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)

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

I hadn't, but not a big fan of 3D stuff. My only real experience with visor stuff has required quite a bit of gear to work. Much more than just having a portable monitor and mini PC. While a visor would alleviate some of the privacy stuff (like when I might doze off), I suspect it'd be really bulky. But definitely an interesting idea.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/d/acces...oup%3AMonitors

https://store.hp.com/sg-en/default/m...y-3hx46aa.html

lenovo also has 14" portable monitors, HP too

my "offbrand" 11" has been working without issues, not sure how much can go wrong with a offbrand monitor



for everyone else, a laptop + portable monitor with 3M velcro + bluetooth keyboard would likely solve any cramming issues. I personally dont have good luck with getting the onboard power to be stable (i mean it works 90% of the time, but sometimes the fuse trips, wouldn't want to put a computer in there without a battery backup)

1: I don't know about the dude in the LAN party video, but in my own experience I've been fussed at more than once for hanging things like a tablet from the seatback. It's purely arbitrary, I'm sure, but the FA rules and you have to do what they say. So hanging a monitor from the seatback may or may not be allowed, and it's purely up to the FA to make that determination.

2: I, too, would suggest just using a laptop with better battery life, simply for ease of use. I used a MacBook Air for many years, and now use a MacBook Pro. I am able to run VMs on it (ran VMs on both, actually, without issue) and have been able to power both using small power supplies if I needed to recharge (and the aircraft had seat power). The MBA could be powered from a 45W very small adapter, and my MBP can be powered by a 65 or 100W USB-C PD charger that is exceptionally small (GaN charger).

You gotta remember, you're not only carrrying a monitor, keyboard, and mini-PC and power supply on the plan, but you gotta schlep all that through however many airports, then to and from the hotel, and wherever else you gotta take it. IMO, the less crap I have to carry around the better.

I use an X1 carbon, which has a 14" screen in a typically 13.3" footprint. This is not cheap, but with 16GB RAM I can run a couple VM's on it just fine. It fits in economy as well and has about 12 hours battery life. I don't see the mini pC option as particularly practical or even really possible TBH. Too many cables and parts everywhere.

I'm curious as to how you would mount the monitor with velcro? Also what you would consider as off-brand... Some of the bigger non-usual names like Lepow I'm kind of ok with (they all have their flaws, even the well known brands), but the complete unknowns I feel are often very sketchy.

I just took a look at the Lenovo and HP sites. Both are either pricy or not available (guessing out of stock). I've tagged the 14" Asus for when it goes on sale. Definitely interested in that one.

I posted this earlier. It's 3M and holds 16 pound. The 3M is designed to be removable without damage to the underlying surface

Depends on the seatback. It likely won't work against fabric, but should be fine if part of the seatback is plastic? Ymmv if you really want to place it on top of the existing IFE (plastic) screen and hope for no damage. Most IFE screens have large plastic bezels that you should be able to use without worry of damage

Exactly my point. Little bit of turbulence and the screen is likely to crack due to the uneven pressure put on by the suction cup. I would err on the side of caution. I'm just looking at alternatives.

Not sure (at this point) how well a hypervisor would work on the new M1 boxes. The last time I checked (admittedly a while back) it didn't support it, but now that it's been a while, they might have something. That said, (at least with the 16" MBP) I'd still have the same issue as a Windows laptop. I haven't tried it with a13" like the XPS, but haven't really had the opportunity.

This isn't as much of an issue for me. Generally I don't carry too much (and it's all container'ed so easy to shift around). I wasn't really taking full advantage of my allowances which is likely to change if/when we get back into the air. I figure I'm carrying an additional 3-4 lbs which when you compare it to what some of the sales engineers have to carry around, not much.

I've worked it out to the monitor, the mini PC, the power supply, the multimedia KB and the cable connecting the PC to the monitor. For my purposes, 16Gb would be enough (or I could make it work). Just haven't tried it (I'd have to see if corporate has a loaner I can try next time I fly).

I suspect if you use two and can hang the monitor flush over the IFE it should be fine. It'd be better than the camera suction cup setup and safer. I don't know. That suction cup thing just bothers me even though I have no stake in the airlines.

Not sure when I'm going to be flying next (a lot of what I'm working on right now is currently cloud-based), but this conversation is definitely giving me ideas on how to set this up.

(just fyi, the instructions say to use 4 to support 16lb. Makes sense for a frame, 4 on each side)

I've been using two to support my 1lb portable monitor + chromecast in the kitchen, no issues

Something like this?

Which makes sense. I wonder if there's another more environmentally friendly way to do it (yeah, I know, what am I thinking? I want cheap, reusable and doesn't destroy the IFE... I'm getting greedy). I guess the big concern would be if you happen to hit some severe chop on your way.

We seem to be knocking down all the roadblocks in a relatively quick fashion. Definitely curious to see how this works in practice.

It weights just over 500g and the display is high resolution (1832×1920 per eye). The internal battery could last about 3 hours and you could just plug in any external battery to make it last pretty much forever. I don't think it is any bulkier than an external monitor. And it is relatively cheap too... @ $299.

And when you get tired working on the plane, you could play PokerStar with other people online LOL.

Just took a look at the Canadian pricing. They don't like us... 64gb version is C$459... And the exchange rate isn't 1 to 1.5(ish). Would be interested but not willing to pay that kind of premium (for reference, xe.com says the exchange rate is 1 to 1.26 right now)...

bestbuy.ca has it for C$399. Make sure you are looking at the Quest 2 not the original Quest. The original Quest is more expansive, less resolution, and with a much slower processor. The one downside (could be a deal breaker for some) is that you have to login with a Facebook account.

This went on sale today - going to find it tough to be beat in a BYO solution, as it will be about the same size as any monitor you manage to find (much less the external battery, all the cables, the PC itself, etc):

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 12.3" Touch Screen Intel Core i7 16GB Memory 256GB SSD with Black Type Cover (Latest Model) Matte Black QWW-00001 - Best Buy