I read somewhere on this forum that a desktop might get too jostled around while on the road.  I have a fairly new desktop plus a brand new laptop that I really dislike.  I bought a keyboard for it and maybe when I get a mouse I will tolerate it better, but I would like to know if anyone uses a desktop without any problems.  I have so much on my hard drive and can't deal with the thought of giving it up.  Plus I have a nice largish plasma monitor that I like.  Why can't I keep both?
gypsy

Of course not! There's no reason to believe that a desktop would react differently to the jostling of travel than a laptop, or a TV, or a CD player, or any other piece of electronics that we travel with regularly. Many people travel with desktop units. Good luck, Fred

Thanks, Fred.  I guess finding a place to put it is the problem.
gypsy

Hi, You didn't say whether you have an RV yet? We made sure we bought one with a computer desk and brought our desktop computer with us. The CPU sits on the floor under the desk, the monitor and printer are on the top. We bought fasteners also which we use to secure the printer and router to the desktop itself. They're removable although we leave them in place. We use a sofa pillow to keep the monitor from tipping over. Before we bought the fasteners, our printer was sliding around on the desktop when we traveled. Now it doesn't budge. Our desk is in the rear of our 5th wheel and gets the most motion when moving and it does fine. We actually bought a new desktop yesterday so are obviously happy with the setup. Judy

No, I don't have an RV yet, but I am putting my house on the market this month, and hope it won't be there too long.  I'm just taking a break from cleaning decks so I can stain them, and I can't get out of this house soon enough.  I love it here, but the maintenance and large lot have me beat!

If and when it sells then I will know what I can afford.
gypsy

Hi Gypsy,

You know the old saying: "misery loves company".  Well I was power washing my deck over the weekend and staining a screened in room that sits on  the deck.  I, too, am tired of all the work required to maintain a sticks and bricks home, but the end is in sight.  We hope to be full-timers in September of 2009.

Just hang in there. And think about how much fun you will have in the not too distant future.

Tell us what kind of RV you want to buy. 

Good luck.

Fox

I think I would like to buy a 5ver, 29/30 ft; center kitchen/dinette & sofa, and recliners on the end.  Queen size bed, 1 or 2 slideouts.  I've only driven a 21' u-haul across the country towing a Toyota, but that was 11 yrs ago.  I want something I can handle, and I'm now 67 yrs old, or young, however you look at it.  The more I look at websites, floor plans, & brochures the more confused I get.  I won't have a big budget, so used is likely to be the way I will go, plus a fairly late model tow vehicle.

I have an incredible amount of work to do to get it ready, but the house is tentatively scheduled to go on the market the 28th of July.    I'm confident that it will all work out for the best.
gypsy

Laptops are more tolerant to travel than desktops.  They are built that way.
You can keep your desktop, but you will want to provide cushioning to dampen the road vibrations.
We have traveled five years with a desktop in our motor home and had several hard drive problems until I moved its location and put it on a foam pad.
We have not had any such problems with our 3 laptops.
-Jim  

We also travel with a desktop. The computer is in the cupboard below the TV and is pretty secure in there. We built another shelf above the computer for the printer and it sits on one of those non-skid pads and doesn't move. We leave the door open when we're sitting so it doesn't get hot. Our computer desk is also in the rear of our 5th wheel and the monitor sits on another non-skid pad for travel. So far so good. We've been through some pretty rough roads and nothing moves and the desktop has been working just fine for 7 months now.

Do keep those machines backed up. A friend just had his desktop computer crash in his RV and it has taken him three weeks to get back up and running. His last backup was old and only included some of his files. You can get a 1TB (1000GB) external hard drive in the $200 range and most come with backup software, about the easiest backup system I know. Of course then you get tempted to use the external drive as additional storage which is risky. Better to have a smaller external for additional storage and one big one dedicated to backups.

Edit: This applies to notebook computers also!

Second edit: I was privately asked where to get $200 1TB drives and right now both costco.com and samsclub.com have them.   For even a better deal there were eleven external 1TB drives for under $190 at www.newegg.com, a good place to get computer stuff.

-- Edited by bjoyce at 10:58, 2008-07-16

-- Edited by bjoyce at 22:35, 2008-07-16

Question (from one who is semi-electronically-challenged): When you back up your entire computer to an EHD, and then do it a second time (like the next day?) does it automatically write over the previous backup or do you then have two on the EHD? If that's the case, then would you erase the older one? Just wondering.

You want an external drive that comes with backup software.  Many do, but some do not.  There are also more full featured backup software available for money.
Most backup software takes a portion of the external drive as its own and the first thing it does is create a full backup, which takes the longest time, normally as one big file that is smaller than the amount backed up.  Then you do what is called an incremental backup, where it keeps a list of changes and saves the new and changed files.  After a while the incremental backups get too numerous and you get to start over again with a fresh full backup.  Some backup programs just create a new full backup each time to a different filename on the external drive, these are called "image backups". 

My wife and I fulltimed for three and a half years with my desktop computer under my desk, and her laptop in a tray under her desk.

Not only that, but I had a RAID (large external disk system) in a cabinet next to my desk. We also had an all-in-one laser printer, a color inkjet printer, TV's, a DVR, and lost of other stuff.

As long as everything is fastened down when you get underway, and your RV's power system can protect you from funky RV park power, you should do fine with whatever equipment you want to take. Oh, but do consider weight.

Here is a photo of how we had it all set up for most of our time on the road:

• RV Mobile Office: Desk Area
  

That's my desk in the corner. You can see the computer system box under the desk.

The only problem I had was heat. In the desert near Joshua Tree National Park we hit temperatures over 100 F. I had to put a fan on the floor under the desk to keep the computer cool, even with both air conditioners running full blast all day.

You can see more photos on my RV website:

• RV Mobile Office
  

Connectivity was sometimes a problem, but here is how we handled it:

• Satellite Internet
  
• "Power Assisted" Wi-Fi
  

If you have not chosen an RV, I highly recommend checking the RV Consumer Group's ratings for whatever RV's you are considering, whether new or used:

• RV Consumer Group
  

Have fun computing on the road!

Best regards,
Tom

-- Edited by Tom Donaldson at 10:22, 2008-08-25

I looked at the pictures, and all I can say is WOW, what a setup!  I'd love to have just a part of the corner.  Thanks.
gypsy

I’ve traveled for more than a year with a desktop in my camper.
In the old days the hard-drives couldn’t take much, but these days a desktop is fine for travel.
I use a wireless keyboard and mouse for it. It lives next to my bed with a decent size vga cable for the monitor. I have an internal network via a wireless router, for my laptop as well. A desktop can have much more power for the money than a laptop, these days you can even buy the small-form factor desktops that can fit in small places. (some padding for the desktop is a good idea when traveling).

-- Edited by travelfables at 17:28, 2008-10-25