Packing for CES has been a little different than WWDC. The biggest differences are the huge crowds at CES and the limits the conference puts on the bags you can carry into venues.
My trusty Tom Bihn Synapse 25 backpack isn’t big, but it’s too large for CES, so the first thing I did was look for a bag that was small enough to meet the CES security rules but big enough to hold my 14” MacBook Pro and 11” iPad Pro, plus accessories. I decided on a medium-sized Tomtoc Navigator T24 sling bag, which is the perfect size. It holds 7 liters of stuff and has built-in padding to protect the corners of the MacBook Pro and iPad as well as pockets on the inside and outside to help organize cables and other things.
I don’t plan to carry my MacBook Pro with me during the day. The iPad Pro will be plenty for any writing and video production I do on the go, but it will be good to have the power and flexibility of the MacBook Pro when I return to my hotel room. For traveling to and from Las Vegas, I appreciate that the Tomtoc bag can fit everything I’m bringing.
With little room to spare, my setup is minimal. I’ll write on the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro, carrying the iPad with me tethered to my iPhone for Internet access. That’s a tried-and-true setup I already use whenever I’m away from home.
The new part of my travel setup is the gear I’m using to record video. At the core of the setup is my iPhone 16 Pro Max. For on-the-go video, I’m bringing an Insta360 Flow Pro gimbal. It’s lightweight, so it fits nicely in my Tomtoc bag, and it has a lot of bells and whistles like subject tracking and DockKit support, which I’m looking forward to trying.
I’m also planning to record podcast-style segments with Brendon wherever we can find a little space. For that, I have a Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod and a MagSafe-compatible tripod adapter from Moment. Using Final Cut Camera and Final Cut Pro for the iPad, I’ll be able to control recording from my iPad Pro.
With thousands of people crammed in a tight space, I can’t rely on always having a good Wi-Fi or mobile data connection. For maximum flexibility and minimal reliance on wireless connections, I have an incredibly small Lexar 2TB SSD. I’ll record video to the SSD and then plug it into the iPad Pro for editing instead of relying on AirDrop.
The Lexar SSD came with a tiny hub, too, which is how I’m handling audio. With the hub, I can also plug in a DJI Mic 2 receiver. It comes with two microphone transmitters that sound remarkably good for mics that are so small and wireless. The DJI Mic 2 comes in a sturdy carrying case that charges its components just like an AirPods case does. Like the Lexar outboard storage, the case barely adds any volume or weight to my overall kit, which I love.
However, not everything I’m taking is lightweight. I also plan to carry my Anker Prime 27,650mAh Power Bank with me during the day to recharge my iPhone, iPad, and other devices that will undoubtedly need topping off after shooting video. I’ll bring my 10,000mAh Anker MagGo Power Bank too because it’s compact and a great way to charge up my Apple Watch and smaller USB-C devices. When I’m in my hotel room, I’ll be able to charge everything relatively quickly thanks to a 100W Anker USB-C GaN wall charger and a 65W three-port USB-C GaN charger from UGREEN, which I’ll probably carry with me during the day too. I’ll charge everything via OWC Thunderbolt 4 cables to maximize power throughput.
For any downtime I’ll have, I’m bringing my white TrimUI Brick, one of my latest retro videogame handhelds. I don’t expect to have much free time on this trip, but if nothing else, it’s a long flight from Charlotte to Las Vegas, the perfect time for some light gaming. Brendon talked a little about the Brick on a recent episode of NPC. Federico and I have both received our own Bricks since then, so I’m sure we’ll talk about the device more soon. In my limited time with it, though, it seems like the perfect travel handheld with its solid build and small but sharp and bright 3.2” screen.
Finally, I’m bringing two sets of old-fashioned wired EarPods. I’ll use the version with a 3.5mm headphone jack for the TrimUI Brick and the USB-C model as needed for editing videos. They aren’t the best quality headphones by a long stretch, but I won’t have to deal with any audio latency or connectivity issues that wireless headphones would introduce. Plus, all the other wired headphones I have are simply too big to fit in my Tomtoc bag.
To complement my compact tech kit, I’ll also bring my trusty Tom Bihn Synapse 25 backpack. I won’t be able to bring it into any venues, but since I’ll only be away for three nights, I should be able to pack my clothes, on-the-go snacks, and other items with some careful planning.
CES has required a different sort of setup than I’m used to. I appreciate the constraint on the size of bag I can carry during the day because, having never attended CES in Las Vegas, I know I’d be prone to pack a lot of unnecessary gear “just in case.” Instead, I’ve had to focus on minimizing what I bring and maximizing its flexibility. I’ll know soon enough whether I’ve made any miscalculations.
You can follow along with our CES coverage here on MacStories.net under the tag ‘CES 2025’ and this dedicated RSS feed. You’ll also find two playlists on our YouTube channel: ‘NPC @ CES’ for handheld gaming news and ‘MacStories @ CES’ for everything else.
