Small Laptop to travell

[M5Man]

Hi Guys & Girls ;)

Im looking to get a small laptop to use for travelling :-

Budget up to £1.5 k but just 'cos thats the budget I dont want the dearest as it will be travelling.
Want to have it so I dont need a back up storage device as well
Want wi-fi -for internet -so i can chat on the forum whilst travelling :)
Needs to be fast(Dual core Pentium) and ok to run lightroom etc
Want XP not Vista on it
Not worried about mega big hard drive as I have 80gb small external hardrive so can plug that in.
I dont want Dell- long story......:(Thanks for any feedback ;)

[echo]

I'd have said a MacBook Air would be perfect. If you can't get in to the Mac 'thing' (come on, it's better!) load up Windows and runs great. I suggested this because the screen is good and it's very compact.

[rdc640]

travellings best without a laptop!

take in everything you see around you. not head buried in a lcd screen.

[SuzyView]

I have a friend who has a SONY 12 inch something and it's wonderful. I would be surprised if any of the major companies have XP anymore without paying for it. Sad, but true.

[EOSAddict]

I use a Samsung Q35 which would seem to suit.. apart from XP but sure you could retro install it... although not sure why your dead keen on XP?

[SuzyView]

Vista makes me crazy. I would love XP again.

[M5Man]

travellings best without a laptop!

I note what youre saying but Im gonna be a way 6wks....

I'll need something...

Echo I had alook at the Mac book , after the problems my wife has just had with Vista & Dell I'm very tempted plus Ive just a read a reveiw on RAW converting software and it seems Mac software Aperture 1.4 is much better and cheaper than lightroom.... so there are few fors -for converting to Mac but it would be totally new to me.....:)

[condyk]

Well this is very funny because a small laptop is important to me for travel. My last one was a wonderful little Sony Vaio 12" but after researching again in depth the best option was the Dell XPS 1330. Great screen, fast, great build and looks, good connectivity, good memory and HD and video card as standard ... but it's a Dell and it's Vista (which works great). Shame it won't suit you as an awesome buy at the moment @ £550. better than my sony at 1/3 the price.

[baxtefer]

i second the XPS m1330 recommendation. great screen, portable size, above average build quality.
Ships with Vista, but you can always reinstall XP on it. All the drivers are available. Plus, they're shipping them with ubuntu now too.

[Zilly]

Asus EEE

[Grentz]

If you want something nice for editing, you will want to look into the 14.1" realm for small compact power (or the 13.3" m1330). The Lenovo T61 is a great choice, as are some of the Core 2 Duo HP 14.1" laptops.

The Air, EEE, etc. are very underpowered for doing things such as lightroom while on the road IMO.

[condyk]

The Air, EEE, etc. are very underpowered for doing things such as lightroom while on the road IMO.

Yeah, I agree and too flimsy too.

[M5Man]

The Air, EEE, etc. are very underpowered for doing things such as lightroom while on the road IMO.

Grentz, had a look at the Air earlier didnt rate the spec thought the Macbook looked better spec...

Will look at the others you guys advised tomorrow... cheers for the sugestions so far anyway ....;)

[Grentz]

Yes, the Macbook is another in the 14.1" group that would work well. The Air has a power saving designed CPU which is not even close to as powerful as the normal C2D laptop processors.

[chalkie]

I got a Samsung Q40 last year for exactly this purpose. It's small enough (even in a padded case) to fit in the back of my BIllingham Hadley Pro, has good battery life, wifi and bluetooth....and it's XP. It's not dual core, but then again it's more than adequate on performance without it.

Graham

[rdc640]

I note what youre saying but Im gonna be a way 6wks....

I'll need something...



6 week is just the intro to a holiday!

i go away for 3-4 months at a time, going for 3.5 months in 3 weeks time.

i take my archos and card reader, spose depends what you're like though, i prefer to be out and about meeting people leaving the usual daily grind at home.

[M5Man]

6 week is just the intro to a holiday!

i go away for 3-4 months at a time, going for 3.5 months in 3 weeks time.

i take my archos and card reader, spose depends what you're like though, i prefer to be out and about meeting people leaving the usual daily grind at home.

being a contractor and self employed 6 weeks will be bad enough....

if my wife had her way we'd take a year out and do a round rthe world jobbie..

Were just doing singapore -sydney - hunter valley region - melbourne - ocean road -taz -perth -Thailand

Well have to call again to Aus cos I wanted to swim with the whale sharks in Nigaloo reef and also do Cairns and the GB Reef but wrong time of year :cry:

Just an excuse for another holiday I suppose....

Where you off to? Any where nice.....:)

[aliflack]

I went through this about one/one and half years ago and ended up with the Sony SZ series.

I found that the most important thing to me was the 13.3" screen size - I tried several laptops with smaller screens and just didn't get on with them, too small to see anything worthwhile of the images (it was fine to do a quick check of IQ and to delete OOF shots but not fine PP work). Any bigger and the size/weight considerations come into play - I couldn't try and 14" so the next nearest was 15" and these weren't bag friendly!

Sony is expensive, has flimsy plastic fascias on the side and I love it. Sleek, small and perfectly powerfull for my needs.

I don't get the Vista issue, it doesn't operate that differently from XP surely? Besides, the daily Dilbert gadget alone makes it worth the upgrade ;)

[REIGNftSOLDIER]

Vista is VERY resource intensive, and laptops are power limited anyways. I wouldn't want a Vista laptop either, I barely tolerate it on my desktop PC.

[junji98]

my wife recently switched to a MAC and has had very few issues with the change of OS. it is very user friendly. the macbook, at 13 inches, may very well suit your needs. i know i'd get one too when the budget is there...but then again...the 17-55 2.8 IS calls...beckons :P

[Grentz]

Vista is VERY resource intensive, and laptops are power limited anyways. I wouldn't want a Vista laptop either, I barely tolerate it on my desktop PC.

It does not have to be necessarily, and laptops are really powerful these days.

My T61 2.0ghz is faster than a 3.4ghz P4 desktop.

[condyk]

Well have to call again to Aus cos I wanted to swim with the whale sharks in Nigaloo reef and also do Cairns and the GB Reef but wrong time of year :cry: Just an excuse for another holiday I suppose....


Ningaloo is one of the most amazing places I have ever been, I could have died happy there and then floating with the current over the reef. The GB Reff is amazing too. Awesome country. I love it.

[HankScorpio]

Personally I'd go with a Sony Vaio TZ series. In fact I did. They do come with Vista though so if you wanted XP, you'd have to downgrade it but Vista with SP1 is better than XP at everything in my experience.

[donaldjl]

Here in the States, you can still get laptops with XP at places like MicroCenter, either online or at their brick-and-mortar stores.

For mail order, you can get Dells and Lenovo (and probably others) with XP direct from the manufacturer by going to their website, and instead of looking for "Home" systems, go to their "Small Business" section. Many business applications are quite flaky or don't work properly in Vista, and some manufacturers are still willing to oblige.

I've been happy with XP and Ubuntu, and I'm planning on buying a copy of XP before they're "unavailable". I'm otherwise fairly happy with the systems I have, I have no compelling reason to switch to a resource hog that would require a new system just to get basic functionality out of it.

[M5Man]

Vista is VERY resource intensive, and laptops are power limited anyways. I wouldn't want a Vista laptop either, I barely tolerate it on my desktop PC.

Totally agree with you here on my wifes Dell 1720 "Pink" it drains all the power:(

[M5Man]

Ningaloo is one of the most amazing places I have ever been, I could have died happy there and then floating with the current over the reef. The GB Reff is amazing too. Awesome country. I love it.

Condy - Im really annoyed I missed the whale sharks and GB Reef but hope to get my PADI b4 going next time :D

Donald - again agree with you about problems with Vista we've had loads, also I see there s a thread in another forum on here looks like all the bugs aren't ironed out and the paying customers are currently the guniea pigs using bought machines IMO >:(

So Im trying to go with XP :)

[sidx001]

I use a Samsung Q1 Ultra with XP on it. I love the compact size and the battery life is great!

[tbsteph]

Macbook. 13" screen about 5lbs. Don't like OS10, then use Bootcamp and load the
Windows version of your choice.

[AdamJL]

Dual Core Pentium?? I should hope not!

Why no Vista? It runs damn fine now - in the early days maybe it was a pain, but now, with the right driver support, it's a lot better than XP. Manages resources better as well, and CS3 works well with good hardware.

And a word of advice: do not travel with a small laptop. Disregarding the price (they are more expensive), the screens are generally crap, and you should aim for a good size quality screen when reviewing your images (I took a Dell 15" over to Canada which was just perfect in terms of size vs portability)

[nadtz]

Vista is a pig, its no less resource intensive now than it was when it was new, they have just worked out some of the bugs.

As for a good laptop, I think some good ultralights have been mentioned, but you usually pay a bit more for them at the cost of reduced overall power. Lenovo has the x series (X61 is the lighter version of the T61, a fine laptop). If a couple pounds isn't going to kill you you might do better getting the 'regular' version for the extra power, I went T over X series for my last laptop for this reason and have been happy with it, though its getting to be time to upgrade! Not that Im pushing lenovo (ok I am!) but you will find the same holds true for most laptop manufacturers.

I happen to consult also, even on my weekends reading a book in the park my laptop is in my bag "just in case" so I know how you feel.

[tma888]

hello,

i was in the same spot a couple of months back.
finally settled on this UMPC (ultra mobile pc) ASUS R2H.

http://www.asus.com/999/images/news/060825.jpg

couldnt be more happier.


fyi, it detects the EOS 40D via usb and i even installed the Canon softwares from the cd. and has built-in GPS.

[M5Man]

It does not have to be necessarily, and laptops are really powerful these days.

My T61 2.0ghz is faster than a 3.4ghz P4 desktop.


Grentz, the T61 does look a good bit of kit

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2007/08/09/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T61/p1

http://alatestreview-cnet.com.com/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-t61/4505-3121_7-32442903.html?subj=Lenovo+ThinkPad+T61&tag=feed&part=alatestreview-cnet

Seriously tempted I'll have to go out and have a look at one.... ;)

[AdamJL]

hello,

i was in the same spot a couple of months back.
finally settled on this UMPC (ultra mobile pc) ASUS R2H.

http://www.asus.com/999/images/news/060825.jpg

couldnt be more happier.


fyi, it detects the EOS 40D via usb and i even installed the Canon softwares from the cd. and has built-in GPS.

Hey I never thought of that. Looks like a neat little unit. How does she run?

[tma888]

well, these UMPCs are practically a samll lapotop + portable storage device + picture viewer all in one.

it runs on intel celeron 1.8Ghz and i upgraded the ram to 2Gb.
battery life is around 4hrs which is quite respectable.

and it costs around the same price as a mid-level laptop.

hope this helps.

:wink: