Purely a "cheap pilot" question. Planning to buy a cheap Windows laptop for training. My fear is I buy a laptop then get handed a Windows tablet when I show up, rendering the laptop moot.

My guess is 2016 at the earliest.

Buy the cheap laptop. You'll be a salty line holder long before you ever get the EFB.

Thanks, fellas.

My understanding is that we will initially not be able to do training on the Surface. We were supposed to get the tablets at the beginning of the year but it keeps getting pushed back. Last that I read, it is planned for September but who knows.

I also wouldn't mix personal and business use on a Delta device. We just reached a TA with the Company on some tracking/privacy protections. Even without having read the fine print, I think it's still a very bad idea to use something that belongs to Delta IT for personal business. Maybe I'm paranoid, but having an agreement they won't turn on certain features isn't nearly as good as making sure they can't.

Also, I don't want to be unable to access charts on a dark and stormy night because I installed Norton, and it doesn't like Jeppesen (for example). Conversely, I don't want to go banking on the road, and trusting Delta IT to have properly protected the tablet.

So the question might become whether you want to lug around a laptop and an EFB. I have my own Surface Pro. It won't even run the PBS desktop app, and it's an imperfect device. I'm also not really looking forward to having two devices to carry as the price to pay for my mistrust, but that's the call I'm making.

I'll make the same call. I wouldn't mind carrying around a small laptop for personal stuff and an EFB (leaving the EFB strictly for company stuff). That's still about 30 lbs less than what I lug around now with my current chart/book set. (EFB soon soon soon please please please).

Any rumors on Mondays class drop? I know myself and 31 others are anxiously awaiting....

*phew*

Finished the entire thread but still have a couple questions. I will probably be commuting from SAT for at least a year. Assuming I'm on an -88, any guestimate how long I'll be on reserve, and if trips on the -88 out of ATL are commutable from SAT?

Thanks!

I'd *guess* you'd likely be on reserve for 2-6 months. Probably 3-4 months. Not sure about the SAT flight schedule, but be wary about trips that start (or end) on Saturday as most markets get a reduced flight schedule. You can block your days and yellow slip when you know you'll get something anyway to try and avoid Saturday starts or ends, unless they are commutable with the reduced schedule of course.