Mobile Offices

[jdhurst]

Archer6 started a thread about smart phones and I invaded it with stuff about mobile offices. So I would like to split that off and continue the discussion.

First, in my opinion, carrying a briefcase back and forth between work or school is not really a mobile office, but rather just a portable computer.

Given that, I carry around a complete mobile office with me. I can respond to a client phone call, go to that client or connect to their system remotely and very likely completely respond to their issues.

So what stuff and what categories?

1. The bag itself.
2. The computer itself.
3. The accompanying PC hardware you carry.
4. Remote connectivity gear
5. The paper you carry
6. The kind of phone (ordinary phone, Blackberry, smart phone) and how it interacts.
7. Anything else you carry.

Let me start with the bag. Some years ago (about 10 years ago) I purchased a leather bag that is top load with 3 compartments, a flap that goes over the front with magnetic clasps, a handle and a shoulder strap. For all of its faults, this bag is not heavy by itself whereas stronger leather bags are often much heavier (some leather bags can weigh as much as 5 pounds).

The bag itself has been a saga. The original handle was a piece of foam wrapped in leather and it quickly frayed. I found a leather shop in downtown Toronto and the owner said he could make a handle but it would be expensive (half the cost of the bag when new). I decided to do it, and one would have to see this handle to believe it. It is a strip of very heavy leather (1/8" thick) folder around so it is three thicknesses thick. It is sewn with nylon thread and then the edges are buffed smooth. The handle fits in your hand without digging in, and has just enough give that it acts as a shock absorber while I walk. It was worth every penny I paid for it

Later the internal padding in the leather pad for the shoulder strap failed (hard on the shoulder). Also the leather trim on the flap got holes in it at the corners and looked tattered. I got some very dense foam for the pad, went back to the same shop and had the leather shoulder pad rebuilt and new leather trim installed. The magnetic clasps have worn severly but I did nothing.

Then (!) the buckle clip broke (this loaded bag is heavy). It had my T61p in it when it fell off my shoulder, but no damage done anywhere. I go back to the same shop and he says to get the forged clips (but they are not brass). Oh well, heavy duty clips purchased and installed. I asked him if he could put buckles on. He said I would regret this having used the speedy magnetic clasps, but he had high quality magnetic clasps that he could install (and so he did).

So after all of this, the bag has cost more in repairs than it did to buy it, but (1) I have not found a good replacement (too heavy) and (2) it wears out on business, so the business covers the repair costs.

Now to the computer. I have a T61p (and the "p" machines were 14-inch 4:3 aspect ratio machines). It is a smidgen larger than my retired T41 and is the same weight (right on 5 pounds). It has a writable DVD optical drive, and that is one reason why I stay "T" and have not drifted to "X". I am questioning this decision.

I purchased the machine with Vista 64-bit (and thus certified). I put in a new 500Gb 7200-rpm hard drive recently and went with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. Now XP gave me Clear Type over Windows 2000; Vista 64-bit gave me speed over 32-bit; and now Window 7 Pro gives me even better display, and a truly excellent search capability. These two things make the upgrade worth it. The vast hard drive lets me keep 6 virtual machines (Vista, XP, 2000, NT4, 98 and DOS 6.3) as well as ALL my documents (all indexed) and ALL my file storage. This means I can find what I want when I want, and this is a big piece of having a mobile office).

In terms of accompanying hardware, I carry the power adapter, AC cord, a 6-foot ethernet cable, a Blackberry charger, a BB USB interconnect, and a USB <-> Parallel converter because the T61p does not have a parallel port. All this adds probably another pound of weight.

Remote connectivity gear: I started with a Sierra Wireless cellular card in 2004 which was slower than dial-up, graduated to a Sony Ericsson card that was fairly decent for speed but would not work in 64-bit Vista, and so graduated to a Sony Ericsson USB Internet Key that is good for 2 or 3 Mbits download and 400-500Kbits up. It is basically portable high speed internet. It supports IPSec VPN.

Paper: Paper is heavy. I carry a personal business file, and at least one client file, sometimes two. There seems no way around this, as the paper relates to very current situations. I scan much paper into .TIF documents or PDF files, and I try to create as many documents electronically (Word, Excel, Power Point, PDF) as possible. I keep all these in a highly organized and indexed file system all backed up on my home desktop with SyncBack Pro. Windows 7 is truly great for finding things in this document store.

Phone: I use a Blackberry for phone and email. I have not seen what I need in a smart phone to replace my T61p (Archer6's thread), so I stay with my Blackberry for the time being.

Other: I carry my business cards, a selection of colleague business cards, several pens, pencils, highlightes and markers, my trusty HP 42S calculator, a special wallet, an erasor, a ruler, and such like.

All this weighs now about 16 pounds (after I dumped some paper) and lets me work nearly everywhere including on a train or bus (but not subway).

I have been doing this successfully for nearly a decade, so I have gotten used to it all working.

How do you create your mobile office?

... JDH

[jdhurst]

Hmmm - No takers yet. No road warriors here?

I lost my office at a client last week. I did not lose the client, just the office (because they are expanding). I do have a file cabinet in a small boardroom, but otherwise work on the go and also at home.

So now, I really feel the lack of a printer. Work at this client requires printing cheques with a top quality laser jet or ink jet printer, and the printer must be local (cheques are secure stock and picky in terms of form feed).

I don't see anything on the horizon for this and am still working on a way to do this (other than bringing cheque forms home and printing in my home office). .... JDH

[GomJabbar]

Here are a couple of ideas for a printer. I have the Canon PIXMA MP600 Multifunction desktop printer and am very pleased with it, but I have no experience with the following models. Both the models below have Windows 7 add-on drivers available from the downloads page.

Canon PIXMA iP100

Canon PIXMA iP90v

http://www.canon.ca/english/index-custo ... nloads.asp

[jdhurst]

Thanks for that. I will look at them in more depth (I did open the links just now). They are both too large to carry around, and I only use my car about half the time. The other half, I am on public transit. ... JDH

[DrThinkpad]

I only carry my beloved T40 with two batteries (6 & 9 cell), in a Targus laptop bag, with the AC adapter and Microsoft Intellimouse, along with my 8gb Kingston USB stick. Portable, efficient, not exactly lightweight but still not too heavy... yet. The workhorse is slowly aging, and I am probably going towards X6X series...

[jdhurst]

Today was a case in point for what I do.

Up at the crack of dawn. Drive (unusual) to Client A and park (ready for a whole different thing this afternoon). Subway to Client B. Urgent because cheques must be printed, no real office, and off on vacation tomorrow for a week. Print cheques (I kept the HP LaserJet and put in the boardroom here), fax tax documents, look after other stuff, pack up and subway back to Client A. Set up again and start over. All this in 60 minutes.

It is times like this where not only do I need to be utterly mobile, I require my computer to be utterly reliable, which is one reason I use Thinkpads. ... JDH

[asiafish]

MacBook Air with power adapter (3 lbs for the computer)
BlackBerry 8830 with charger
Ancient HP Deskjet 450 portable printer
200 sheets of paper in a hard plastic document case.
20 of each of the 2 specialized immigration forms I use when hired by a new client (need to be blue and green), all other forms on pdf.

Thats it. Total weight is about 11 lbs including the printer. Usually, the printer doesn't travel with me.

The BlackBerry is the most important part of the outfit because it has bluetooth tethering over Verizon. Its slower than an aircard, but not much, and I don't have to maintain a separate account or pay a separate data fee, its just an extra $14 over the regular BlackBerry service. The Air connects to the internet over bluetooth with the BlackBerry. Sometimes I'll use a USB cable to get a faster, more stable connection while charging the BlackBerry at the same time (only when plugging in the laptop).

[jdhurst]

<snip>
The BlackBerry is the most important part of the outfit because it has bluetooth tethering over Verizon. Its slower than an aircard, but not much, and I don't have to maintain a separate account or pay a separate data fee, its just an extra $14 over the regular BlackBerry service. <snip>

The BlackBerry is the second most important piece of my outfit (I can live without my BB, but not without my PC). I don't use the tethering concept because my Rocket Stick is $25 per month (vs. your $14) and I get as much as 4Mbits/sec out of it, so I have grown rather fond of it. ... JDH

[A31]

I bought a leather carry case for the A31 on Monday from our trusty computer shop in town and I carry in it:
.ThinkPad A31
.AC adapter (usually only the one but sometimes I take two)
.Battery
.CDs for programs like Office 2003 Pro, Office 2007 Pro Plus, 2x Windows XP Pro CD's, CD for my Bluetooth software, PCMCIA Drivers CD and the like. I think (for some reason) I also put my Windows 95 CDs in there as well. It's just somewhere to store all my CDs and if I ever need to re install anything, then I'll have everything with me
.Phone and camera if I have them on me
.The USB leads for the phone and camera and maybe even the chargers, but only if I have the phone and camera on me.
.4GB "integral" USB penstick, if I need it.

I don't carry documents in it, becuase I don't actually have any!! When I was away at my Nan and Grands from Monday to Thursday, I also carried a 256MB RAM DIMM and a 40GB in there as well, as I trying to upgrade my Grandad's laptop with them, but I don't usually carry RAM DIMMs and hard drives in the laptop bag. It was, and is, very useful!

Total weight - well, heavy! The A31 alone is a heavy laptop and with all those CDs, USBs and AC adapters in there it makes it heavier, but it is a strong bag and holds everything fine.

[jdhurst]

<snip>
Total weight - well, heavy! <snip> but it is a strong bag and holds everything fine.

I'll bet! I can tell just by your bag contents. Still - good for you that you have everything on board in your bag. Basically that is what I am doing for my line of work. ... JDH

[bill bolton]

So what stuff and what categories?

1. The bag itself.
2. The computer itself.
3. The accompanying PC hardware you carry.
4. Remote connectivity gear
5. The paper you carry
6. The kind of phone (ordinary phone, Blackberry, smart phone) and how it interacts.
7. Anything else you carry.

1. A leather shoulder bag with two internal compartments and various external pouches that I was given at work several years ago

2. Typically an X200 with Win 7 Ultimate x64, sometimes a similarly configured T400, in an Aussie Bag slip cover

3. 65W power supply, long power cable, Belkin surge suppressor, Logitec V270 Bluetooth mouse

4. 1 x client provided Sierra 880U with Bigpond Next G SIM, 1 x client provided Sierra 880U with a Telstra Mobile Broadband Next G SIM, 1 x client provided Huawei E180 with an Optus Yes G SIM, 1 x 150mm USB extension cable, 1 x personal Telstra Mobile Broadband prepaid Next G SIM in F3507G card in laptop

5. A 5mm square graph paper pad, plus whatever paperwork may be appropriate to what I am doing at the time

6. Nokia 6223 mobile phone linked to Nokia PC Suite on the laptop via Bluetooth

7. Business cards, a small soft brush (in a tube) for cleaning my keyboard and screen, a permanent black marker (in a tube), a Fax Black fine pen for writing, a yellow highlighter pen, a few spare velcro cable ties, a tube of paracetamol tablets, a variety of security access passes on a lanyard with a RSA Token and a 16GB USB stick.

Optional extras - 5m USB extension cable, 3m power extension cable, 4 way power block, 5 port 100Mbps Ethernet switch

Cheers,

Bill B.

[killer]

Just been away for 2 weeks. Got the wife to take her mobile phone and T43p. When I needed to access my emails I used her machine. Apart from that I took a book.