Must-Have Travel Tech To Get Stuff Done

Staying productive on the road is easy when you have the proper gear. These are our recommendations for five key areas where the right technology makes travel smoother.

Travel picture from Shutterstock


Mobile broadband


For a really brief trip, you can always tether your phone, but that drains both your battery and your data allowance. If you’re on the road regularly, a separate device for mobile broadband makes sense. A plug-in dongle means you don’t need extra power, but you’re also restricted to one device and the driver software is often painful. So we tend to favour a mobile hotspot — accessible to multiple devices and able to be plugged in via USB if you do happen to run out of power.


Powerboard


In 20-odd years of constant work travel, I could count on one hand the number of times a hotel room I have stayed in actually had enough power outlets to charge all the devices I was travelling with. Pack a powerboard and you’ll always have charging space to spare — plus you’ll win friends at airports or in conference centres when power outlets are scarce. Picture: grace_kat


Tablet


For a brief work trip, a tablet can make more sense than your laptop — longer battery life, faster boot time, and easier to use in cramped plane environments. Just don’t leave it in the seat pocket when you deplane. Need more ways to use it? Check out our top 10 ways to make tablets more useful.


International adaptors


You might think that reminding people to purchase international adaptors before heading overseas is advice that belongs to Captain Obvious And His Band Of Idiots, but the steady sales of overpriced adaptors at airports suggests otherwise. For flexibility, a multi-country model is useful, but also bulkier; smaller country-specific models can also be useful.


Laptop lock


Leaving your laptop sitting around in a lounge or a hotel room is an invitation to thieves. Invest in a lock so that it doesn’t become accidentally “liberated”.


Stay tuned this week for more must-have tech recommendations. Tomorrow: tech for entertainment.


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