I'm going overseas in 5 weeks for 3 months. I'm trying to work out what I need computer wise.

I currently have an iPad 2, but no laptop. Just mooching off my family who has a Windows XP laptop which I have been using when I need to for bigger stuff that I do (I do a bit of web design and photography). While I can get by with doing my basics on my iPad, I think I need something to get my photos off my camera when I need to and onto my hard drive. I need to end up getting a MacBook Pro, but I feel that it might be a bit bulky for travelling so do you think I would be better off getting a basic MacBook Air while I travel, for the purpose of uploading photos and whatnot, as well as if any work that I do that needs a computer pops up, and then sell it when I get back as a 4 month old MBA?

It was suggested that as I can do my work on a PC as well, get something like an Asus Eee Netbook. I understand you can get these for around $400. The base MBA is $1200. I figure that might be $1200 in spending money, but I would feel better having a good computer that I can rely on if the need comes up.

Thoughts? Am I likely to get a good return on selling a MBA when I come back?

If you just want to transfer photos to the iPad just ge the camera connection kit. Its pretty good and i used it with no problems at all while travelling in the US. At the end of each day i just uploaded all my pics to the iPad

Or get another memory card, or brun to cd/dvd while traveling will be cheaper.
Unless you want/need a laptop

Question sort of off topic.. Does the camera connection kit re-format the pictures? What does it do with HD video from Cameras as I cannot sync video from iPhoto to iPad/iPhone which was shot on my Cannon.

Is it possible at all to use the Camera Connection Kit to sync photos from the iPad to an External HDD? Apple doesn't explicitly state this. My iPad is only 16GB, and I have an 8GB CF card in my Camera, and I shoot RAW, so that would fill up my iPad pretty quickly.

not sure about camera kits.
Although I would still look at how much a few more CF cards cost you.
I put a 32gb in my camera which lasts while we on holidays normally.

I would recommend against one huge card, rather get a few smaller ones. That way if it gets lost or corrupted, you wont be crying about the loss of all your pics

Whilst I love both my iPad2 and my MacBook Air...
As you are traveling for 3 months, I'd take a laptop PLUS your iPad.
I only take my iPad for short trips. Longer ones I still take my MBA, so synch photos, music, watch the odd movie, do large typing / docs / excel, etc.

You never know when you will want to do more than your iPad allows.

If you shoot RAW, you'd probably fill a MBA quickly too. $1200 only gets you 64GB of storage. An iPad also has double the battery life generally, though I have squeezed 6.5 hours out of my MBA.

Having said that, if I were in your position I'd take both. I use my MBA all the time around home and at school (I teach), and it works a treat.

Was in the exact same predicament in December when i travelled round Europe and the States for 3 months.
I ended up taking my 64GB iPad, camera connection kit, 2 x 16GB cards, 1 x 8GB card, a card reader plus my 2.5" external HDD.
The iPad was awesome for browsing, movies, booking tickets, etc but found i didn't use it really to transfer photos.
Instead when i was at friends places or in a hotel that had a PC i would transfer all the photos from my cards to my HDD and clear them off.

I started using my iPad to transfer photos at the start of the trip but as I shoot in RAW my iPad was filling up way too quickly and i didn't want to limit the amount of photos i took. I also went down the path or uploading all photos to my mobileme but that was just too time consuming and i still wanted to keep the RAWs for when i got home.

I believe there is a way to transfer photos from camera to iPad and then HDD but you have to have a jailbroken iPad, i split USB cable and a mains powered HDD.
There's a few videos online how to do it, most people use Good Reader AFAIK. I didn't really want to lug a 3.5" HDD around so managed the way described above.

So i'd suggest if you have access to friend's/hotel PC's when you're overseas save your cash and do what i did, otherwise grab a MBA and take an external HDD with you

Hope this helps.

Emerson

Thanks for all the advice. Looks like a MBA, iPad and External HDD are the way to go. I have a 1TB 2.5" External that I use for everything. Looks like that's the best option. My friend who is coming with me won't have a computer or laptop so I might give her the laptop or iPad to carry on them so my load is lighter.