to take a laptop or not?

13blackcrows

i am considering taking my laptop

but would consider not taking it

if i was reasonably sure

there were internet cafes with pcs in them

(not just wifi hotspots...but, with the pcs as well)

does anyone know

what is the custom in india?

just hotspots or cafes with the PC?


thank you
k

madan80

bring your laptop if you REALLY need to be connected. Also, if you are going to be staying in good hotels. If you are thinking of roughing it out, i would suggest you skip it.
You will find an internet cafe in almost every street corner.
There are the reliance WebWorlds and Sify iWays - two large branded internet cafe's that have a Pan India Presence. You can take a prepaid card from them, and can access your account from any cafe across india.

I would suggest bringing a pendrive, and an extra memory card for your camera - so that you can click away! have a great time.

paintedlotus

I asked this same question and ended up deciding against bringing mine because I didn't want to lug it around-- they get heavy after a while, especially if you're in hot weather. As a test run I spent the better part of a day carrying it around, and the constant weight of the darn thing far outweighed the usefulness I got out of it (until arriving home that is).

Unless you absolutely MUST have it with you at any given time, like, say, for work-- I wouldn't bother. On my last trip to India I never had a problem finding computers with internet connections (except in Srinagar). Connectivity speed can be a little hit or miss though.

Hope this helps.

Freereedsqueezer

I brought mine recently as I had business to do and was glad I did, a lot of cafes will have a booth with just a connection cable for laptop users.
If you're doing anything that involves logging into secure connections, checking bank statements, etc. then I'd bring it as every PC I used there was infected with viruses without exception. For just email, etc. then don't bother....

Lars

guerik

Original post
reminds me of a haiku
my answer is this:

If you're backpacking, staying in cheap hotels and/or travelling on public transport a lot (inc trains and buses), don't bring it. There's a strong chance it would get either damaged or stolen, or you'll be spending a lot of time looking after it. There are tons of internet cafes in major cities, and usually at least one place even in the smaller towns (if they're frequented by tourists, anyway).

I'm a complete internet addict, work on one day and night when I'm at home, and still manage to tear myself away from it in India :P

sco1984

Bring your laptop. Will be much useful.
Fill your Skype credit.
By using your own laptop you can make calls to your home city any time, any where without much problem.

In general computers in public places aint secured, ain't having Windows XP for better voice,video clarity.

It's a good option to carry your own laptop if you prefer other than english language while accessing your mailbox etc. Here in India all you get is English US style. And you might will not be able to see the words.

It's safe to use own PC while making online transaction or checking your bank account online.

Ehh..Sorry if it;s too much.. I am in to IT sector and network engineer so dont wonder....

Tip
If you dont bring your laptop look for "Sify" internet cafe which is the biggest internet cafe chain in India. All computers has standard set of security and firewalls, anti virus online protection all the time. You can purchase voucher of as much big as you want and you can use your user name in any "Sify" internet cafe through out India.

NeeliAankhen

Here's what's been the deciding factor for me, my trip is going to involve some domestic flights, and the weight limit on them can be low -- not worth it to me to have this five pound item taking up so much an allotment. Or so I think at the moment anyhow.

shashank.aggarwal

Don't worry about the weight limit...laptop is allowed besides the hand baggage (which has a weight limit)..

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Anders

There is a internet cafe in almost every street corner but hot spots are almost non existent. If you want to hook up your laptop you can use GPRS or take it inside the internet cafe and connect it to one of their cables.

brownboy66

Really depends on what you want to do - and how much access you need. If its just emails and checking a few online news sites- internet cafes are plentiful and cheap. If you're worried about doing any transactions - check this out...

Using PC's for internet banking in India (or Anywhere!)

basically you load up a bunch of applications onto a pen/ flash drive and use that when you're at a internet cafe. It has its own browser, email client, firewall, etc - and a whole lot less hassle to carry around compared to a full laptop (wont protect you against things like hardware key loggers - but that's one of the risks of using internet cafe's for banking, and a whole separate thread).

Otherwise, as mentioned in this thread previously, if you need to spend a few hours on line, do some work, stuff like that - nothing beats having your own laptop.

13blackcrows

thats a great idea

i am leaning towards not taking it

as

hopeing to be a bit more

off that beaten down tiresome digital path

Nick-H

...and brink a couple of bricks, in case you need to crack any nuts!

An unlocked phone with an Indian SIM won't cost much more to use, and will be a hell of a lot easier to carry around, and much less worry about loosing.True.

Also true. We have a thread on this one.That explains it

(Any idea why my skype has gone all jittery?)

Yep... They are good, although some of the kit is a bit old. Not perfect though: I've seen a machine there the previous occupant had locked into displaying porn. Their internet phone call service is about as cheap as international calls get, other than pc-to-pc-free!

Look for Sify iWay --- they have a red sign.

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Mochajavaman

All along I have been planning on taking my lappy with me; all light and snug in its backpack (light for the first 30 minutes anyways) . I shall have to lug it wherever I go if my budget lodgings seem an unsafe haven, but for the most part I shall not be treking far off the beaten path.
The reason I would like to take it along is (other than the fact that it is a true and loyal friend with whom I share nearly everything) this is I plan to daily vlog my three week trip.

So my question is this: Can the net cafès generally support video uploads? If so I assume they can only do what simple net-based editing is available (nothing installed probably). Still I have never tried this so I really don't know. Any feedback?

Nick-H

I think things have moved on since I was using them --- for a start, I didn't know, until I finished your post, what vlogging is!

I don't (err... obviously ) know the answer to your question, but I suspect that one thing will not have changed a lot since I was frequenting such places: apart from the biggies, like iWay (which Iused to use) and Reliance (no personal experience), do not expect much in the way of bandwidth in a cafe.

brownboy66

ditto - bandwidth will be the problem. If the cafe is using ADSL - the upload will only be a fraction of the download speed. Even if its cable or wifi - no guarantee that it will be full duplex (not uncommon to find that wifi connections are typically half duplex - so that 11 meg 802.11b connection that you think you might have is only 5 megs each way - and even then only to the receiving node - not the international link outbound).