Roaming workspaces

In the Car

Using a laptop on a steering wheel desk while charging the car
Using a laptop on a steering wheel desk while charging the car

The Solterra provides the occasional opportunity to wait for a DCFC charger to recharge its batteries, which, with a few pieces of kit, gives the operator a chance to get some work knocked out. What I’ve found to work well, so far:

  • USTTOP Car Steering Wheel Desk. $10-13. I wrap the “Vegan leather” steering wheel with a bandana or something similar to protect it from the somewhat rough surface of this piece of plastic. It’s not the most stable a surface, but it works fine for laptop use and the price is certainly right. Have to remember to rotate the steering wheel 180° before shutting the car off.
  • Anker 323 52.5W charger. $12-16. This 12V adapter can reliably pump 30W into a MacBook Air over a USB C cable (or probably the MagSafe charging cable).
  • Baseus USB-C charging cable with an LED display that shows the charging wattage, useful to make sure everything’s working properly.
  • This MagSafe mounting kit for my iPhone, not required but useful.
  • The aforementioned iPhone, which provides Internet connectivity via the personal hotspot feature. (The Solterra can also provide WiFi, but it’s a separate subscription (to Wi-Fi Connect, powered by AT&T) and one I just don’t need.)

Around the house

While I have my Main Battlestation, sometimes I like to work out on the balcony, or in my comfy IKEA POÄNG chair. I ended up refurb’ing my old 15.4" MacBook Pro (new battery, 1TB internal storage) and bundling it with other pieces of kit to have everything I need easily at hand and portable, to move from site to site:

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