Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Traveling to S.E. Asia with MBA

S

saphuso

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 26, 2012
3
0
Hi - I'll be traveling to S.E. Asia (specifically Vietnam) this october, with my brand new 13" MBA. Never really traveled out of the country with a laptop before. I will need it to transfer my photos, and watch some movies during the long flight. If anyone has, I'd love to hear some advice on a few things.

1. Is it a good idea to bring the MBA to Vietnam?
2. Will I need any wattage converter and/or socket adapter?

Anything else to offer is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
leave it at home, bring an iphone or ipod touch and a couple extra sd cards for photos.

unless you need to be photoshopping on the fly you dont need the laptop.
depending on your accomodation youll be uneasy leaving it in the room while youre off exploring, youll be uneasy while travelling domestically, etc...

personally, i wouldnt bother...
 
For the voltage you might need a plug adaptor of Type C (Europe). Vietnam has a mix of both US & EU plug sockets depending where in the country you are. Though even most guesthouses in Vietnam these days have wall sockets than can accept both US & EU plugs.

I have travelled S.E. Asia a dozen times since 2007 (Vietnam included) and never had any of my electronics stolen to date. Just apply the simple rules you do at home and lock it in your bags/safe and you won't have any problems when you leave your hotel room and you'll be fine. Everyone these days seems to travel SE Asia with an iPad you will quickly notice...

I traded my MBA for a MBP that's too bulky to travel with and even thought I have since bought an iPad I miss it sorely on vacation. It's truly the best of both worlds!
 
I don't know what Tehdee is talking about, but most of Asia is considered safer than America. I would rather have my laptop in Asia than I would in Chicago or New York.

You just need an adapter, not a converter. I asked the Apple Store about this recently, I was going to buy their World Traveler Kit, but it's basically an overpriced adapter :p You get 1 of 6 countries, if I could have gotten 6 South Korea ones it would have been great, but nope.

The Magsafe works 100-240V making it safe to use pretty much worldwide.
 
Of course you should bring your laptop. It's a LONG flight, and you will be happy to have it. As always, make sure your machine is backed up prior to departure and check that your insurance covers out of the country.
 
tehdee said:
leave it at home, bring an iphone or ipod touch and a couple extra sd cards for photos.

unless you need to be photoshopping on the fly you dont need the laptop.
depending on your accomodation youll be uneasy leaving it in the room while youre off exploring, youll be uneasy while travelling domestically, etc...

personally, i wouldnt bother...
Click to expand...

+1... at most take a Pad or Touch, too many risks traveling half way around the globe to a 3rd-W country like that.
 
Vietnam is not a third world country. It has ONE minor third-world classification due to a lack of freedom of press.

My dad goes on business trips ALL OVER Asia, and I'm moving to South Korea in a few days to teach English. I promise, you're not going to be mugged for your Macbook. Everyone there has PCs so they can play Starcraft with better settings anyway.
 
if you do bring along your MBA, make sure it is encased in good thick protective padding cases, and most importantly, handcarry when boarding the flight. You wouldn't want your laptop to be checked-in and subjected to the various gymnastics as it gets malhandled after it disappears out of sight while on the way into the aircraft and onto the carousel.
 
No issues. I travel all over SE Asia (including Vietnam) and you should not have a problem. Only concern would be to secure it in your hotel room when you are out and be careful from flashing it around in public locations.
 
Been traveling around Asia, including Vietnam, for almost a decade. Always have my MacBook Air, always have my iPad, always have my iPhone. Nary an incident.

Now, if OP is staying in youth hostels and hanging out with backpackers, then maybe he needs to rethink what he's carrying around. But that's a function of the people he's around and not the country itself. Vietnam is fine.
 
as long as you observe the same carefulness you do in your home country you should be fine. Vietnam actually is booming with tourists and theft is highly penalized so it is actually a low crime place. My personal recommendation if you are hiking around take good protection since you might fall or something like this. Same applies to your camera. Bottom line you'll do better with an MBA than an iPad since not every place has wifi and 3G will kill your roaming charges. Don't forget your ethernet adapter if it is a MBA 2012 model

FYI: I was in Vietnam 2 yrs ago and you'll find the friendliest of people at least in the place I was: Hanoi, Ho Chih Minh and northern Vietnam (sapa, halong bay, etc)
 
You might not even need an adapter.

I brought my MBA and iPhone to China, Hongkong, Taiwan and Japan and the charger worked just fine in each country.

The charger itself has a range of voltages that it can handle, which is 100-240Volts
 
Last month I spent two weeks with my family in HK, Singapore and Langkawi.

All you need is a physical plug adapter, not a voltage converter. Machine worked great, was glad for the lightweight machine and not my big Dell work laptop.

It all depends upon what you need to do - if what you need to do requires a laptop, take it. If not, stick with the iPad. The MBA travels well everywhere in the world (can't say for certain about Antarctica ;) ).

Greg
 
Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the advice and tips. I have some reassurance and peace of mind now.

If I have another laptop or iPad, I would rather take that on the trip, but maybe another time.
 
Long Flight

For the "long flight" surely the air carrier already has a seat-back entertainment system?

But if you have several movies in there you're waiting to catch up on by all means.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back