Traveling with your laptop is never an easy task. Whether its stuffing into the over head compartment on the plane or getting it past security, there is no fool proof way to bring your gear on the go with you. Luckily there are a few products that can make your trips easier and Tech2U will be going over them today.
When you are traveling by plane, we recommend you always put your electronics in your carry on bag. Even bigger items such as laptops or DVD players should be on you as they might get flagged and pulled out of a checked bag. If you carry on your electronics, there is no mystery as to where they are and you can avoid any investigations as you might get with a checked bag.
The best way to have an easy TSA screening and protect your hardware on the plane is to use a designated electronics backpack. eBags TLS Professional Weekender runs for $135 and is a great bag for any trip. The lie-flat laptop compartment accommodates computers up to 17 inches, and meets checkpoint guidelines. There is also plenty of room for clothing, and even has a hard case A/C adapter garage at the bottom of the bag. The TLS is equipped with a trolley handle to easily attach to a rolling bag and every compartment has a firm zip to keep your items secure.
We also recommend the NorthFace Surge II which is a laptop backpack for the active gadget-phile. The Surge II comes with a weather-resistant Joey T55 power supply for re-charging any USB-based electronics and can give you 3.5 full battery charges on your devices. With its 17 inch lie-flat laptop compartment and TSA approved guidelines, the NorthFace Surge II is perfect for the everyday tech traveler.
Tech2U recommends you only put you laptop in the laptop compartment of a lay-flat laptop bag which also needs to give a clear, unobstructed view of the device inside when scanned by X-Ray. If you don’t have a TSA-compliant bag we recommend that you pack your clothes in first, with the electronics on top for quick removal during screening. Anything over the size of a standard laptop, 12” x 14” has to come out of the bag during screening, but, any electronic below that size may stay in the bag if the TSA agent can easily see them on the scanner.
Cables and cords should be packed together with chargers in a separate area to avoid confusion and speed up the screening process. Wrap cords and secure them with rubber bands, zip ties, or Velcro. It also is a good idea to carry a backup power supply to charge on the go and avoid scrambling to find an outlet at the airport. Tech2U recommends the Anker Astro E7 compact portable charger that can charge your phone for up to 10 days. The Astro E7 has 3 ports for simultaneous charging and can automatically recognize your device and set charging speeds to the fastest your device can safely handle.
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Video Transcription:
Interviewer: But we wanna talk tech stuff and our tech expert here, Ryan Eldridge, with Tech to You and Nerds on Call is here to talk about airports and gadgets, and let me tell you something, there is no better guest to ring in our new technologically advanced studio than you. So you’re here at the perfect time, you’re here in our new studio which is just so gorgeous, and you’re here to talk about a very important issue.
Ryan: Its got the new studio smell, I was mentioning that when I walked in, I was like whoa!
Interviewer: Just like a new car smell.
Ryan: Yeah, I’m amazed. This is awesome, I want this in my house!
Interviewer: We’ve got the monitors, there’s lots of walking space, what do you think about it compared to where we were operating before?
Ryan: Oh, the other one was very small and we were always kind of like hey Jim how’s it going, how are ya? So the new one’s very spacious. I feel like I can walk around and do a little lap or something.
Interviewer: Absolutely! We can do a little lap in here after you talk about airports and gadgets and the best gadgets to bring to the airport.
Ryan: Yeah, so one of the things, when I travel a lot, and so packing and unpacking, getting into the security line is such a pain. Especially when I pull my laptop out; so generally what you wanna do is when you pack all of your electronics, you wanna pack it on your carry on rather than your checked bag. And the reason why is they have to search every checked bag and sometimes things get pushed out and thrown around.
Interviewer: To be honest with you I pack all the gadgets I can in my carry-on, just out of fear of something going missing or something getting stolen along the way.
Ryan: Yeah, and so you wanna make sure that you pack it in such a way that it’s easy to carry on your back or in your shoulder, or whatever. So here’s a couple of bags and this one is called the eBags TLS Professional Weekender. It’s a really good looking bag. It looks nice, there’s not a lot of straps and stuff on it, so you can walk into a board room or you can just carry it on a plane. It’s got a great little section here where everything zips up so nothing will fall out of it, which is kind of nice. But one of the coolest features is, it lies flat when you open it up. And so you put your laptop on this side and it can get scanned without having to take your laptop out, and then on this side-
Interviewer: Which is why it’s called the eBag, it’s made specifically for traveling with electronics.
Ryan: Yeah, and then on this side you can put all of your clothes-
Interviewer: You can put all your clothes in there, that’s genius.
Ryan: So that way you don’t have to worry about unpacking everything, and whatever, and there’s also a shoulder strap if you wanna use it as a backpack or if you wanna use it as a little clutch, like a little side thing. And this is one of the coolest features right here, is its got a little compartment where you put your chargers in.
Interviewer: Perfect!
Ryan: How cool is that?
Interviewer: Perfect. How much?
Ryan: It’s a hundred and thirty-five bucks, you can get up to a seventeen-inch laptop in there, plus every other piece of gadgets that you ever wanna throw in there.
Interviewer: It makes sense because people love their gadgets so, why not have a backpack that fits it all? And this is another backpack here?
Ryan: So this is another one, this is called The North Face Surge 2. This runs for two twenty-nine, this one’s also pretty cool because its got a special little feature in it. It actually has a charger in there, that’ll charge your phone up to three and a half times and it’s water resistant.
Interviewer: I’m sorry, so I can charge my phone in the backpack?
Ryan: Yeah, you charge your phone inside the backpack with a little USB dongle here, and it’s water-resistant so you don’t have to worry about like if it’s raining outside or whatever. You can just plug it in right there, you don’t have to fight for a spot in the airport for your stuff, and then also-
Interviewer: So we did get some great technology from the Roswell crash.
Ryan: That’s exactly where it’s from-
Interviewer: There’s your evidence right there.
Ryan: So this one also lies flat so you can put your laptop right there in that sleeve, go right through the thing without worrying about unpacking the whole thing.
Interviewer: About fifteen seconds, another item?
Ryan: Last but not least, this is called the Anchor, this is about 80 bucks-
Interviewer: I’m sorry, the Anchor, as in me?
Ryan: Yeah, like you, like an anchor-
Interviewer: Oh,
Ryan: So this is about 80 bucks, this is called the Anchor Astro E7. It’s a portable little charger-
Interviewer: Okay,
Ryan: This will charge your iPhone 6 up to 10 times, isn’t that amazing?
Interviewer: Wow.
Ryan: And the coolest part is when your plug it in, it knows what kind of device is being plugged into it, and it will literally speed the charge as fast as that device can possibly take it.
Interviewer: And the price for this?
Ryan: Is about eighty bucks.
Interviewer: Eighty dollars.
Ryan: And it’ll charge an Ipad3 about one and a half times, or it will charge a regular phone like ten times.
Interviewer: Lots of great stuff here. Ryan Eldridge, he’s got it down and more information can be found at,
Ryan: You can go to Techtoyou.com/blog we got all of the stuff listed up there.
Interviewer: Thanks, Ryan-
Ryan: You’re welcome.
Interviewer: We’ll be right back after this.
