on my part.

Now, every hour on the hour, when I am within range of my wifi connection (via the Time Capsule), my files are backed up (the Time Capsule has 500 GB of space). I don’t have to do anything more since configuring it. I don’t have to think about it. And I don’t have to wait until the end of the day or the weekend to do it. It happens behind-the-scenes while I’m still getting my work done.

My list of important files I have lost continues to grow. Each item I add to that list means another 1-3 hours of rewriting, recompiling, recreating. That is lost time. Lost income. I think if I had thought of backing up my computer in pure business terms – in dollars – I may have been motivated to do something sooner. For now, I just have to bite the bullet.

When was the last time you backed up your computer? And what is your backup set up like? Please share so anyone out there who is still making excuses can potentially find a solution that is right for them.

NOTE: I also blogged about the more “personal” side of this topic at Entrepreneur Mom on WorkItMom.

(photo by Apple; bullethole courtesy of clipart)

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