Tips for traveling with a laptop

I have been traveling for 6 months around south east Asia working on my laptop. Here are some tips that I hope people will find useful.

- Carry your laptop in a regular bag or backpack. By carrying it in bag just for laptops, it just screams 'steal me'. You can get some protective cases to put your laptop for extra protection.

- When traveling on a plane always take your laptop as carry on and don't even think about storing it in the overhead locker.

- Keep some battery life in your laptop when passing through airport security. Sometimes security staff will ask to power it up.

- Set a bios password on your laptop and/or your harddisk, so if your laptop does get stolen your data won't get in the wrong hands

- Back up everything and keep it on storage media separate from the bag you carry your laptop in.

- If you travel overseas it can be a good idea to carry your receipt of purchase, to avoid getting charged any duties or custom's tax.

- Be careful not to trip over your own power cable or placing it somewhere where people pass through.

- Keep a low profile by dressing moderately and be careful about people paying too much attention to you when you are using your laptop. I have had a few people see me using my laptop and then come over starting a conversation like, "where are you from?", "that's a nice laptop", "where are you staying"

- When buying a laptop, consider getting one with an international warranty. Laptops usually have a life of around three years, so a three year warranty should cover you well.

- One of the most forgotten items with laptops is the AC power supply. Get into the habit of always double-checking that you have your adaptor before leaving your hotel/coffee shop.

- Consider getting your laptop insured for your trip.