New laptop - what accessories should I get?

[wannaduacentury]

Ladies (and gentlemen),

I just bought my first laptop computer. I will use it mostly at home, but home is a 1BR condo and a desktop pc is taking up too much space in my living room, so I got something smaller. I suppose I will take it on the road sometimes, like when I'm staying in a hotel.

So, what accessories are must-haves and nice-to-haves for a laptop? I figure I'll want a carrying case for it. But is there anything else?

Thanks!

I bought a Targus leather case for mine. keeps everything together. I really like it. Jenn

[Owlie]

I'd give the touch pad a chance, though. I LOVE mine. By setting it for tap-to-click and two-finger scrolling, I never have to use the button, which is so stressful to the thumb and wrist joints (and probably the shoulder, too).

+1.

[ny biker]

Okay so, I've got the external hard drive (still in the box, but there's nothing I really need to back up yet) and a slip case for when I'm transporting it. I'm looking forward to bringing it with me to Philadelphia this weekend so I can hook up the the internet and maybe watch a DVD or two if I have some time to kill.

I don't know yet if I want a mouse for it. So far I'm doing okay with the touchpad.

Thanks everyone!!

[Photoflygirl]

Ditto the external HD, but also burn important files/documents to a read-write CD/DVD. Also burn photos to a CD so you won't lose them. Our desktop just crashed and we are waiting to see if some files are recoverable. Most of it was backed-up, with the exception of what happened in the last week.

[ny biker]

Ditto the external HD, but also burn important files/documents to a read-write CD/DVD. Also burn photos to a CD so you won't lose them. Our desktop just crashed and we are waiting to see if some files are recoverable. Most of it was backed-up, with the exception of what happened in the last week.

I am planning to copy all the photos to DVD as an extra backup. There's not much else, besides excel files with cue sheets of some rides I mashed up from other people's cue sheets. But yes I plan to have more than one backup.

Thanks!