FalonyTech

In two weeks, I will be going on vacation with my wife and son. This will be the first real trip that we have taken since he was born a little more than a year ago. As I gear up for this trip, I am evaluating what technology I will be taking with me. This trip is focused on a lot of non-technology related activities, and I don’t think that I will have a lot of time to play around on the computer. My forearm will appreciate the break from typing every day. But I still plan on having a few items around in case we are sitting around the hotel, and I can get a chance to jump online.

The question is what to take. Of course, I will have my phone, which will be a primary way to take pictures and video along the way. But I plan on also bringing the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W830. It is a simple 20 Mega pixel, point-and-shoot, but it has much better zoom than my phone. I will be pairing it with a SanDisk Extreme Plus 32Gb Micro SD card which is clear and ready for pictures and video.

The Kindle Fire HD 8 is coming along for the ride but will primarily be used for only one purpose: playing rain sounds at night. I currently use it for that, paired with a Bluetooth speaker. I do not know if I will be bringing the speaker, but I will be bringing the tablet.

I also plan on taking the Pinebook Pro. I have owned this laptop for more than a year now, and not really had a chance to take it on a trip, but that is one of the reasons that I got it. One might ask, why not take the ThinkPad, or the MacBook Pro, or the Acer Nitro 5. The simple answer is cost. The Pinebook Pro is a $200, ARM powered, Linux laptop and is perfect for a trip like this. If it gets stolen, it is not expensive enough for me to really get upset. And this will be a great chance for me to use it seriously. Any of those other laptops are more expensive and precious to me; I do not want to risk having them stolen.

Some of the accessories I will be carrying are the Jabra Elite 65 wireless ear buds, which pair well with my phone and deliver great sound. I will also have a 20,000mAh battery pack for charging all the things. I have really grown accustomed to having this with me on trips, and it can charge both the laptop and the phone. All of this will be carried in my Bruno Cavalli laptop backpack. The thing is almost like new since I do not really use it all that often. For work, I still use my old laptop bag.

If I get the opportunity, I will test accessing Office online through the Pinebook Pro, and type out some updates, along with some pictures. I have never really done a comparison of the phone camera VS the Sony, so that could happen. Nothing that I am taking is new or particularly high-end, so this will not be like a typical tech reviewer, bringing along new shiny toys to compare, but it could be interesting anyway and may inform my own future purchasing decisions if I need to get a new phone or camera sometime soon.