[lug] Commuting by bike with a laptop

Paul E Condon pecondon at mesanetworks.net
Mon Jan 11 17:59:36 MST 2010


On 20100111_162748, Brennen Bearnes wrote:
> I've been stuffing my work laptop inside a Novara (which I think is an
> REI store brand these days) pannier. It definitely fits better there,
> and my panniers are reasonably close to waterproof, but the hardware
> has really started to flake out, and I can't help thinking that it's
> probably related to all the vibration and rattling around I've been
> subjecting it to.  Might want to keep in mind that anything mounted
> directly on the bike frame or a rack is going to be less cushioned
> than it would be on your body.
> 
> I've generally found that backpacks are a more comfortable fit for
> something as bulky/heavy as a laptop or books, though I otherwise
> prefer a messenger bag. 'course, this might really depend on your
> laptop. Mine is on the ginormous end of the scale.
> 
> -- Brennen
> 
> On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 4:17 PM, Davide Del Vento
> <davide.del.vento at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Technically, it's not waterproof, but when was the last time it rained
> > in Boulder? And the snow it's pretty dry. Anyway, it's has a
> > waterproof cover (which I never used). The only concern was for the
> > magnetic latch, that might wipe out credit cards or other magnetic
> > encoded stuff. I just used care to not swipe my wallet close to it.

I just lurking here. No special knowledge about biking w/laptop, but I
wonder about the cold and whether it might be the cause of laptop
problems.  I know that care must be taken when bringing an film camera
into a warm building form very cold outside. The reason is that the
internal parts chill down to below the indoors dewpoint. When the
camera is brought indoors moisture condenses inside where in cannot be
seen. I think liquid water would also be bad news inside a laptop.

For cameras, the traditional fix is to keep the camera in a air-tight
bag until it has had time to warm up to indoors temperature. This might
be useful to do for a laptop in winter.

-- 
Paul E Condon           
pecondon at mesanetworks.net



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