We’ll split this article into three sections for becoming a digital nomad on a budget: power, devices, and internet connection. Skip to whatever section you need the most help with, or feel free to start from the beginning if you’re starting your digital nomad life from scratch. If you get stuck somewhere without much sun, you can also charge this generator with a wall outlet or a car adapter. Wherever you end up in your nomadic journey, you’ll definitely find some way to charge this baby. As far as outputs are concerned, you get a 83Wh (watt-hour) standard AC outlet, along with two USB C ports (perfect for new Apple products), and two standard USB ports for everything else. Also the backside is a giant LED panel that can provide plenty of light for your campsite. You get the standard AC outlet, but only two USB ports to charge your devices, as opposed to the four that comes with the MARBERO portable power station. Also, this adapter doesn’t come with any USB C ports, so make you keep your charging block for the new iPhone and iPads that charge with USB C ports. In other words, if you remember to plug in this laptop to charge at night, you’ll never need to worry about charging it during the day. Such a long-lasting battery life gives you the flexibility to work from anywhere without worrying about a nearby power source. You want to go type your memoirs on the top of that mountain? Go for it. You want to design the next great corporate logo while relaxing on the beach? You can do that too. As far as the computer’s guts, the basic model comes with 356 GB of hard drive storage, which can fill up quickly if you don’t empty your trash bin from time to time. You also get 8 GB of RAM, which should be enough processing power to run most apps on Adobe Suite, for example. Granted, you probably don’t want to run anything super hardware intensive, like film editing software on this bad boy. Oh, and the Moto G Power smartphone costs literally $1,000 less than an iPhone 13 Pro Max. The Moto G Power retails at $199, but you can get the phone heavily discounted or for free if you buy it and sign up for a data plan at the same time. Check out some unlimited data plans that pair with the Moto G Power: Since the Moto G Power is an Android device, you can download whatever apps you need from the Google Play Store. If nothing else, it’s nice knowing you have a Google Maps–ready device that can last you for dozens of hours. Most cell phone plans come with a hotspot data cap. When you surpass the data limit, your speeds will throttle significantly. We’re talking down to kilobytes-per-hour, with which you’ll struggle even getting a Slack message out. But if you know where to look, you can find hotspot data plans that will actually last. The catch with Visible hotspot data is that your speeds cap at 5 Mbps, which is enough to send Slack messages back and forth, respond to emails, and browse the internet (albeit at a slower pace). You might struggle getting Zoom meetings to run smoothly via your Wi-Fi hotspot, so you should plan on taking Zoom meetings on your phone (assuming you have service). Now that you’ve got power, long-lasting devices, and a portable internet connection, you can basically take your van anywhere in the country. We recommend power sources that can be charged via solar power, in addition to charging with a typical AC outlet. Car adapters also work well for charging devices. We recommend laptops and phones that have a longer battery life, so you can explore more without having to worry about charging. Lastly, we recommend finding a cell phone plan with hotspot data, or opting for a satellite internet subscription to have Wi-Fi internet on the go.
