I only run Apple laptops due to the aluminium unibody chassis. All of my current machines have SSD except for my old iMac with an HDD (new iMac is SSD). Oldest unibody MacBook and BlackBook are HDD.

Since 2008, I've done about 2500 commutes and haven't had any problems with a backpack and/or laptop combo. I did just get a few dents in my rMBP 2012 due to being hit by a van, but it's otherwise OK.

well you legs are the best suspension available, on your bike,

when you get off the saddle..

wearing that computer containing back pack.. Or Bike messenger bag..

line a pannier in soft eggcrate foam mattress rubber, if you have streets with out huge cobbles..

buy one of those pelican cases, take it with you shopping
for a pannier it will fit into.


..

Somebody up thread posted the 2 Wheel Gear pannier backpack conversion bag. That is what I use for my laptop, and it is an excellent product all around. Pricey but it makes life easier.

It hooks onto my rack securely and locks tightly, and is of high quality in terms of zippers and materials etc. Off topic - Don't trust the frame mounts for the Kryptonite lock. It failed the other day and the lock dropped onto my ankle. Not even a month old..I have to figure out a solution.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...232e77d877.jpg

One of my friends* is building a hotrod gaming desk top..
I was Shown Memory chip he got , comparison was a Topic of conversation
solid state the capacity; $ per gig of storage rate
of that chip is much higher than spinning disc storage of equivalent size...

*He got out of the computer code/etc. Biz , works as a Chef, now...
feeding Tourists,..





...

OP why carry a laptop at all? If it were me, I'd leave the laptop at home and use another laptop or desktop for work. That's what I have now and its works ok for me. I have VPN access to work. If you don't have that, then maybe you can carry a USB stick or USB external 2.5-inch disk if you really need the files? I also don't go to Starbucks enough to justify having anything for there. Their coffee is too much $$ for what it is. If I want to pay for overpriced coffee, I'll go to Le Pain Quotidien (Le Pain Quotidien - Bakery & Communal Table) here in the city and get a better cup of coffee. ;)

Multimode commuting.

Some of my commutes are house 1, bike, work, train, subway, train, walk, house 2

or

house 1, bike, work, train, flight, subway, walk, flat 1

I really need it when I travel. Backpack is also the only thing that makes sense.

Although I expect more battery cycles than I'm getting out this MBP :/

Sorry. I had a busy weekend and couldn't get around to documenting my bag conversion. Let me know if you have any questions.

Files are one thing but programs are totally different. Maybe it hasn't occurred to you that some people's work is on their laptop.

Not just files but unique programs, and security protocols and codes and hardware that run them. Not everyone uses a computers for general tasks.and purposes. One more things, what if you're Windows and your job/school/etc. is Mac?

Besides, I can't speak for the OP, but I'm just more comfortable with navigating my own machine. Think carpenter's tools, or chief's knives.

I appreciate that point. The engineers at my workplace have elaborate software tools that can take the better part of a day to install on a new machine, and their software is often node-locked, meaning it can only be run on one machine without transferring the license key. And then, they can only access the corporate VPN via a computer that has been blessed by the IT department. Only a small handful of models are supported at all. They're stuck carrying their giant engineer notebooks and the power supply alone is heavier than my entire laptop.

I'm fortunate that I don't do that kind of engineering -- I've switched all of my work to open source tools that run on any platform, or in the cloud. In fact my main "portable" computer is a 10 inch convertible with SSD that was 100 bucks refurbished.

Likewise with my kids: They don't care what computer they're using for their homework any more.

Thanks! I didn't know that!! I'm going to go out right now and get an SSD drive, because I never considered that before! Thanks, bro!

That looks great! Thanks for sharing.

It's funny how you ask for tips regarding accessories, and instead you get life advice! LOL
1) I don't go to an office. I have a home-based business.
2) I go to Starbucks for the atmosphere, not the "overpriced coffee." It gets me out of the house, and provides a nice, quiet environment for working around other people with some nice drinks as well.
3) A double espresso at Starbucks is about $2. I think I can afford that.
4) Drip coffee is also about $2. More than 7-11, yes; but much better. And, again, you're paying for the environment (they provide a nice place to sit, but they have to pay rent on their building).
5) A venti iced tea is about $2.50, and is great quality, and comes with unlimited refills when you're a Gold member (as I am).
6) I suppose I could try to find a place that charges LESS than $2 for its drinks. But is it really worth it? Maybe it would be just to avoid the sneers of the Starbucks haters.
7) Glad you like Le Pain Quotiwhatever. So it seems you DON'T mind paying for overpriced coffee -- as long as it's the overpriced coffee that you like at your place of preference.
8) Note that I did say "or wherever" when I mentioned Starbucks. I didn't mean to make this a discussion about coffee. I was only throwing Starbucks out as an example of a place to go. Thought it would be a neutral place that people would recognize and not elicit questions or discussion. Guess I was wrong.

Apart from what I already wrote to that person (that I don't have a work computer because I work at home), I used to use two computers: a desktop for my home office, and a laptop for when I went out. Was a pain to keep everything synchronized. Now I just use one computer for everything and it works much better. That, in addition to the fine points that you mentioned.

I have a 2006 BlackBook, a 2008 24" iMac, a 2008 alu unibody MacBook, a 2009 MacBookAir, a 2012 rMacBookPro, a 2013 MacBookAir and a 2015 iMac that I keep synchronised with all of my files (between 150GB and 2TB depending on which machine) with DropBox. I have a different set of computers (two Win machines, 2 iMacs and 2 MacBookPros) that sync all data in between them and with my large capacity machines from the first set of machines.

It's about £100 per year and I usually just set and forget.

I can understand if one has 100s of TBs to sync, but even then it should be lightning fast with the highspeed over here (southeast England, southern coast, essentially London commuter belt now) where 350Mb/s is around £50/mo.

https://www.virginmedia.com/shop/bro...band-only.html

My hat goes off to you! Seriously. I'm impressed with your setup. For me, I'm content with my one machine with backup in place.
And, as for Internet speed, you Europeans are fortunate. Here in the U.S., corporations control the speeds with get, with very little government intervention. As a result, most people don't even have 100 Mbps (or anywhere close to it). I don't even want to tell you the high price I'm paying for the slow speed I get. I'd be too embarrassed. :-(
But, still, that's not the reason for not syncing. I just found there were too many complications. Something goes wrong and a machine has an older version of a file, and you modify that file without realizing it, and then that file overwrites the correct version, etc. I just don't want to deal with all of that. I prefer just to have one machine, and to transfer the files I need to another machine if I need to work on another machine.
"To itch his own," as the saying goes. ;-)

I agree. The first set of machines are my personal machines. The second set are the machines of my PhD students and I always want all of their data synced with me (prof) just in case they decide to leave. Every so often, I do a backup of everything that doesn't get touched, I used to have a Apple Time Capsule for this, but haven't use it in a while (since 2013 or so).

I don't mind paying more for coffee if its good. But even then I rarely go out since the hospital where I work has a decent kiosk and cafeteria. We also get 10% off as employees so not much incentive to eat out although a few places on Madison Ave do give the same discount (Subway is one) to try to compete a bit. But I didn't mean to sidetrack this into a why go to Starbucks discussion. If you like it then go for it. You have a home business so you have to support yourself. Ride on.

What if the hard disk dies? Do you backup your files? I just copy down new files in my home directory from work to home (if needed). I rarely need to but updated docs and web browser bookmarks are nice to have. Then I just work on my laptop at home.

Macintosh (MacOS) is ok too. It has an RDP client to remotely access your Windows desktop. I personally run Linux (Xubuntu 16.04) at both work and home. My team administers some of the Linux servers for school and hospital. So I doubt my use case is any more "normal" than yours (if you consider Windows for both home and work as "normal").

Many users here just remotely access their desktops via RDP. I can also use VNC or X clients at home but don't really need to. Most of my tasks are web based or command line so they're easy to do from home without needing to access my desktop at all. Since I have the same OS at both work and home, its fairly easy to install the same apps that I need in both places.

The SSD thing is definitely worth looking into. It makes a laptop much more resilient. Personally, I have Timbuk2 panniers, and I just put my 15" laptop in a padded neoprene sleeve, then put that whole thing in the pannier. I don't care my laptop around frequently, but its been fine so far. I DO carry an iPad Pro every day for my 15 mile commute in a pannier though, and before the iPad Pro, a regular iPad. Its just anecdotal, but in a few years carrying them, they've been ok. (This includes a time the panniers slid off the back because I forgot to secure them properly.)

This has happened to me. I had a 20" 2008 iMac and let the HDD sit idle for too long and it wouldn't start back up. I had the 128 GiB SSD fail on my rMBP (Apple had a bad batch of Toshiba drives in their first run of rMBPs.)

That's why I started using DropBox in the first place.

I have every MS Office that I've ever made. 1996-forward (Sophomore year of University ... I'm not sure that I can open them any longer.)

All of this is VERY interesting! I'm glad you get a 10% discount at places, and that the hospital where you work has a decent kiosk and cafeteria and that Starbucks is too much $$ for what it is to you, but that Le Pain Quowhatever is not too much $$ for what it is, etc. This has been very fascinating!

That's good to know. Thanks for the tips.

I've used Dropbox for years, primarily to transfer files to and from clients. But I only have 20GB -- not enough for backing up significantly without paying for more.
However, yesterday I transferred a file to Google Drive, which I never use, because Dropbox had gotten a bad copy of the file and kept reloading the file from cache rather than creating a new version. While in Drive, I was told I have 117GB available! Son of a gun! Where did all that come from? Or is Google just really, really generous with their free storage?
Anyway, point is, now I'm considering using Drive for backups.

Ha! Me too -- though I don't have full Office for all versions. I have Access 2.0 (or 3.5" floppy disks!), from 1996, and then every version of Access and most versions of Office after that. I currently only have Office 2003 forward loaded on my machine, and will probably not even load that on my next machine.

Looking at the far bottom right pic in that ^^^^^^ Ortlieb conversion doc, you could install it as a pannier, and carry a small child on the outside on the backpack straps. I wouldn't let Child Protective Services see it, however... ;)

BiKase brand laptop convertible backpack pannier:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6cec5082d4.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...eb334053ca.jpg
The straps tuck in behind that panel for pannier mode, and the hook tucks behind for backpack mode. You can clip one strap to the other side's ring, and tuck in the other strap, and effectively have a sling bag. There's no stiff panel, so it flops some when used as a pannier. That long vertical zipper is for the is for the laptop compartment. Holds a 15"-er easily, and a large-is lunch cooler and 44-oz water bottle in the main compartment. Coffee travel carafe in the side compartment.

My original Targus beater:
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...eff9cfe8c6.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f21a8b3e2b.jpg
Guts from an old CyclePro pannier, including a stiff panel that all the hardware is bolted/riveted to. This one would probably hold a 17"-er, and other business goodies of course, but no space for a lunch. Shoulder strap on the d-rings. Yes, that's a section of innertube for the bottom hook; I like those for the combination of strength and elasticity.

I also have a Timbuk2 convertible laptop backpack pannier. Pannier hardware is on the side opposite the backpack straps (similar to the Ortlieb conversion above). Overflap flips one way to cover the backpack straps when in pannier mode, and flips the other way to cover the pannier hardwaree when in backpack mode. Good solid retention using a fairly stiff panel, and a big main compartment with a laptop sleeve built in. Nice and big and solid, but I can't recommend it. Overflap is also a flat compartment, but otherwise it's just the one big compartment, no pockets for little bitty things, no little pen straps built in, etc, like you see in business bags. And a bit unwieldy as a backpack; it looks like a black version of the big packs the moon astronauts wore.

I actually mis-typed. I meant every MS office FILE that I have ever made. (I think it was around 20000 files or so).

Also, every email I have ever written from 2004 is in the same gmail account (84549 emails).

I use a pair of Ortlieb Bike Shoppier panniers. My laptop goes into a neoprene sleeve first, though. The panniers are completely weatherproof, and work out quite well.

That makes for a great visual. : )

I have two of those and love them. I use them for camping and on days when rain is called for in the forecast. My laptop conversion bag will fit inside, when necessary.

Some of Apples cloud storage is actually on Google servers.

You need to show the laptop, and/or size/weight, and/or how it fits. I've got a messenger for my honking workstation. Because its flat its uncomfortable and slides off my back. It can literally pull you off course. Needless to say, I don't ride with it often.

I hope you realize that Google Drive and Dropbox are not backup services. If your "live" copy of a file is in one of these places, when you delete or change it, the previous version is gone. You can use the service as backup if you have a procedure to copy from your live folder to the Dropbox or Drive folder.