Here's the question, what is the best laptop (brand, model) for lugging around on a motorcycle?

I make my living on the Internet, and do all my work through a laptop. When I'm tired of sitting here at home, I put the laptop into the tour pak of my Ultra Classic, and head off somewhere with Wi-Fi access. It's usually a Starbucks!

I've never owned one of those "rugged" laptops, supposedly designed to withstand a drop of 12 inches (when shut off completely), and still run fine when turned back on. Of course, a fall of 12 inches ain't much of a fall, and who knows what could happen to it if you dropped your bike.

Last year when I went to the Redwood Run, I brought my laptop. But I took my Road Star instead of the Ultra Classic. So, I didn't have a tour pak. Instead I sandwiched it between layers of clothing in my T-Bag. Held up just fine.

I've always bought laptops from Dell and Sony. I like the Sony VAIO line because they feel very solid, and I've always abused my Sonys and they always held up. I've had Sonys that got rained on (because I left the window open in my office), and they've gotten bumped around quite a bit. But they always held up well. My putting my vote for Sonys as a great laptop for motorcycle travelling.

One tip: Always power off your laptop when travelling with it on a motorcycle. It's not enough to just close the lid, or "log out of Windows". What ruins a laptop more than anything else is hard drive failure. If the hard drive is still running, it's doesn't take too much of a bump to crash it.

Labels: Laptops, Motorcycle Blogs