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 You
want to upload images, video and dispatches, and there is a wide array of computers
that can do the job. You could use a laptop, PDA or a wearable.
In the mid-Nineties, a few large expeditions
started to bring bulky desktops to the Himalayas. Today, a modern
standard laptop has all the capacity that you need for an expedition.
Standard off-the-shelf laptops are down to 1 kg and cost less than
$2000.
PDA
In 2001, for a South Pole expedition, the HumanEdgeTech team
developed an ultra lightweight communications solution by connecting PDA to a
Sat phone for the first time ever. Since then
– using customized
software and hardware
– expeditions can connect handheld
 computers to
Iridium, Thuraya and Globalstar Sat phones.
The iPAQ PDA has a 400mHz processor that handles images, voice and even
video clips which can be uploaded to the Internet easily with CONTACT
2.0 software.
The PDA weighs around 200 gr. and the total set-up with sat phone and
digital camera is less than 1 kg.
Read more.
Computer
We have brought standard laptops on several expeditions to the Himalayas (high altitude), on the Oceans (humidity) and
to Polar regions (cold), and they all worked fine in the end. There are
 military
style, heavy duty laptops on the market, but they are often both heavy
and expensive. The Panasonic tough-books have had problems with
non-functional hard-drives at altitude.
Always bring a back-up laptop computer or PDA if going to
high-altitude. It is VERY common for laptops to fail, even within the
same brand of a unit that works.
Full power wearable computers are good for high tech/highly
mobile extreme cold weather expeditions (high tech polar crossings).
Laptops are the best choice for stationary Base camp work. PDAs
are top choice for general image/video/dispatch/positioning work in high
camps and all low-weight reliant expeditions (high altitude climbers,
unsupported polar expeditions, lightweight row/surf ocean crossings and
backpackers).
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