I was riding to work twice a week for most of last year which was a) much nicer than the train and Tube and b) a great way to get the miles in and keep strong.
But I started my own company up in September and although I'm on client site most days, I now have my own kit - laptop etc and I've barely ridden in since as I'm not sure how I can get my laptop in without knackering it.
I have a KIMM sack as my commuting bag - really stable - but I'm not sure how best to transport my laptop in it without damage from vibration, or worst case, an off... I could put it inside a neoprene laptop thing but I'm not convinced that's enough....
Any thoughts?
I have a Howies courier bag that has a padded pocket specifically for a laptop. It's a lot better to have that kind of weight resting lower down than with a rucksack
Mine sits in a neoprine jacket in either a rucksack or pannier briefcase. Never had any issues. I don't tend to crash, but have had one off without incident to the device.
I just slide mine into my backpack - Alpkit Gourdon - so very little protection other than the pair of jeans sandwiched between it and the back panel. I've not had any issues. Previous osprey backpack had a padded pocket but that wasn't even waterproof.
All of the 'work' laptops I've been given have stood up to a lot more abuse than you would expect.
Factor wear and tear into your rates, keep regular backups, put an SSD in it if you can, and use a backpack to carry it.
I used to do a 20 or so mile commute with mac laptops that belonged to work, and they tended to have lifespans of 2 years or so before something major needed replacing (usually the logic board rather than a HDD, and the superdrives tended to die quickly). That combined a lot of air and rail travel too, as well as more or less continuous use, so hard to say exactly what contributed most wear and tear.
I have been commuting for a month now with a laptop in my backpack. It has been ok, has survived an off as well. Only padding is my work shirt and a lunch bag. I use a waterproof cover over the backpack as well.
Was carrying mine in a rucksack, inside a neoprene sleeve, but it was starting to give me a bad back. (It's a 17" Dell Precision behemoth). Also, in summer it was uncomfortable.
So, bit the bullet & fitted a rack & pannier bag. Still use the neoprene sleeve, & have fashioned a nest from some of that packaging you get with a TV. Fits quite snug.
Best thing about a pannier is not having to worry. Things like a jacket & tools can stat in there all the time.
I honestly wouldn't go back to comuting with a rucksack.
I wouldn't worry about vibration on a (push)bike, on a motorbike it would be a different matter. I'd be more concerned about weather and weight distribution / carrying - as long as it's in a comfortable, rain-proof bag you'll be fine.
Though the regular backups are never a bad idea, of course!
For off road and on road commuting I just bung mine in a rucksack, protected only by a few clothes. So it can get broken if I have a major off, but it can get broken if I drop it, or if the hard disc jsut has a bad day.
The only downside is that sometimes it leaves a bit of a back ache at the end of the day. I guess if you are going to do it continually a pannier's the best bet.
I carry my laptop in a neoprene sleeve in a specific laptop pannier. Been using this for just over a year now and commute at least 2 days with a laptop during the week. Each daily round trip is 24 miles so gets plenty of miles and is working fine.
I have killed a couple of hard discs some of which I attribute to a bumpy commute. On an ssd now and no problems. Laptop is always in a sleeve in my pannier.
I found a lot of the weight of a laptop was in the battery, if you can, commute without it (or have one each end?)
Now that's a good idea..I have a spare battery at work.
Already do it with the power supply.
I've commuted for years every day throughout all weathers with a laptop including a 2 hour ride around Ashton Court / Leigh Woods once a week on the way home.
Wrap it in a carrier bag and bung it in my camelback and it seems to be fine. It is a big chunky cheap works one though. Maybe a modern lightweight one will be a bit more delicate?
My current laptop has done well over 10k miles in a pannier with nothing more than a neoprene sleeve, and is still going strong. SSD means that the only moving parts are the fans.
Padded neoprene sleeve inside an alpkit gourdon for me. I try to do all work on a cloud server or my school's VLE so the laptop stays at home, but this setup wprla well when required.
I've just chucked it in my rucksack and made sure I had some clothes under it to stop it smashing into my back on bumpy bits (off road commute). My bag is not waterproof and never broken any laptops this way yet.
I have invested in an Overboard waterproof bag recently that I'll use (mainly to stop my clothes getting wet), but if it was my own laptop I would be a lot more precious. Anyway just posting to second the point that they're pretty tough, even the bog standard dell/lenovo pos machines.
My tuppence:
Vibration will not affect hard drives much[i]if they're not running[/i] [seriously, check the rated allowable maximums, it's like 100G when off]. However, if they're running I would imagine a single bumpy/vibraty ride would kill one.
Therefore, if you can't afford/don't need a machine with an SSD - make jolly sure the machine can't wake up through the mouse/keyboard [wireless mouse in bag would trigger, squashing the thing and hitting a key would too].
More of an issue, IMHO, is squashing the thing. My friend has been using a wafer thin silicone cover over the keyboard for the three years he's had his Macbook, and unlike almost every other screen on a laptop I've seen, there's no key-marks on the screen. Usually if the laptop is closed and squashed the keys will hit the screen and leave nasty scuff marks.
Apple, and some other manufacturers have had major issues with solder on logic boards dying. Vibration would hasten this, and it's the most expensive or difficult thing to replace. However, squashing/warping the machine would cause this to happen [b]much [/b]faster!
But, yes vibration will eventually do for the things, my NC10 survived 9 months of touring, but when it eventaully died, disassembly revealed the heatsink had worn though the CPU die and killed it!!
If I were you I'd be looking to use either a good pannier [make sure it can't fall off] plus a neoprene sleeve. Or, a backpack with very little else in it [your back is curved, the laptop will want to bend around it unless you pack very carefully]. The other issue with a backpack is sweat.
Backpack - less vibration, more squashing [potentially]
Pannier - less squashing, more vibration.
There is no easy answer.
Ortlieb roller-tops worked well for me.
Oh, yeah! Good point gofaster, I forgot about that, even though I do it every time I travel: Bit of paper between keyboard and screen to stop those tiny key shaped scratches from appearing within a year or so.