Laptops

[twowheelstom]

I would like to buy a laptop for myself for Christmas, are laptops practical or useful to bring on a motorcycle trip? all I have now is a samsung phone, and an XT

[ZFtracker]

I think so. I have carried a laptop on all of the multi-day (usually 2 - 3 weeks) since 2012. My current laptop is a HP Envy 13.

[lkraus]

I could survive with just my phone and the XT.

I am much happier with an actual keyboard and a bigger screen to plan/revise routes, search out lodging, compare restaurant reviews, keep up with email, etc.

My "laptop" is actually a 10" Windows tablet by ASUS (aka netbook), with a detachable keyboard. It's old now and I don't see a comparable model I can recommend. The 32 bit CPU is slow by today's standards, it has only 2 GB of memory, and is forever stuck on Win 10. (There are no compatible wifi/Bluetooth drivers for Win 11, and no Ethernet port.)

I still take it any time I travel for Basecamp, web browsing, and the shop manual for the bike. I carry it in a pannier, surrounded by spare clothes for protection. I suppose I will eventually replace it, probably with a much more capable ~13 inch touchscreen laptop.

[Peobody]

I would like to buy a laptop for myself for Christmas, are laptops practical or useful to bring on a motorcycle trip? all I have now is a samsung phone, and an XT

Absolutely! I am of the same mind as @lkraus except I carry a 15" Lenovo. A smaller laptop would suffice but the Lenovo is what I have so it's what I take. It travels in a neoprene sleeve on top of whatever is in my trunk (2008 Goldwing). It's pretty thin so actually doesn't take up much space other than needing a flat space, which that trunk provides.

[Oop North John]

I've taken my HP laptop, which has a solid state hard drive, away on most of my bike trips.

As I now have an XT2 I'm going the Android tablet with a BT keyboard and mouse as the preferred option and use Tread on the tours. Tread is an XT2 thing, though you can share Gpx files from it, so that could go to an XT, I think. Tread is not without its issues though!

[jfheath]

I wondered about this many years ago - especially for route planning for Basecamp.

I couldn't find one that i thought would be particularly useful and not take up too much space. At the time, we toured with tent and all the camping gear. Two up, there was little room to spare. Charging would be one problem, another would be having to work on a tiny screen with underpowered operating systems and processors.

I never did find an acceptable solution. But I discovered ipads. Actually, I was given an early one when I retired. But no decent mapping software. So that didn't work out very well .... not for a while.

I resorted to spending time at home, planning. I'd create alternative routes, and created Waypoint -ie Saved Locations - for places that we might want to go for ad-hoc rides. Using saved waypoints makes it much easier to build a route on the Zumo screen.

This worked well for many years - and I still do that rather than plan when we are away.

But now the I pad is my fall back solution. Wifi Access from my phone hotspot if I need it. I have a lifetime subscription to MyRouteApp, which I rarely use - I still prefer Basecamp - mainly because MRA does not do Garmin's Waypoints, and you cannot create your own POIs and have them transfer to Zumo Favourites - but it works well on the ipad. Later Zumos with Drive and Tread apps allow gpx files to be emailed and transferred to the Zumo. Im not sure whether Smartphone link for the 590/595 does the same thing. I never tried.

I have a usb charger fitted into my top box carpet above the deep well at the front side of the box. That means that I can charge the ipad while on the move. I don't remember ever actually needing to plan routes on the fly: I usually have all of the alternatives and emergency escape routes planned - good habits from years of hill walking - but I know that this set-up works well for me.

The Tread App is a pretty good route planner app for the ipad and it will export GPX files - as a sequence of route points so that the Zumo can calculate its own route - but that is what MRA v1.1 does too.

I'm a big fan of desktop computers. My partner has a laptop, but I find it less useful than the Desktop / ipad combination.

[colirv]

I have a small Dell laptop which I sometimes take with me. Its Basecamp database is on Dropbox so it's shared with my PC. For weight reasons, however, on the bike I'm more inclined to take my Android tablet. A lifetime subscription to MRA and seamless transfer to the XT via Garmin Drive makes plotting on tour doable. Like John, however, I do as much planning as I can in advance on my PC. Everything then goes on the XT's SD card ready for import.

[electro_handyman]

I have a 14" Lenovo X1 Carbon that I carry with me. It's more for where I get, than before getting there. It is my primary device I use for planning anyway as I use it more than my desktop anymore.

[twowheelstom]

I'm thinking of buying a asus vivobook 14 inch laptop it's 13x9 inches and won't fit in the saddlebags is there other options to bring it on a motorcycle trip? maybe I should forget about bringing it on trips because the whole idea of going on trips is to unplug from the internet? lol that's how I spend most of my day is on my desktop PC, and yes I know that's pathetic to admit lol

[Peobody]

I'm thinking of buying a asus vivobook 14 inch laptop it's 13x9 inches and won't fit in the saddlebags is there other options to bring it on a motorcycle trip?

I think it all depends on what you plan to use it for. I carry mine both to check email (I won't do that on my phone) and to be able use Basecamp to create or modify a route should my best laid plans become un-laid, or should I learn of a POI that is if interest but well off my planned route. I could just let the satnav route me but I would much rather plan my own route. I suppose people spend evenings differently. I stay at motels. I am not a social creature or a drinker so spending an evenings at bars is not for me. I prefer sitting in front of the laptop in the motel room. You need to figure out what works for you. If 'unplugging' is important during your trips then plan on doing just that and don't concern yourself with bringing one.