More Mobile: Packing It Up (Premium)

Our trip to Mexico this month has been a resounding success on many levels, one of which involves my more mobile computing setup. And now that I’ve recorded my final podcast of the trip, I have packed up this setup and can show you how well it travels.

I wrote about the more mobile setup I brought with me to Mexico a few days after we arrived. The Airbnb we’re staying in is nicely appointed for work, in that it has a dedicated office with lots of desk space and room for three chairs (two office chairs included), plus a high speed 160/60 Mbps Internet connection that has been quite reliable.

I always stress over this when I travel, but especially when that travel overlaps with Windows Weekly: if needed, I can record First Ring Daily episodes on my phone, but WW is typically over two hours long and it needs to be as high quality as possible. Fortunately, that went great: in addition to multiple episodes of First Ring Daily, I recorded WW twice, and there were no glitches during the latter show at all.

That said, there was one microphone-related change that Leo requested: I had to prop it up on some books to get it closer to my mouth. At home, I use a microphone boom arm for this, and it’s unlikely I’ll ever get a portable version of that. Maybe a taller expanding tripod. I don’t know. But the book thing worked in a pinch. I don't live here, after all.

I already described each component of this setup in the previous article, so check that out if you want hyperlinks, but the short version goes like this: I brought a foldable/portable laptop stand, a Bluetooth keyboard with integrated pointer, a USB-C hub with extension cable, a power adapter and power cable for the hub, a USB microphone, a flat Ethernet cable, a webcam, and a pair of headphones. When I broke it all down, it looked like so.

Most of those items go into the gadget bag I always bring on trips. (The microphone goes in a little semi-protective bag, and I’ve started putting that in my laptop bag because it looks like a pipe bomb when I go through security. So now I take it out with my laptops.)

The items I put in my laptop bag include the keyboard and the folded-up laptop stand (plus that microphone).

This works out because I’m using a large HP bag that can easily accommodate two (or more laptops). I brought too, for backup and because I’m using the second one with a special Microsoft account for screenshots for my next book, Windows 11 Field Guide. The keyboard and laptop stand (and mic) fit in the side with the two laptops along with my iPad Air. No issues.

Well, one issue unrelated to traveling: After unpacking the keyboard, a Lenovo ThinkPad Compact Bluetooth Keyboard with TrackPoint that I really like, I noticed that the CTRL keys were not working. I spent a lot of time troubleshooting this (yes, I’m familiar with the whole CTRL vs. Fn key thing on ThinkPad keyboards; that wasn’t it), installed its dedicated dri...