When I travel for work, I try to only bring the bare minimum. Even the lightest laptop will feel like a bag of bricks after carrying it around a convention floor all day. I scrutinize everything that goes into my travel bag and try to find items that are compact and can serve multiple purposes.
The Lenovo ThinkPad Stack is a new accessory that is worth taking on your next trip. The compact design makes efficient use of space. The modular components let you take only what you need so that you can keep your travel bag light.
So what is the ThinkPad Stack? When I took the components out of the box, I was reminded of Lego building blocks. The Stack includes a power bank, a wireless router, an external hard drive, and a Bluetooth speaker which you can connect together into a tower of tech goodness. The components have magnets inside which securely locks the pieces together – and you can stack them in whatever order you want. A single power cord powers everything.
ThinkPad Stack Power Bank
Keeping your cell phone charged is one of the most common problems during a business trip. I use my phone a lot more while traveling because it is the easiest way to check email, get info quickly (restaurant recommendations, directions, etc), and to stay connected with my colleagues. On top of it all, I have longer working days while traveling, so I need my phone to stay charged for 12+ hours.
The ThinkPad Stack’s Power Bank is a 10000mAh battery with a slim design. It brought it along during my last trip and found it took up about as much room as a cell phone. In return, I could charge two devices at once, even an iPad. The Power Bank has two USB ports that let you plug in whatever you need.
This battery can also be stacked with the Bluetooth speaker or wireless router components to provide power if an outlet isn’t nearby.
Wireless Router
The wireless router has been my least used component, but I can see the potential. If you are in a hotel room or conference room where only a hard wire internet connection is available, you can use this router to make your own wireless network.
For the most part, I didn’t need this because wifi was usually available (or I just used my own mobile hotspot).
At home, it was a different story because I could connect the router to my home internet, along with the hard drive. This lets me connect to the files on the hard drive no matter where I am working in the house.
External Hard Drive
The ThinkPad Stack’s 1TB external hard drive worked great for storing and accessing photos and files. I used the hard drive (and the fast USB 3.0 connection) when editing some photos for this blog during a flight. I found that the hard drive was perfect for storing video files so that I could free up space on the smaller storage drives that I use in my DSLR camera.
When connected to the wireless router, you can connect to the hard drive remotely to access or transfer files. Lenovo also has an app that you can use to manage the hard drive over the network.
Bluetooth Speaker
Lenovo calls this a “Bluetooth speaker” but it also works as a great speakerphone. I use Skype for Business frequently to make VOIP calls when working from home or when traveling and working from a hotel room.
To do this, I just connected my laptop to the ThinkPad Stack speaker using the Bluetooth 4.0 device pairing. The speaker has buttons right on the front for volume or to mute your microphone, which makes it perfect for conference calls. It has a noise-reducing microphone so that my voice can come through loud and clear.
Of course, this also works as a Bluetooth speaker which you can use to play music or for audio when watching Netflix. The speaker has a battery inside, which can give you up to eight hours of use. If you connect it to the ThinkPad Power Bank, you can get up to forty-eight hours of playback.
Pricing and Availability
Lenovo’s ThinkPad Stack is new to the market, so Lenovo’s website is probably one of the easiest places to find it. I received all of the components together in the ThinkPad Stack Professional Kit bundle ($390), but you can purchase the components individually as well. The wireless router and 1 TB hard drive combo is $220, the battery is $70, and the Bluetooth Speaker is $100.
The ThinkPad Stack Professional Kit comes in a cleverly designed box that is great for holding the components you are not using. It includes a travel bag that is large enough to hold all of the stack components and the charging plug. I really liked the pocket on the side of the bag to hold USB cords and the drawstring closure which kept everything safe inside.
If you spend a lot of time on the road, it is worth taking a look at the Lenovo ThinkPad Stack. It has many of the accessories that are commonly used during travel and packages them up into a smart and efficient design.
Thank you to Lenovo for providing a ThinkPad Stack to try out. #LenovoIN
