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7 Recommended Travel Laptop Accessories

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You want to maintain your light load but still be as functional as ever and these recommended laptop accessories will help you do just that.

Many travelers forget about these items until they realize at 35,000 feet that the headphones they pass out on airplanes don’t insulate the engine noise or that a lock in a crowded hostel might be more than a good idea.

To avoid that situation pick up or order these items while you’re getting your trip plans in order so you can have a great travel laptop and be a fully prepared digital nomad.

1. Sound-Insulated Headphones – Don’t skimp on good headphones just because you associate their small size with a tiny price tag. You want to get a pair, preferably ear buds, that will provide you some protection against outside noises like airplane engines and crying babies.

kensington laptop lock2. Laptop Lock – This is one lesson you don’t want to learn first hand. Laptop locks are cheap and can save you a laptop but only if you have and use one.

3. Laptop Sleeve – A full case for your laptop isn’t light or efficient and you’ll get better protection from a thick sleeve instead that can fit into your existing carry on luggage. Good laptop sleeves have “memory foam” that absorbs impacts and dents, before quickly returning to their original shape.

4. USB Flash Drive – How else are you going to load portable Linux – one of the biggest advantages of using Linux. Storage space on USB drives is ridiculously cheap and aside from portable drives, they make great backups for your most important files, data, and pictures.

webcam5. A Microphone and Webcam – They will make it much easier to use Skype. When picking out a laptop, try to find one that has these two things integrated but if not there are plenty of high quality web-cams that have great resolution and microphones that will really pick up your voice.

6. USB Squid – Turns one USB port into 4 and makes charging all of your various gadgets that much easier.

7. All In One Power Adapter – You can charge your laptop, even if there are plentiful outlets in the airport without the right converter for your charger. Rather than buying a specific converter for each type of plug type you might encounter, go with an all-in-one. They’re small and take up less overall space than individual converters and have conversions between all of the major outlet configurations.

8. USB Rechargeable Double AA Batteries – Unfortunately not everything can be recharged using USB directly and you may still need old-fashioned AA batteries for digital cameras and other equipment. These batteries can be recharged using your USB port and will work anywhere AA will.

These 7 recommended travel laptop accessories will make your digital tool belt extremely versatile and give you many options on the road. They will also save you money since you can be much more self-reliant with them.