The answer: Maybe not. Keep reading to find out some of the biggest hurdles that travelers this holiday season have to overcome when using a wireless laptop.



1. Weight. A laptop (plus accessories) starts to feel heavy very quickly. And who really needs MORE luggage to carry around?

2. Security risk. To you, it's a laptop computer. To a thief, it's a bag of easy money. (About $1000). And that bag is something you have to guard every second of your vacation.

3. Power supply problems. You'll need a different power adaptor plug for each country you visit. And depending on your laptop power supply cable, you may also need a step-up / step-down voltage transformer.

4. Connection complications. You'll need to find a way of connecting to the Internet. If your laptop is suitably equipped and you can find a local hotspot, you can take advantage of wireless Internet access. Otherwise you're stuck with dial-up modem access, whichmeans a choice between:- using your existing ISP's local call number in the country you're visiting (provided your ISP has a local number! AOL and Compuserve generally do.), making a long-distance telephone call to your regular

dial-up number back home or signing up with a local ISP (rarely practical in the

short-term)

5. Telephone socket trouble Different countries have different types of telephone

sockets. If you're planning on connecting via dial-up access, you'll have to bring a suitable telephone adaptor plug. You'll also need a digital signal tester to test for higher voltage digital telephones lines. Otherwise you could end up frying your modem and possibly the motherboard too.

6. Extra insurance cover. It's highly unlikely your travel insurance policy extends to laptop computers. You'll therefore need to arrange separate specialist insurance cover, which isn't cheap.

7. You're on vacation! Do you really want your office with you on vacation? Aren't you supposed to be getting away from it all?

So does Santa lug around his wireless laptop with his list of good and boys names on it? Probobly not, it would much easier to have it on a palm pilot or heck even pen and paper! And if Santa isn't going to bother with lugging it around, why the heck would you?