And so as I’ve intimated, when I pack my bag to head out on a trip I carry a
whole bunch of extensions, add-ons, and useful doodads that were not deliv-
ered to me with the laptop. I’m talking hardware here: things that sit under,
plug in to, or adapt a machine.They also, alas, take up space and add a bit of weight. I pick and choose them
carefully, adding some devices for certain trips and subtracting others when I
think (or hope) I won’t need them.Here, then, are 10 of my favorite things.Power, Power, Almost Anywhere ...............................................................
My current work laptop will work off battery power for three to four hours,
depending on the sort of work I am doing and the settings I have made for
power usage. For example, using the CD/DVD drive burns up a great deal of
power; giving full brightness to the LCD will also shorten a day’s battery life.The maker of my machine provides a small AC adapter that can be used to
recharge the battery in my office, at home, and in hotels. And like many road
warriors, when I am changing planes on a long flight the first thing I do when
I get to the gate at the airport is look for an electrical outlet so that I can
recharge the battery at least partially. (Look under seats and along posts
near the check-in desks; another likely source is near vending machines.
Sometimes the agent at the podium will know the location of an outlet.)But why should I be limited to ordinary sources of power like an AC wall
outlet? How about automobile power outlets (we used to refer to them as
cigarette lighter outlets)? And some airlines now offer electrical outlets near
some or all of the seats in their planes. Finally, why do I need to carry one AC
adapter for my laptop, another for my cell phone, a third one for the battery
charger of my digital camera, and a fourth for my PDA?One great solution is the iGo EverywherePower 7500, which can draw power
from wall sockets, automobile outlets, and airline wiring. And with the use of
interchangeable plugs (cutely called iGo iTips) and an included secondary
adapter, I can power and charge two devices at once. The package includes a
pair of power cords, one for wall outlets and another for power outlets in air-
line seats or cars. It all folds up into a neat little case, and weighs a reasonable
13 ounces — a bit less than a pound. You can see an iGo adapter with a selec-
tion of iTips in Figure 22-1.324 Part VI: The Part of Tens