Easily Portable Travel Computer?

[klikster]

I travel around Thailand quite a bit sometimes, mostly by my own car, and like to have a computer along. Internet shops don't do it for me, as most of the time I need a machine for text or website work .. processing photos, etc .. i.e. my own software.

I don't want a notebook. I had screen problems with one and keyboard problems with another, and the costs to replace those items were incredible compared to a PC.

So, other than the Sony foldable (seems pretty much a redefined laptop), has anyone out there solved the portability issue? Secondary but important factor is that it uses non-proprietary components such as keyboard, monitor, boards, drives.

I can do without an UPS and should have AC power available pretty much anywhere I'm doing a stopover. Availability and service in Thailand is important.

Connecting online is not so much an issue, but if the new CAT CDMA becomes reality, it would be sweet!

[TheWalkingMan]

Maybe you could build your own and house it in a smaller casing? I

TheWalkingMan

[TexasRanger]

A lot of people I know use a mac mini, very small and much more reliable than a windows machine.

[A_Traveller]

Suggest a search for ultra portable PC or UMPC. Examples include the Sony U, Everun, OQO, versions of these and copycat devices are for sale in Thailand. However, there is often a major speed trade off. If you're going to use it for graphics {photo editing etc.} I suspect this might be a problem. If the usage is at defined stopping points, rather than on the road per se, then a mini ATX box {if you need windows} might be an option, or as suggested above a Mac Mini.

Regards

Edited January 28, 2008 by A_Traveller

[zeusbheld]

A lot of people I know use a mac mini, very small and much more reliable than a windows machine.

it can also run windows, if you really need windows.

what do you intend to use for a monitor?

[cali]

HP slimline. Pretty new, so may not be in Thailand yet (or ever).

[klikster]

@thewalking man - I really don't want to have to build a case .. I used to own a sheet-metal shop and we built a few, so I know all that is involved .. and how expensive it can be.

@texasranger - Switching from windows to mac is an option, but not a very pleasant one. I would want my 'road machine' to be able to talk to my 'home machine'. However, I know that HTML is HTML and .jpg is .jpg. Also, I would have to get all new software, which may not be such a problem

@A_traveler - I'll look up some of those. Doesn't the Sony U use proprietary components? I would like to think in terms of 2g RAM .. but a slower drive doesn't bother me .. nor would the absense of a CD ROM .. I don't think.

The usage would be impromptu as well as defined stopping points .. but not at the side of the road. I have a mini ATX box as one of my 2 computers and it's still pretty large .. larger than I would like to use.

@zeusbheld - how well would XP Pro run on a Mac mini? Monitor would probably be a 14" or 17" LCD. I've noticed that on some of those, the bases fold .. sort of.

@all - Would using wireless keyboard and mouse add computer problems? It sure might help with setting up and operating. I would probably look at having a small piece of wheeled luggage for the thing.

[tjo o tjim]

For something that you can use on the road, the Asus Eee PC looks like a winner. For a compact PC, I agree with the Mac Mini recommendation. Your needs are a little odd, though; maybe you would really be better off with just a removable hard drive.

[A_Traveller]

Most UMPC's have 512, or a few with 1GB RAM. Take a look at UMPC Site to get an idea. To be honest, I do think a laptop would be the way to go, despite your concerns {or bad experience?}. By the by Sony always uses proprietary components

Regards

Edited January 28, 2008 by A_Traveller

[klikster]

Your needs are a little odd, though; maybe you would really be better off with just a removable hard drive.

How would a removable hard drive help my situation?

[autonomous_unit]

There are roughly these stages of PC compatible computer in increasing size (and decreasing price premium):

1. a notebook/laptop computer.

2. a mini PC built using laptop components (Mac Mini is one example). These usually have no expansion slots unless they've retained the PC-Card slots from a notebook platform. I would expect the internal components to have similar reliability between laptops and these mini PCs since they use the same mobile processors, chipsets, hard drives, and cooling solutions.

3. the "small form factor" PC as exemplified by Shuttle XPC units. These often have about 2 expansion slots, usually some mixture of PCI and PCI-express. I've carried a Shuttle XPC in a small "roll aboard" suitcase when travelling to a remote office, but I've never tried to carry a monitor and keyboard as well! These have the advantage of being faster, with standard desktop CPUs and memory. Some have integrated motherboard graphics and most take a standard graphics card (whether as primary display or to upgrade from the onboard solution). They tend to be limited as far as power supply load, so a very fast/hot graphics card and two hard drives might suffer reliability problems.

4. any micro-ATX motherboard and smallest case you can find. These have about 4 expansion slots, usually some mixture of PCI and PCI-express. There are some relatively small cases for micro-ATX, including ones with special low-profile PCI slots which would only allow low-profile PCI cards to be installed. Within Thailand, I imagine you'd have to hunt extensively to find a reasonably small case.

5. full-blown ATX motherboards

So, if you're looking to keep a low budget and external LCD+keyboard, you might want to start by hunting for some cases and then locate an appropriate motherboard to fit? There are a wide range of cases if you scour the back corners of Pantip, etc.

Or, just shop for a cheap laptop and enjoy its portability while it lasts. Then, decide whether to add an external LCD or keyboard to extend its life (having the same portability you would have had with a small PC), or decide it's cheaper to just buy a new budget laptop and scrap the old one.

[klikster]

Hello autonomous_unit, thanks for the great breakdowns:

2. a mini PC built using laptop components (Mac Mini is one example). These usually have no expansion slots unless they've retained the PC-Card slots from a notebook platform. I would expect the internal components to have similar reliability between laptops and these mini PCs since they use the same mobile processors, chipsets, hard drives, and cooling solutions.

The Mac Mini seems a bit dear ..

3. the "small form factor" PC as exemplified by Shuttle XPC units. These often have about 2 expansion slots, usually some mixture of PCI and PCI-express. I've carried a Shuttle XPC in a small "roll aboard" suitcase when travelling to a remote office, but I've never tried to carry a monitor and keyboard as well! These have the advantage of being faster, with standard desktop CPUs and memory. Some have integrated motherboard graphics and most take a standard graphics card (whether as primary display or to upgrade from the onboard solution). They tend to be limited as far as power supply load, so a very fast/hot graphics card and two hard drives might suffer reliability problems.

Is the shuttle, or any of it's cousins, available in Bangkok? About what price for a unit with 2 G Ram and 160g hard drive .. maybe a firewire card.

4. any micro-ATX motherboard and smallest case you can find. These have about 4 expansion slots, usually some mixture of PCI and PCI-express. There are some relatively small cases for micro-ATX, including ones with special low-profile PCI slots which would only allow low-profile PCI cards to be installed. Within Thailand, I imagine you'd have to hunt extensively to find a reasonably small case.

This is sounding more like what I need and can afford. Basic VGA card, firewire, modem, wireless keyboard and mouse.

There are a wide range of cases if you scour the back corners of Pantip, etc.

This sounds like a plan .. my feet are hurting already.

autonomous_unit, thanks again for taking the time and expending the energy to make this great post.

Edited January 28, 2008 by klikster

[dave_boo]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is a Mini-Itx board. Don't know if the performance will be fast enough for you, but the formfactor is pretty amazing. Via was the innovator in the field, but it seems that Jetway has taken it over. Add a case, some memory, and you're good to go.

A picture of an Mini-Itx:

[klikster]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is a Mini-Itx board. Don't know if the performance will be fast enough for you, but the formfactor is pretty amazing. Via was the innovator in the field, but it seems that Jetway has taken it over. Add a case, some memory, and you're good to go.

A picture of an Mini-Itx:

Hello Dave,

Thaks for this.

I did some surfing and found 2 shops in Pantip that are supposed to be dealers for SilverStone. Don't know the prices, but they show some small cases. I'll have to check them out.

More walking and even more foot pain!

[LivinLOS]

One thing no one has mentioned...

The OP says he wants a portable computer, but doesnt want a laptop because of the cost of hardware failures.. Well I think you will find that lugging around a mini or desktop designed PC, subjecting it to the battering and shaking, the cards being banged about (or heatsinks) and you will find a 'real' PC will be far more unreliable.. Laptops are designed to be bounced about, thier connectors are designed for it, thier HD's are shock mounted (good ones / toughened ones even can detect drops) and will be far more resilient.

Yes a basic laptop is going to be near 20k.. A good one (and thats a highly subjective term, good can be small, or powerful, or cheap, pick any two ) can run to lots more.. But I would be far more confident banging around a laptop on my travels that hardware designed for a desktop.

If the OP's only reason for this whole addition of weight and hassle, and lack of features (battery being an obvious one) is just cost / reliability I think hes barking up the wrong tree.. Buy a cheap laptop or get it insured ?!?

[britmaveric]

Asus EEE would be my recommendation, with a portable USB mini HD.

[nikster]

Second the Eee PC - price is an issue, and I also think a Shuttle or custom built PC will either _not_ like being dragged around or be expensive. Eee PC is well built at a very competitive price. This being Thailand I am sure they'll preload it with WinXP if you want.

Smallest PC that's not a notebook is the Mac mini, it's tiny, not much bigger than a portable hard drive, but it's also pretty expensive.

Aren't UMPCs smaller laptops? Kinda like a large PDA, except more expensive.

[klikster]

Re Asus EEE , the 7" screen would not be something I would consider.

[klikster]

Second the Eee PC - price is an issue, and I also think a Shuttle or custom built PC will either _not_ like being dragged around or be expensive. Eee PC is well built at a very competitive price. This being Thailand I am sure they'll preload it with WinXP if you want.

Smallest PC that's not a notebook is the Mac mini, it's tiny, not much bigger than a portable hard drive, but it's also pretty expensive.

Aren't UMPCs smaller laptops? Kinda like a large PDA, except more expensive.

I don't know about UMPC, but SilverStone has a line similar to the Mac Mini.

[sfokevin]

Re Asus EEE , the 7" screen would not be something I would consider.

With the EEE you can plug a huge flat screen monitor into it

Add a USB Hard Drive and Keyboard and you are set...

[klikster]

Re Asus EEE , the 7" screen would not be something I would consider.

With the EEE you can plug a huge flat screen monitor into it

Add a USB Hard Drive and Keyboard and you are set...

And would pretty much have a small form factor setup with a slow processor.

[Guest Reimar]

A Shuttle should be suitable for you. You can easy find the at Fortune IT Mall by Power Highland (PC-PL I think) and some other few shops. Size is about 6 x 6 x 12 inch.

Cheers.

[TheHamburger]

How about a 24" imac with an ilugger.

Very convenient and transportable.

Cheers

[Meerkat]

Have to agree with the earlier poster regarding the posit that a screen not designed for travel will fare worse than a laptop one. With the added weight and bulk of a separate monitor and keyboard on top, I would think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

How about getting a laptop with a proper warranty? My last two laptops have been Dells, with their "Complete Cover" warranty (which costs extra, of course!). Other manufacturers may have similar plans. Complete Cover means that even if you spill coffee on your computer and totally muck it up for instance, they'll repair or replace it. If it needs replacing, they'll try and transfer your data from the old one to the new as well. It's a kind of insurance policy on top of the normal warranty covering defects.

[ballbreaker]

Although your luck with laptops has been bad I am sure many others have good experiences, including myself. My Acer traveled the world for 2 years until I bought a new carry on bag for travel and did a poor job packing. Needless to say I started having intermittent problems on arriving at my destination. Able to use for remainder of trip and upon return to Thailand it cost 4k baht to have motherboard replaced. Ten percent of the original cost for repair after two years travel is worth having everything I need in one box.

Although laptops are built for semi rough handling I think many of the problems people have with laptops are caused by bad travel cases and overly rough handling.

You might consider Panasonic's Toughbook if your one of those people that can break a steel ball.

[dave_boo]

One thing no one has mentioned...

The OP says he wants a portable computer, but doesnt want a laptop because of the cost of hardware failures.. Well I think you will find that lugging around a mini or desktop designed PC, subjecting it to the battering and shaking, the cards being banged about (or heatsinks) and you will find a 'real' PC will be far more unreliable.. Laptops are designed to be bounced about, thier connectors are designed for it, thier HD's are shock mounted (good ones / toughened ones even can detect drops) and will be far more resilient.

Yes a basic laptop is going to be near 20k.. A good one (and thats a highly subjective term, good can be small, or powerful, or cheap, pick any two ) can run to lots more.. But I would be far more confident banging around a laptop on my travels that hardware designed for a desktop.

If the OP's only reason for this whole addition of weight and hassle, and lack of features (battery being an obvious one) is just cost / reliability I think hes barking up the wrong tree.. Buy a cheap laptop or get it insured ?!?

Well, I usually carry the Shuttle XP17 along with my laptop.

It unfortunately has gone up in price since I bought it, but if it can stand crazy Russian charter pilots doing military take-offs and landings, travel all the way around the globe, and still keep going, I'm going to whole heartedly recommend it.

Also, those Mini-Itx boards are designed for industrial use. I.e., they're rated to take vibration. In fact, if you were to use a CF-IDE adapter, you'd have a virtually shock proof setup. I realise that they're not for everyone, but if I wasn't already lugging around my laptop, I'd give it serious consideration.

Also, I hadn't realised that Shuttle even makes this small (8.0" x 11.5" x 2.0" ) of a machine:

Of course that's BYOC, but still, at less than $500, not too bad.

Edited January 29, 2008 by dave_boo

[cathyy]

@zeusbheld - how well would XP Pro run on a Mac mini? Monitor would probably be a 14" or 17" LCD. I've noticed that on some of those, the bases fold .. sort of.

It would run Win XP a bit better than a similar PC would. When the Intel Macs were first released there was a lot of benchmark testing done, as they could compare apples and apples for the first time. The Intel Macs consistently performed better than the comparable PCs.

[zeusbheld]

another option may be from NorhTec. they're based here in thailand, and do various tech stuff including some very small PCs, roughly mac mini in size. some are minimal and designed as networked clients and some are full-featured like the mac mini. i haven't seen or used their products but i've talked with them about the audio side of their company (audio is more of a labor of love than a money spinner, it is also worth checking out (www.norh.com) i'm eventually going to get speakers and maybe an amp from 'em. )

they're made right here in thailand btw.

www.norhtec.com

[LivinLOS]

have 5 marble 9.0's from norh for my HT setup..

[Deksan]

Get anti macbook air

http://gizmodo.com/348097/the-anti+macbook...necessary-ports