can an expert please help me think this thru. which amkes the most sense--portable dvd, personal video player or lightweight laptop?

i am flying early next week and wanted a portable dvd to take with me. figured it would be good for the kids on long trips in the car or when flying, too. thought the best one for me was a toshiba at 180$ because it boasts a 3.5 hour battery.

but then i heard about smaller portable personal video players (i think that is what they are called) like ipod video, toshiba, etc for about 300$. i don't think this would be so useful for kids to share on long car or plane trips, but maybe it is the way to go for other reasons? does it have more advantages than a portable dvd?

and of course there is the idea to get a lightweight laptop, which would be great for movies and office work on the plane, even in the car, but is heavier, and more expensive--and many have a short battery life. what would be the least i could spend on a ;aptop that would be lightweight enuf to take on a plane, and have a long enuf battery life to make it worthwhile? what other features should a laptop have if i need it mostly for office documents and movies?

thanks!

My most pertinent question would be: How computer savvy are you? Second would be, how much time do you intend to spend away from power outlets?

The Portable Media Player is going to have the longest battery life and store the most content with the least amount of fuss. You can put dozens of movies/shows on them and don't need to carry around any DVDs at all. Battery life should be easily double the 3.5 hour best you'd get from a DVD player. Downsides are that you must 'rip' and re-encode any content you want on the device. This is time consuming and can be somewhat complex depending on your skill level. EVERY movie/DVD needs this done, but once it's done you can load it onto multiple PMPs so if you have more than one kid, each will be happy.

The PortaDVD is the easiest and lowest cost option. Most have auto/air adapters available so those and a carrycase full of DVDs are pretty much no-brainers when you travel. Downsides are size and fragility. DVDs are not easy to damage but it happens. Same with the portaDVD player. It's unlikely but can happen. Not such a big deal now that they're very inexpensive but it's a concern. They'll have longer to much longer battery life than an equivalent laptop and are very easy to use.

The laptop is the most flexibile option and combines the benefits of the PMP and portable DVD player in that you can rip and transcode movies to the hard drive OR play DVDs in the drive. Movies from the hard drive will make the battery last longer but at best you're looking at 3 hours maximum and that's with a fairly modern laptop. Upsides are that you have full laptop and WiFi functionality. You can use it as a storage repository for digital photos, etc. Downsides? It's still a laptop, it's still more fragile than the other two and an HDD crash will mean you're dead in the water. Unlikely but a potential problem.

A small one that's workable will be $300-800 depending on whether you go used or new. The Dell 710m can be had refurbished with the extended battery for $750 or so. Averatec's lowest end model is $699 but for the price difference I'd go Dell. Otherwise, used you'll be on Ebay and that's a crapshoot.

My recommendation? Unless you would carry a laptop normally, want one, or already have an extra, go with either the portable media player or the portable DVD.

Thought I would never drive people to WalMart but...

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...&xsell=4241688

Archos 100 GB media player.

With kids? Portable DVD player. They're cheaper, and accidents happen. Especially with kids. Also no boot time like a laptop, and no messy DVD copying stuffs like with some personal media players.

For yourself? A tougher choice; if you're very good with computers and computer video in particular, I'd lean towards a personal media player, or even a mid-range PDA. PDAs, after getting storage cards for them, become usable as media players in their own right. Take a look at TCPMP at http://tcpmp.corecodec.org/about, it's a pretty good video and audio player for Windows PocketPC. It'll play back the things that the built-in Media Player won't, like DivX and ogg.

If you're not so good with computer video stuffs, then look at a laptop. But only after justifying to yourself that it's a laptop you want, not a DVD player.

I recently just bought a Phillips portable DVD player for $80. Travelling internationally you are technically exporting software when you bring your laptop with you. While you probably won't have a problem with customs, the paperwork is a real pain and they can take your laptop away, technically.....

Just seems easier and it came with an airplane plug thingy.

I have to concur with the DVD player.
- It's the cheapest option
- Accidents happen, esp with kids
- An Ipod screen is too small for 2 people, let alone one - plus the battery life is too short for video playback without addon power
- Laptop would be flexible, but expensive.

Ive travelled internationally with 3 laptops at a time. No issues.

Technically they can also do a body cavity search on you ... .

I also vote for the DVD player.

However, I recommend that you don't bring the original
DVDs. Make back-up copies of the DVDs and pop them in
the DVD player(or in the carrying case).

Benefits:

(1) No more worrying about the kids scratching the DVDs
or using them as frisbees...

(2) If you lose a back-up DVD, you're only out 20 cents,
not 20 dollars.... Buy blank DVDs in bulk...

(3) the kids won't be forced to watch warning messages
and commercials... they can start watching as soon as
they press "Play"

Just my two cents...

Or for a few bucks more, get the 10" version. I took this to Japan and I felt a lot better about potentially losing/damaging a $199 dvd player rather than a $599 laptop with an equivalent screen size. In addition, there is a great and very easy hack on http://www.videohelp.com/ which will make it Region Free and it is PAL/NTSC compatiable. Meaning, you can buy a dvd from anywhere in the world if you are travelling internationally and play it on it (BTW - make sure it has English subtitles as an option ). Note: I've only tried it for the 8" version, but I think it is the same for all Polaroids.

thanks everyone for advice. i ordered a toshiba 1850 for 178$ from amazon. it got good reviews, and had better battery life than most--4 hours. then at costco i saw same machine with 2 headsets and carrying case for 169$. i figure i wnat a carrying case that will attatch to the car and hold the player for auto viewing, so i am keeping what i have. does anyone know how i can do a hack on the toshiba?

for reference, archos media player has a 7 inch screen, compared to i believe 10 inch for biggest portable dvd player.

what kind of hack? for headsets or having in the car?

I suspect region hack. http://www.videohelp.com/ is probably the best place to start.

i have a laptop and i cannot install msn mssenger on it can someone tell me wat is it happening and how to get it working on my laptop