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[Camper Van Travels]

For life on the road staying connected to the Internet is important to me.

At the moment I'm still using my trusty old Toshiba Portege R100 netbook which I think draws about 35 watts of power. I'd like to improve on this if I can but I must admit all of this new fangled technology frightens the dickens out of me.

Things which are important to me are a full size keyboard.

The lowest power consumption possible. (Using solar power - 3 x 80 watt solar panels).

The ability to watch Youtube videos without constant buffering which drives me mental.

A USB dongle connection (or other Internet connectivity solution which is fast, reliable and works across Europe even in remote areas - a big ask I know so this is less important as I can always drive closer to a village or town if needs be). I've got a 12GB 3 (Three) 3G dongle here.

A fast little blighter that doesn't drive me up the wall waiting for applications to load all the time.

Must have at least 1 or 2 USB ports.

I don't mind older wotsits/devices just so long as it gets the job done and quickly and isn't going to wheeze and cough the second I start putting it under some stress, for example, if I'm storing lots of photos on the device.

What are my options please?

Please keep your language ever so simple to understand (cos I'm an idiot with all things technical and if you start getting too technical on me, your words will just fly straight over the top of my forehead which will be about as much use as a knitted condom).

Cheers!

[Tai-chi wanderer]

Hi Mark.
We have just bought a 11 inch Acer Aspire E3, just for that reason. Why 11 inch?
So we can tuck it away and carry it in a small rucksack as well on the Bike.
It has no fan, great power manager and is really fast. 4gb ram and 500gb h/disk.
So can store all the foto's from the digi camera.
Especially made with Skype loaded for contact, really works well and lasts at least 8 hours on the battery.
Mrs has a 7 inch tablet but I hate how fiddly it is and has limited capabilities, and it's getting old (tablet that is).
Great for watching movies and music especially as I have a set of small speakers and can access my Itunes on the cloud.
We never carry a tv, we have 360 degrees of scenery to watch and an excellent supply of cheap vino to hand.

[Camper Van Travels]

Cheers you ole beaut that sounds exactly what I need - can I get one for 50 quid lol?

Blimey I just looked. Two hundred quid for a bloomin' typewriter - I must be getting out of touch. How about something a little older (and cheaper)? Thanks though Patrick.

[Tai-chi wanderer]

Got mine for £180 but the lower spec models are a bit cheaper. The reason I picked it was connectivity and it is better than my stand alone tower I have indoors. These days we need to keep in contact with peeps at home and keep an eye on finances whilst travelling.

Especially when we take the Bike abroad cos we are booking cheepy hostels etc a few days ahead.
We find it's the most economical way these days to travel across Europe when you can't sleep in your own snailshell . Patrick.