Laptop help

Okay.. I've decided I need a laptop to download pics into and do abit of editing while on trips. BUT................... being electronicly challenged, I need some advice as to which one. Anyone have some first hand experience?

I guess it should be:

Affordable

light as possible

have dvd burn capabilities

able to play some games/long plane trips

as many ports as possible

did I say Affordable?

any help would be greatly appreciated as I had NO Idea there were S-o-o-o MANY laptops out there! And my computer training stopped at putting a quarter in it, and try to avoid the large Monkey pounding his chest!

Yes, the choices can be overwhelming.

Lighter weight is going to cost you ... anything under five pounds, typically. If battery life is important, get a Pentium M processor or equivalent. They are much more energy efficient than the full-blown Pentium processors. I'd recommend 1.6Ghz as a minium.

If you're trying to stay small/light, you'll likely want nothing bigger than a 15-inch screen. The bigger ones are nice, but they add weight and they suck down battery power. A 14.1-inch screen is acceptable if you upgrade to a high resolution (1400x1050, for example). I'd recommend minimum 60GB hard drive, though bigger is always better. Get a combo CD-burner/DVD ROM drive minimum, or up it to a combo CD/DVD burner.

Minimum 512Mb of RAM memory, and 1GB is nice. I'm recommending these specs expecting you wiill want to run Photoshop. Virtually all the laptops come with a minimum 2 fast USB 2.0 ports now. You need that. Also, you may want a built-in Firewire port, too. You'll also need wireless Internet capability, but that is pretty much built-in standard on all but the most basic laptops now.

Finally, I would recommend a service plan such as Dell's Complete Care that covers accidental damage (dropping, breaking the screen, submersing, etc.) with an extended service contract. Laptops tend to be more fragile and they typically get bumped around a lot. I'm on my third hard drive in 18 months.

Expect all this to run you around $2,000 or a bit more. You can get cheaper, but you'll give up things like weight, battery life, screen resolution, hard drive size, DVD-writing, memory, etc.

All that said, if you're willing to lug around eight pounds, and you intend to use your laptop on AC power most of the time, you can get a solid system for $1,000-$1,500. With a 17-inch screen and regular Pentium processor.

See what others say, too, since these are simply my opinions.

...And my computer training stopped at putting a quarter in it, and try to avoid the large Monkey pounding his chest! 

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You'll find that Windows is not that different.

The Dell Inspiron 700m seems to be popular choice. I've play with one for awhile and really liked it. I'll probably replace my clunker with one before my next over seas trip.

I bought a Sony VAIO S2 series at Christmas and am delighted with it. 80GB hard disk, 1 GB RAM, DVD burner, light weight, 2-3 hour battery life, WLAN built-in. Its my second VAIO - the last one I had for 4 years and it never so much as hiccupped. I can recommend them. I think there is an S3 or maybe even S4 series now: same body, enhanced guts.

I was looking at a HP dv3010 (i think that's the number). But after reading all the feedback about the s-----y support, I figure I don't need that kind of aggrevation. Kinda' leaning towrds the Sony s-series now. More money, but since I don't speak Hindi (HP support in Delhi) I figure it may be worth it. Anyone know how good Sony's support is? I was also looking at Fujitsu. Any feedback one their support?

For travel I like light. Must be under 5 lbs. I use a 12" Power Book that weights 4.6 lbs and has every thing you need. Prices are very reasonable and no more than some quoted above. If you need to save money the 12" Ibook gives you almost the same capacity for 4.9 lbs and less $.

For travel the 12" screen is fine. Only for video would you need a larger screen. Even a half a lb. can make a big difference.

Not to start the usual flame war but if you look at what you get for the price the Macs compete very well. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't get the software you need. It simply isn't true.

Sarah and I just bought a Dell 700m last week when they had a 45% off sale. I am EXTREMELY happy with it. We got 1 gig of ram, an 80 gig drive, and a 1.8mhz processor, as well as the extended battery and DVD burner. Total price w/ tax (we're in TX) was $1,300

With the extended battery (it's not even that big) the machine says it will run for 6-8 hrs.

I would recommend this one.

Cheers

James

Oh, forgot to mention, it's under 5 lbs w/ the battery included.

I also have a powerbook, and it is great for travel but it is way too slow for large files. It handles 6-8 mega pixels files nicely, but is painfully slow with 12mp. If you have or plan to buy a 10+mp camera I would suggest you get a fast PC with lots of RAM and drive space, a DVD burner is a must. James' DELL suggestion looks great, too bad it is no longer on sale.

Any 1.6Ghz (Pentium M) PC notebook with enough RAM can be used to edit 16.7 megapixel images without too much pain (if you have the right software. . I have no problems pruning and cranking through thousands of images in a week.

I recommend:

1) as much RAM as possible

2) an internal DVD burner

that's about it.

Personally, I favor the IBM T series because you can have two drives in it at once. One drive isn't going to cut it if you're shooting 15+ MB RAW files. An older T41 or T42 (if you can find them) with a 1.6Ghz processor will cost around $1000 or $1200. Extra RAM and DVD burner is extra.

My T42 configuration was just over $2K, and it includes a 1400x1050 pixel 14.1" screen, enough RAM, and a DVD burner. Weight is around 4.5 lbs.

I use a 12" Powerbook too. It has no problem with large raw files and I have a DVD burner built in. Most importantly, it is light, robust and has been totally reliable for a couple of years now, and works quite happily despite being thrown around in rough conditions on boats! (I have a friend who runs a graphic design company who has actually worn holes in the corners of a 15" Powerbook - it is used 8 hous/day with an external screen and is carried all over the place and still works fine - believe me it is battered). A few tips if you want to go this way and can afford to do so:

Fit as much RAM as the macine will take

Use decent DVD burning software (I use Toast)

Put the latest version of Photoshop on it and dump all irrelevant software

Buy the multi power adapter available from Apple

Use firewire to download from the CF card via a good reader (I use Lexar cards and readers)

Carry a small bus powered hard-drive to back files up into (or I suppose an iPod) before burning onto DVD

I use a 12" Powerbook too. It has no problem with large raw files and I have a DVD burner built in.

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Yep, now that you say that you have no problem with 1ds raw files on the 12'' powerbook, I think my problem is Nikon Capture, and not the large raw files of the D2x. I will upgrade to PS CS2 and ACR 3.2 in a few weeks and see how that goes.

Luiz

I also use a Mac 12" Powerbook with 1.25GB memory, a 100GB hard drive and a dvd burner. Unless you're a computer geek, don't buy a PC, the Mac is definately the way to go. Photoshop CS2 works just fine, I've had no problems with RAW files from my Canon 20d. Macs are super reliable, no viruses, no spyware problems.

Doug

Unless you're a computer geek, don't buy a PC, the Mac is definately the way to go.

Doug

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To me the IBM vs Mac debate is very silly. It is like arguing which language is best.

Clearly people who are used to IBM's should buy an IBM and people used to Mac's should buy a Mac. Even if one is slightly superior to another (everyone knows English is the best language to speak) the difference is not great enough to deal with the frustration of trying to learn a new system.

I'm sure that this is not Geggle's first computer so he should get which ever type he is used to. He said he was considering HP and Sony so it sounds like he speaks IBM. So a mac recommendation is not very helpful. Unless you would tell a guy in spain that he needs to quit speaking spanish and learn english.

Geggle, IMO the key spec to look at is RAM. Photoshop is very RAM hungry. You really need at least 1Gig to make Phototshop CS2 happy. CPU speed seems to have plateaued so it is not so important. My 3.5 year old 1.6GHz laptop CPU is not obsolete yet?

We recently purchased a 12" Apple iBook and I'm very happy with it.

We got an 80GB drive and 1.5GB RAM, which makes CS2 very happy. It actually runs considerably better than my desktop system (which admittedly is an ancient AMD1800). Nikon Capture is poorly programmed (very poor memory usage) and used to run like a dog until I downloaded the updated 4.3.1 (have you got the update Luiz?). It now handles D70 files with ease (although I haven’t tried D2X files).

The battery life of the Apples is fantastic and they weigh about the same as the most lightweight PCs. You can get a DVD burner in any of the Powerbooks and they have all the ports you need. If you’re really into hardcore gaming, then you might find a PC based book serves you better.

I use PCs at work and until now, all my home systems have been PC-based (either Intel or AMD). I hadn’t really considered Mac previously because they always seemed so expensive in comparison to their PC counterparts.

However, after taking a considered look at the specs of several comparable machines and also considering the almost essential PC extras like ongoing subscriptions to antivirus, antispy, antimalware etc., etc., and the Mac bundled software, the price difference evaporated fairly quickly.

I was pretty tired of the constant virus risks. Part of my rational for considering Mac, was wanting to access the net while on the road and not wanting to worry about virus and other system security issues. I find that with my PC I’m forever making little tweaks to the system to ensure it is well protected from attacks and I didn’t want to have waste time with that on a trip. With the Mac, there is no need to bother.

Whilst I can understand William’s point about useability (and it was initially a significant concern of mine), I think that the point is essentially moot. Superficially, the layout of OS X and XP is similar enough that anyone familiar with one system would find it relatively simple to jump on the other and do what they needed to do. Programs like CS2, Capture and Firefox are essentially identical on both systems. Even for more advanced functions, I found that it only really took a day or so of “playing†to learn how to alter things like System Preferences (hey I’m a bit Type A) and pick up all the keyboard shortcuts (essentially replace Control with the “Apple†key).

The one thing that I have noticed with the Mac system, as compared to the PC, is that just about everything you need is already included. I no longer need to jump on the net and download some shareware/freeware of questionable origin to perform tasks.

For photographers, one feature of “Tiger†(the newest version of OS X) that I have completely fallen in love with is Spotlight. I label most of the images I shoot with IPTC information such as location and a short description. On a recent trip I shot several thousand images and then needed to locate some shots with dogs in them for a client. I typed “dog†into Spotlight and within a second or two had three or four images in the window with dogs in them. Had I tried to find these from memory or just about any other method…well, there is no way it would have been as fast. Now I know XP has a search function, but if you set it to search within files – well – be prepared to go make a coffee before you even get your first hit. The best analogy I have for Spotlight is that it’s like Googling your hard drive.

Wow, I realise I’ve gone on a bit now, but I think it is important to explain some of the reasons why I chose the system I use in the hope that it might help you make a decision.

I’m sure any of the systems people have recommended will serve you well. Just trying to help you make an informed choice.

Very nice Anthony, those are all great advantages of Macs, and it is mainly for those reasons that I have one. I did install NC 4.3.1, but I am so used to its better performance on the 3ghz PC (with the D2x files) that I always think the powerbook is slow, but I guess a 1.6mhz notebook PC would be just as slow. On top of that, I have only 768mb of RAM in the powerbook and 1gb in the desktop. A second harddrive (used as a scratch disk) speeds up PS considerably on the PC.

Now, you point out one thing that lots of people forget, search speed. You are absolutely right, it takes a lot longer to search any file in windows as compared to OS X, especially when you have to search through thousands of files. As for the future, beta testers are saying that the Intel-based macs are even faster than G4s, I can't wait to get one next year.

Hey c’mon Luiz. You can’t really compare a 3ghz desktop with a second scratch disk to a little lappy.

Also Luiz, I’m not whether you can be bothered, but you would find a significant performance improvement by squeezing a 1GB RAM stick into your PB (to bring it up to 1.25GB). NC definitely needs it and PS likes it too. I have a friend running the same iBook as me, but with only 768mb and mine is a fair bit quicker in PS and NC.

I think everyone is looking forward to the Intel-Macs and the likely increase in clock speeds. I do think it is important to mention that current clock-speeds on Macs and PCs are not really comparable due to totally different architecture and operating system. When the Intel-Macs come out though, I think people will really be able to see the advantages of OS X over XP (unless Bill finally pulls Vista out of the hat – don’t hold your breath)…

Yep, now that you say that you have no problem with 1ds raw files on the 12'' powerbook, I think my problem is Nikon Capture, and not the large raw files of the D2x. I will upgrade to PS CS2 and ACR 3.2 in a few weeks and see how that goes.

 

Luiz

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Hi Luiz,

Actually, CS2 is likely to slow you down as compared to CS. I know it did when I upgraded, and I have a pretty solid configuration.

On the other hand, doubling your RAM would significantly improve your image processing speed....

... and 512mb or 1gb of RAM should cost you much less than CS2

Mat

Anyone have some first hand experience?

        I guess it should be:

              Affordable

              light as possible

              have dvd burn capabilities

              able to play some games/long plane trips

              as many ports as possible

              did I say Affordable?

 

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On a recent dive trip, one of the guys I was diving with had a JVC mini-note PC. It has a 9" screen, 1ghz processor and 512mb RAM. I played with it for a while, using Photoshop, a RAW converter, etc. and while it doesn't achieve blazing speeds, it was extremely light (1kg), almost fit in your pocket, and the screen was rather crisp.

To tell you the truth, after lugging around my 9lb laptop <_< for a couple of years, the 2lb alternative is VERY appealing .

Mat