Will I need both my iPadpro n Macbook?

Shirls

I m wondering if it worth taking my iPadpro along to Africa? I have the new Macbook which weighs less than the pro n the only thing I do on the iPad is play games. Use the Mac for downloading pictures n editing.
My concern is the long flights which is where I usually use the iPad unless there r movies available. I do have some card games on the Mac.
We r on the August 20 safari n traveling from PA.
Since I don't 'sit well' for long periods of time unless entertained........ Any thoughts?

[Deleted User]

My suggestion is to travel light. You'll have several short trips where you are limited to the duffle bag and a small carry-on. We did this trip 18 months ago with two Kindle Fires (one for each of us). Movies, books, games, email and web surfing. What else do you need (since you should be able to do all of this on the iPad)?

I use to travel with a laptop/netbook to offload pictures from our cameras. No more. The cost of memory cards is so cheap that I have 64GB in the DSLR which limits(!) me to about 4000 photos. And, I carry extra cards. Only possible concern is loss/damage to the card, but I haven't had one fail yet.

AlanS

I used to take a (Windows) laptop, then both the laptop + iPad, now just take the iPad on trips. I download photos to the iPad every night, but leave the original on the camera (64 GB card) so I have two copies of everything just in case I lose one or the other. If the bandwidth is sufficient, I will upload a few pics to Facebook at night also. The iPad does everything I need while traveling. We are on The Best of Ireland right now, and I have been taking my iPad on the bus each day. Lately I have also been taking the lightning-to-mini USB cord on the bus and download photos from the camera to the iPad on the ride back to the hotel- saves time later on.

Claudia Sails

Shirls, if your main concern is the long flights (and I can sympathize as I'm someone who doesn't sleep well on planes) then check what inflight entertainment systems are provided on the plane itself. Most planes for long haul flights these days have pretty nice entertainment systems even in economy. I've flown economy and economy comfort to Europe in the last 2 years and all the plane seats had individual tv screens with a large number of movie and tv shows on demand. Their website lists what movies are showing each month. I've never watched less than 2 each flight that were current and that I had not seen.

If you have your flight reservations, you can either check the airline's website or go to sites such as seatguru.com or routehappy.com that can give you details.

In the light travel tech category, I just bought the cheapest Kindle Fire - $50 - and love it. It's small but for the money has a great color screen, has a fairly fast processor (I can now make forum posts via tablet which my Samsung couldn't do), good for playing games, has a decent screen for book reading, its bigger screen is better for email reading than my smart phone, etc etc. If you belong to Amazon Prime you can download video for offline viewing (sadly family members can only stream video live - sigh). At $50 if it gets lost or stolen I'm not gonna lose much sleep.

BayStater

Claudia Sails... do you know if an Amazon Prime Member can download movies to an iPad for offline viewing?

Shirls... I'd also vote for leaving the laptop at home. When traveling, I also back up photos to my iPad.

Claudia Sails

Baystater, according to Amazon's website yes. If you google "amazon prime video devices" you'll get a link to a list of compatible devices. The catch may be that this only applies to the person in the household who's name is on the account. Ex, my husband is the primary on our prime membership and I as a member of the household can use some of the features like free shipping, streaming video, etc but I can't download for offline viewing. That isn't made clear by Amazon in the writeup for the Fire.

If you don't already have prime membership, you can get a 30 day trial for free. We did that to see if our Tv was compatible. It wasn't so we canx. Then bought a Roku for home and resubscribed.

In general though, I think Delta has had better free movie choices on their inflight entertainment systems than the free movies on Amazon. Of course with their problems this week you gotta really consider your airline options. Glad I don't have to book a flight soon.

British

BayStater wrote:

Claudia Sails... do you know if an Amazon Prime Member can download movies to an iPad for offline viewing?

Shirls... I'd also vote for leaving the laptop at home. When traveling, I also back up photos to my iPad.

I haven't tried downloading movies from Amazon Prime onto my iPad, but I have downloaded tv shows successfully, although you can only download so many at a time. Then you have to delete them as you watch them so you can make space for more. We share the same email so can do this on several devices at once. I have then watched them in other countries and they are a lifesaver to watch in the middle of the night when you wake with jet lag issues on the early part of the vacation.

Claudia Sails

I would worry about the whole blue light tablet screen screwing up your ability to go to sleep. I use my Kindle paperwhite on a low setting and don't have a problem. Makes me think though that downloading an audio of a movie, podcast, whatever might be the best solution. Nothing like a droning voice to put me to sleep.

Of course you could always raid the minibar waking up to an OMG room tab. We need a whole thread on the most amazing minibar price lists.

British

I have never ever had alcohol from a minibar Claudia. My current Location London, I am with a group of big drinkers, the past few nights they have been going to bed at 3am. Fortunately my room mate is not one of them, they are mostly the young crew. But right now just after 8 local time, my room mate's alarm has gone off three times since 6-30 but she is still asleep, I should be up but am trying to recover from those. Ah, where is your husband when you need him.
I have a night time light on my iPad by the way. Ok here we go, London awaits!

Shirls

Thanks everyone for your input.
I will be taking my Macbook since it weighs only 2 lbs. n has ton's of memory n that is where I perfer do all my picture editing and organizing into albums.
My iPadpro weighs almost 2 1/2 lbs n is and has little memory left (kids should have bought me one with more memory, but hey, I'm not looking a 'gift horse in the mouth'). Plus my iPhone 6s has all my audio books on it so will have it.
I had already checked out the in-flight entertainment n supposedly only have direct TV between AMS n JRO.????
Still dreading the long flights

BayStater

Thanks, Claudia Sails & Co.!