It’s very common to take a laptop with you when you go abroad. As such, you’ll want to protect your laptop when travelling from both physical threats and hacking or data theft online. To help, we’ve pulled together 9 ways to keep tech safe abroad.
Let’s face it packing your laptop into the hold of a plane, train or coach is just never going to happen. You’re going to want to watch movies, play games, gloat about your latest adventures or even – don’t say it – work while you are travelling.
But if like us you wince when taking it on adventure holidays or longer overland travel, you are likely to want to protect your laptop for anything more than a walk around the block.
How to protect your laptop when travelling
- Don’t take it
- Take a tablet instead
- Fit a cover
- Buy a sleeve
- Use a specialist backpack
- Go for a tough laptop
- Insure it
- Install a VPN
- Beef up security
9 ways to keep tech safe abroad
There’s a few ways to look after your most prized piece of tech when you travel. You need to be aware of both physical damage, loss or theft, and the chance of data theft through unsecured WiFi.
As Juliette Hudson, Team Leader at cybersecurity specialists Redscan explains, “With nomadic working the new norm, it’s easy to get into bad habits about online security. But because cyber security threats are on the rise, it’s important to maintain high standards of security awareness and be extra vigilant.”
So here are a few laptop protection ideas for would be travellers who hope to take their tech.
Don’t take it
Might sound ridiculous but it’s a valid point. Do you really need to take it with you? Can’t you do most things on your smartphone?
Unless you are travelling to a business meeting, going to work while away or will be doing something CPU intensive like editing action sport videos there’s no real need to travel with a laptop. Yes, it is better for keeping in touch, enjoying your multimedia and social media channels, but if you are away for a short period your mobile will do.
Put it this way. If I was to sell my Macbook Pro and travel just with a smartphone, I’d have one less item to carry, more space and a few hundred extra pounds to spend. Obviously this is not an option if you’re going away for a week or two, but if you plan to travel for a year or more it is something to consider.
Take a tablet instead
Easier to protect, thinner and with no hinged screen, tablets are better suited to travelling. Business users and those doing a lot of writing may find them bit of a pain, but with attachable keyboards and new apps turning up all the time, they are increasingly useful.
Tablets are also great for watching movies, taking pictures and grabbing all important travel info, and for many people have removed the need for travelling with a laptop. And with some serious robust cases and covers, tablets can be protected more easily than a laptop. Plus, they are lighter, less expensive and take up less space.
Fit a cover
Covers just clip onto the shell. There’s not a great deal of shock resistance in most of these, but what they do is protect the surface from scratches, dents and nicks. Get a decent cover and you should be able to return from travelling with your laptop unscathed.
Buy a sleeve
The most obvious way to protect a laptop when travelling is to buy a sleeve. Go for close fitting, well made neoprene models. These usually provide a good level of padding and you can rest your laptop on top when working.
Neoprene does hold off water, but it’s not waterproof. For tougher stuff look for sleeves made from polyurethane; some are even certified waterproof in the case of submersion.
Use a specialist backpack
Many backpacks these days have a sleeve for a laptop. However, many of these just keep it in place rather than actually protect your laptop when travelling. Look for one with a padded and possibly even an armoured sleeve with straps for top protection.
Go for a tough laptop
If none of these methods pouts your mind at rest and you need a laptop that can take the heat, wind, rain and a drop from 10ft then go rugged! These ultra-tough brutes are typically thicker, a little clunkier and sometimes run older operating systems.
However, they are well worth the extra weight when you drop them on a tiled floor, get caught in a monsoon or half a Thai beach ends up in your backpack. And they are not all dogs in a beefed up company box. To be fair we last wrote about travel laptops in 2012, but as you can see, there were good rugged options then and now is even better now!
Insure it
Accidental damage, losing your bag and theft can all be covered by travel insurance. Just make sure your laptop is specifically covered as many cheaper plans will have all sorts of clauses that impede a payout. Check out this article about action sports travel insurance to learn more about what to look for.
Install a VPN
As previously mentioned, when you use an unsecured or public WiFi network your security could be at risk. Hackers can access your laptop through the network and steal anything from photos and passwords to data and even your identity.
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) enables you to use a protected network connection when using public internet. It encrypts your internet use and disguises your online identity. This makes it more difficult for hackers to access your device. Find out more in this article about the top reasons to use a VPN when travelling.
Beef up security
Of course, while you want to protect your laptop when travelling, if someone does get hold of it you could be at risk of all those issues mentioned above. Fortunately, there are all sorts of ways to keep tech safe abroad which add an extra layer of laptop protection.
From biometric authentication to encryption software, you can make it very difficult for anyone who gets their hands on your laptop and from being able to access it. This is important as you’ll undoubtedly use your laptop for banking, communication and it almost certainly holds all sorts of sensitive data.
We hope you found these options to protect your laptop when travelling useful! There are many ways to keep tech safe abroad so why not book yourself on a memorable adventure holiday today.
