Before I start, let me say, wow, I did not expect this conversation to go in this direction (it's not a bad thing, just unexpected)
Originally Posted by
GundamWing01
appreciate the clarification. i have many things to say about your situation, but im going to try and make it quick.
one of the very first things to consider is the practical nature of your environment and any absolutely required activities. i have no clue about your professional nature, destinations, or frequency of travel, but constantly packing a budget VM modular workstation that lets you stay productive (w/ security + privacy) or have LAN parties on the plane sounds totally impractical to me. but you sound like a smart and capable person so feel free to run a crypto mining rig at 30,000 feet.
Work travel literally went out the window the last year and a half but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. My work is IT related, lately more process management oriented than consulting. I only used the LAN party in the air as an example of thinking out of the box (I actually suck at FPS type games). Not really interested in games (although something mindless to take me away from a vague scripting issue for an hour or two is always welcome).
Originally Posted by
GundamWing01
personally, a combo of powerhouse laptops/tablets/phones have always been the answer depending on my limited/compact environment. for example, fully loaded MSFT surface book 3, surface pro 7, and XPS 15/17. also, many lenovos are very capable. depending on the class of flight, i limit my work to my given space. you may also have limitations on your carry on luggage. if im flying Y, im only using a tablet, notebook, phone. otherwise, its full on sky office space in J/F. PE is acceptable, but the nature of your VM rig would require J or F for real productivity and quiet privacy. theres no way you will get anything done with people looking over your shoulder even with a privacy screen. such a rig just brings unwanted attn.
If it wasn't for the ergonomics, I could get away with just my laptop. If I were in J/F, then I could use my laptop. The problem is that unless it's a 13" (and I'm not even sure of that as I haven't tried it) it's likely digging into me or at an angle. And if it's not digging into me, there is the risk of the person in front of me crushing the laptop if it catches on the table latch. There's no expectation of privacy (although I tend to ride towards the back of the cabin just so I can lean back the chair without annoying anyone). I don't carry production data with me and even non-prod data is kept in encrypted containers. About all sone onlooker could get out of me would be weird queries/scripts in the various applications I'd be running against the VMs.
Originally Posted by
GundamWing01
since you are in YYZ, i assume you are a heavy AC flyer. which hard product do you usually fly? B787s? i dont see how you can get anything done in Y. PE is the minimum for laptop space. but it really depends on the length of flight, connections, and urgency to get work done in the sky. do you fly mostly short haul domestic or TPAC, international, multi-segment complex itineraries w/ crazy short connections? you gotta stay flexible, even as a carry-on only flyer.
furthermore, i would focus on getting real work done within the YYZ lounges like maple leaf. not sure if you are Aeroplan 35K or Star Alliance Gold, but i assume you have the amex AR or TD/CIBC VIP w/ cross border banking. personally, staying compact, flexible, mobile and efficient plays a key role for me. i dont want to constantly build my mini PC in the sky for every takeoff and landing even flying J/F. i also dont want to worry about random local laws, power constraints and passing security. not all airport security/customs are equal.
Actually not that big an AC flyer. Although they're in there, it's a mix of several flyers depending on where I need to go. Domesically or to the US, it'd be heavy AC/UA with a smattering of AA. To Asia, it's mostly AC/CX/BR/SQ (depending on where I end up). Over the Pacific, it'd likely be B777-xxx but once over there, it's a variety. There's no urgency to get the stuff done, but you know how things are, when you hit the ground, they want you running around like the proverbial chicken with it's head chopped off. I try to cut some of that off by getting some pre-work out of the way or dealing with stuff that I couldn't hand off before leaving. Everyone at work is running at 110% most of the time and if I get an epiphany while enroute, I'd like to get it at least noted before I forget.
The other thing is, this would be for the long haul segment. No point in me assembling this (or even taking it with me) if I were headed to YYC or LAS. I also wouldn't work on "work stuff" in the airport. Already too chaotic, but as you mention (below), there's definitely an element of security risk.
Originally Posted by
GundamWing01
data security would also play a key factor. lets say youre headed out to Black Hat or DEF CON vegas. i would never bring anything remotely resembling a VM rig. global Anonymous elites could be sitting next to you or staying in the room next door. all public plane and hotel wifi are compromised. no amount of VPN Tor Sandboxing will help you. operational security is paramount. and due to the pandemic, many properties now use contactless room entry. you can only imagine the security risks. depending on the demographics of my destination, nothing except for used dirty underwear ever stays in my room.
anyway, i got carried away and i didnt really answer your question. sorry. im sure you already know what youre looking for and will proceed accordingly.
Lol, you might have gotten carried away, but it's a good conversation. People don't always see every angle of a situation. You never know what might come out of it (unconsidered things). But to answer your question, wifi would have been turned off on the plane (and if I were to go to a conference like DEFCON). VMs are generally shut down when I'm not working but the VMs would be isolated into their own internal LAN for my testing purposes. Generally I will take my laptop and (now) mini PC with me if I leave the room. If someone wants to steal my monitor or keyboard, they're certainly welcome to them.
Security-wise, there were a few other youtube videos that got me thinking of ideas for hotel room security, but that's for another time/place and would require quite a bit more gear than I would likely want to carry if flying. Good thing is that I'm not the only paranoid one.
As I said, not quite what I was expecting out of this thread, but definitely helpful.
Originally Posted by
chx1975
If I wanted to make the most portable most powerful system then I'd add a Sonnet Puck eGPU to the Minisforum X35G.
The X35G is 136×121×39 mm, can be powered from USB C and has TB3. The Solo can provide 60W to the host so one brick could drive both. It's 152 x 130 x 51mm so you could stack them. Of course the brick is huge. But I think this wins the size/performance competition.
Depends on your use case. For me, gaming isn't factored in. But if I were, I wouldn't be doing any heavy gaming in the air. If you use any serious eGPU, you're likely to draw more than the 100w limit from the receptacle on the plane. You may also be restricted on the voltage on a minisforum PC. I've seen several reviews where the reviewer noted that minisforum capped their CPU voltage to something significantly lower than what they were originally rated for. I'm also more likely to use one of the AMD units as for my purposes, the extra cores would help. Right now it's not an urgent thing so I'm waiting to see what Ryzen 5000 mobile CPUs come up with. Otherwise I might try the ASRock Deskmini or see what the OEMs are putting out.