What is your ultimate essential that you would bring if you're hospitalised?

To those of you who have been following me on twitter would know that I've been going through a hectic few days at the hospital as my baby is down with some weird tummy bug and infection of the lungs.

oh, don't worry, as of last night, he was as cheerful as ever and the doctor has allowed him to be off the drip *yeayy*

So, my topic for today would be, what are the essentials that you would pack apart from your clothes when you know you would be spending an x amount of nights at the hospital.

Some would tell me they'd bring some hydrating masks while some say they'd get plenty of magazines to read.

For me, my most precious possession that I would usually bring with me everywhere I go almost all the time, is this baby of mine...

the MacBook Air. Mine, I fondly call him, Vin ;)

I got Vin some time early last year since I have been travelling a lot for work and I totally hate lugging around those normal laptops that weigh a tonne! Well, I was heavily pregnant when I had to travel and I didn't need additional heavy stuff to weigh me down, especially since I had to carry it in my hand luggage.

I think the MacBook Air is a great investment. It is super quick - the screen starts almost immediately after you press the on button. If you need to put it to sleep, just push down the cover and when you need to use it back again, just lift the cover up and it is ready to be used without you needing to wait for it to warm up and the processor running. It is amazing.

Of course what I like about it most is that it weighs less than a kilogramme. And my friends who are used to those regular laptops or notebooks would always look so surprised when they see how simple and slim its charger.

Of course the greatest part about having the 11" MacBook Air is the fact that I can carry it in any of my handbags and no one would suspect anything. And, I have always, since 2007, buy handbags that can fit in a notebook/small laptop :)

Sometimes, when I'm in a rush and refuse to wait for a slow internet coverage, the speed of the MacBook Air processor helps quicken loading time. It just does.

Now before you ask too many questions, the MacBook Air is not for everyone and every type of use. With Mac machines, they're well known for their efficiency and stability, and widely used in design houses and advertising agencies.

The MacBook Air does not do that as its main function. As far as I understand, its slim size compromised that department and you do not have enough memory to run a design software (I think!). Therefore, it is more suitable for mobility and like me, I would use it for typing out documents and reports, and bring it around whenever I have presentations with clients. It is amazing.

Battery life is also quite efficient if the laptop is fully charged. It lasts for ages if you do not use any wifi or bluetooth connection and since usage is for specific functions, sometimes, you do not need to carry a charger.

There are still many notions that a Mac is difficult to use. I think this is a very old perception. You will never know until you own a Mac. Heck, even Mr Oosband fell deeply in love with my Mac Mini at home once he started using it. Macs are all so sleek and super sexy to me and although people refrain from buying it because it is considered expensive, I find that it is such a good investment because it hardly fails on you. In fact, before this, I was using the iBook G4 for a good 5-6 years until the screen went black, but it has never gave me any problems in that duration.

So here I am, able to watch my baby sleep while I type on its sleek and super smooth keyboard but I am able to do it because it is so easy to carry with me. I even had it along when I was hospitalised after giving birth to Jebat. I don't have to think twice about finding another bag and taking with me metres of charger that weighs pretty hefty. I've tried using Mr Oosband's eepc notebook and although it is cute and small, it still weighs a tonne.

this is all there is.... you can fold in the top and bottom flaps but i use them to wind the cords around it.

I think one of the strengths that made the MacBook Air so high-tech is the touch pad when the new batch was launched last year (or was it end of 2010?). It works like a mouse and you can slide down the pages of the documents you read by using two fingers on the touch pad. You can even enlarge the screen view like how you would do it if you own a touch screen phone. And a double tap on the touch pad would be like you clicking on the function pad of a regular laptop to open up files. In fact, I would double tap my finger lightly on the touch pad to highlight a whole word.

I never see myself a gadget geek but the convenience of it all allows me to make full use of the gadgets I have.

What about you? What is your most prized possession that you would bring along with you even if the situation may not seem fit?