I did just mention that a tablet with full windows 8 OS is about to be released ... Eliminating the software shortfalls of existing tablets. The downside is that it will probably cost 600 quid

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After last summer's trip I bought an ACER w500 tablet running W7 to replace my ASUS eee901 (screen broke and repaired, connection to screen broke, hard drive too small, but it did run W-XP and had a solid state HD) for £250 new

I bought the ACER because
*I couldn't get a netbook any more
*It runs Windows, so is compatible with Garmin Mapsource (for me the USP).
*It has a solid state HD

W7 was never designed to run on a touch screen, which is a major PITA. Hence I always plug in a mouse and 50% of the time a keyboard too.

I'll report back after this summer's Siberian trip on how truely rugged (if at all!) it is.

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TBS.com

That would be cool....

But It will probably have one of those irritating touchscreen keyboards though.

And have a 30 min battery life...

And run tablet versions of software.

I reckon the backwards compatibility of Windows 8 will be worse than 7.... Goodbye mapsource, goodbye T4A, goodbye VCL media player etc.

I was working with and testing some of the top of the range tablets for Sony last year and thought about their travelling capabilities. They were running a version of android which 'should' let you do pretty much anything. However, they didn't !

It's the hardware that limits you... They want you to use their download servers for music, movies, games etc. Very much the way Apple ties you to Itunes and encrypts EVERYTHING.

But hey ! We will see. I'm ready to be happily surprised.



All I want when I'm travelling is:

The ability to store and do minor editing with photos.

To play downloaded movies in my tent on a wet, windy day

To store loads of music that I can listen to when i'm in my tent/room/hostel etc.

To sit off in a quiet corner and write a blog, check emails, play on facebook etc.

To download waypoints, maps with my GPS.



That I can do more than easily on my my £200 10" HP mini Netbook running XP that I bought in 2010.



I'd love to see a tablet that can do all that and have the freedom of older windows.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

it exists...
Intel Atom CPU N455 @1.66 GHz
2 GB RAM
320GB HD

Its called ???

www.touringted.com

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Tablet! (no, seriously, it is- but it's not that easy to find.
Only one downside- 2 hours battery life but then this is to be expected- In life, as with so many things, you cannot have it all- well maybe you can but at a price. As Walter says, there will be better at way more $$$
On screen keyboard with touchscreen OR the little diddy one with a usb micro dongle recharged by the USB.
Running Windows 7 Ultimate which is less of a power glutton than XP

If you do not need all the above and are OK with using web cafes' then I recommend using a gaming USB dongle ( I use a 64gb )
You can have a huge range of free programs loaded under the Portable Apps umbrella plus a whole bunch of other ones you may want on the road. Used along with a smartphone on airplane mode and wifi enabled, it's all I need.
I can edit my images, surf the web, do my emails etc etc on the smart phone. I have no need to watch movies as I prefer to read- all my books are in PDF format and you can get the Adobe Reader for free too on Android and Portable Apps.

This last trip I was surprised at the very high percentage of travellers with MacBook Air, either 11" or 13". If you want to be able to run Mapsource (definite criterion for me) then you need something that will run Windows.

Well I had the best of both worlds, for I had a 13" MBA with Parallels Desktop running with Windows XP under Mac OS to give me access to Mapsource and other Windows apps. Solid state disk drives are robust, solid aluminium casing is ultra robust. The only thing you need with this or any other PC (in addition to a padded case) is a piece of cloth to go between the keyboard and the screen to prevent the constant vibrations from rubbing an image of the keys into the screen.

If you want to be able to hardwire your MBA into a network at an Internet cafe you would also need a LAN to USB cable.

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

MacBook Air - hmmmm Tim carrying a £1000+ laptop on a bike is, for me, anyway, a big nono. I could not afford it or to wreck it / have it stolen.
P.S I do not carry the above kit on the bike, just a usb key and a smartphone. Total weigh= 350 grammes
As micro sd cards are relatively cheap these days, all data you need can be easily carried and transferred to and from your gps via a smartphone.
My unit holds tracklog of 10,000 points and 200 saved tracks and 4000 POI's which is quite a lot-
Using .csv and/or GPX files adds another huge amount of custom POi's.
The Montana's screen is large enough to do your routing.
Modern tech has enabled me to cut loose from heavy kit like netbooks/laptops on the road and it's one less thing to charge and worry about.
IMHO if you don't need to see movies or maintain a blog instantly, then you can live quite happily without.
Open Wifi is almost everywhere.