Laptop on the road ?

[BayAreaPhotog]

I am about to purchase a laptop. I will mainly use it offload photos from my camera, view the images back at the hotel, burn backups, etc.

My question is about speed. I have heard that the Mobile Technology is designed to run a laptop at a longer period of time, but the downside is that it is much slower. So, I am wondering, do you guys and gals use your laptop more running off battery power or from A.C. power on location (hotel room, etc.)?

I would think that the longest and hardest workout I would give it off of battery is sitting on a plane watching a DVD . . . any thoughts or suggestions on speed, battery life, brands to recommend with these concerns in mind? Thanks.

[charlesu]

Tough choice. My recommendation either way is to buy a Toshiba. I don't have much regard for Dell. I've had several of each of them. Toshiba's seem better built, have better displays and, given the same specs, seem to perform faster.

[RichardtheSane]

I will second Toshiba.

I have experience in servicing notebooks and Toshiba are the best put together notebooks out there in my opinion.

I've also done a training course for Toshiba notebook service at one of Tosh facilities and they are very hot on making sure that anyone servicing their notebooks are up to the job.

I would buy a Toshiba.

[ppuga]

I use my powerbook G4 a lot running with battery, depending on what are you working with you have different time of battery, and I have notice that little things like turning off airport and putting down the brightness of the screen helps a lot when you are using it on batterys. Depending on all this you can get from 2.5 to 4.5 hours of battery life time with continuos use. I highly recommend Powerbooks.

Remember, "once you go mac, you'll never go back" jeje

cheers ;)

[mikesd]

I have a Dell 8600 with a 1.4 pentium processer with the Centrino chipset which actually runs at aprox 2.4 pentium 4 speed. The advantage is that a Centrino has a rated battery life of 4-4.5 hours and runs much cooler than a notebook with a desktop cpu. I also have a Gateway m520s plus with a 3.06 pentium 4 that is a little faster but I honestly cannot tell a huge difference. More importantly in my opinion is to not purchase any notebook with less than 512 ram memory. If you will be using your notebook on long flights you might want to consider a notebook with the Centrino chipset if you go with a pc.

[aam1234]

I thought centrino is supposed to be faster not slower than regular P4, or so the experts say.

[dr.bear]

Centrino mobile technology allows the processors to use less energy but provide fast processing speeds. Centrino chips also have a whoppign 2mb internal cache which increases processor speeds greatly. Although mobile P4s run at faster clock speeds (2.8, 3 Ghz, etc.) laptops that use these chips generally are bulkier and consume the battery faster. If i were you I'd wait until the end of Jan '05 before purchasing a laptop with a centrino chip. The current ones range from 1.5 to 2.0 Ghz running at 400mhz front side bus. Mid-January, intel's coming out with faster centrino chips with 533mhz FSB. In lamen terms, laptops with this new chip will be really fast.

As far as which laptop to get, i'd do some research online and at the stores. Several people have mentioned Toshibas, and yes they are nice. You should also check out IBM Thinkpads. I have the T42 model. Let me tell you, this thing is built like a tank. Features that make this laptop stand out include the following: internals fully encased in a manesium alloy case, solid metal hinges(other companies use a metal rod attaching plastic parts), keyboard with excellent tactile response (not mushy like lots of notebooks out there), gigabit ethernet, antenna along the LCD screen for excellent wireless reception, hard drives that protects itself when the laptop is jolted or falls, and much more.

I hope this info helps you.

[Jon]

Toshiba. And the Pentium M processors will perform roughly like Pentium 4 processors running at 1.75x their clock speed. My 1.5 GHz PM (Toshiba Portege M205 tablet) runs at about the same performance level as my 2.8 GHz P4 desktop machine for processor-intensive work. Dells, if you get the Latitude (business) line, aren't bad. IBM is good, but pricey, and they're getting out of the PC business any way. I've given up on HP-Compaq. They lost their innovation several years ago, and are now chasing me-too stuff with dubious quality in my experience (and I used to swear by HP's Omnibooks and handhelds).

[bremans]

acer travelmate c110 of newer.. very mobile and centrino technology
just an advice, there are a lot of laptops with all different specifics so there is a wide choice for your question.

[skyphix]

For our traveling Sales reps, we use IBM (they travel nation wide).

There are 75 of them, they do just about everything possible to their computers (dropping, losing, falling with the computers in their hands, etc)... and there have been very low incidences of wrecked laptops. I see them a lot working in the IT Department.


If it were me, I'd get an IBM T42 with Centrino technology (it also has the shock sensor that parks the hard drive to prevent damage caused by abrupt movements in the read/write heads.)

The case is tough as nails, and the hardware is proven for traveling (proven to me, anyway... not trying to disrespect any other brands here).

If it were a laptop that you'd only travel with occasionally, my decision may be different... I probably would've chosen a Powerbook.


-Eric

[Bodryn]

Jon - did you use an HP 200 LX? I loved mine; I thought HP lost their way when they abandoned DOS. :-( I wish they would have come out with a newer version of the 200 LX that was the size of a Palm pilot. I already had just about all the DOS programs I needed, some of which I'd written myself. It was fun having a pocket computer that allowed me to write programs on it, and could run for a long time (2 weeks?) on AA cells.

I've had a total of about 10 Toshiba laptops, starting with a T1000 and later adding an external HDD to it. They've been good but I was just a bit disappointed when they moved the Ctrl key down and also when they followed Microsoft as if it were the only game in town.

[Jon]

Yep. Used to be active on the 200LX list. When I got a database for PPC, I stopped using the old LX on a regular basis (but still use the '48GX, '49G and Virtual 41), and when I moved away from the classic Omnibooks (Corvallis designs - 300, 425, 600 and 800), I dropped off the Omnibook mailing lists too. When they shut down personal computing at Corvallis it was the beginning of the end.

[hitech]

I get alomost 3 hours from my Dell 4150 laptop

[mtndew]

Not sure if you made your mind up but depending on budget. I was in the same boat as you were this spring and went with the Mac G4 12in Powerbook with the superdrive, 60gb HD and boosted SDram From 256 to 768. Size ,weight, & speed especially lugging around my camera equipment. My battery usually last about 4hrs. No problems watching a movie on a flight but lord of the ring (3+hrs) would be stretching it a bit. I also run Photoshop CS and use Roxio Toast for backing up pix haven't run into any problems.

[SuperFly]

Hey There,

The company i work for (5000+ employees) uses IBM ThinkPads T-Series for all the mobile workers (about 3000 Employees).

They are sturdy, built like a brick dunny, and have that cool little light to illuminate the keyboard on flights or in bed...

Currently using an aging T30, however this year sometime im due for an upgrade, dont forget as much RAM as you can possibly fit in the laptop (or afford) ;)

Centrino is definitely the way to go (don't see much Pentium 4 laptops anymore anyway.

Good Luck mate.

[Turbowolf]

I use a Mac G4 15" Powerbook. has all the bells and whistles, and will be using it starting this week to post files from the field (Yellowstone) to my website and college professor. I also use it to process digital video and have the capability to burn CD's or DVD's in the field.

When I'm home it's attached to an external hard drive and a 21" monitor.

Accessories include bluetooth mouse, keyboard and cell phone.

I'd do it all over again, even though it has been somewhat spendy ... cheaper than a divorce, but not as cheap as a year in college between the costs of the computer and photography equipment.

[Ajay213]

My question is about speed. I have heard that the Mobile Technology is designed to run a laptop at a longer period of time, but the downside is that it is much slower.

Perhaps you are talking about the speed step stuff? Basically when the laptop is running on battery it will start to throttle down speeds in order to save battery life.

So, I am wondering, do you guys and gals use your laptop more running off battery power or from A.C. power on location (hotel room, etc.)?

I rarely use mine on battery power, it's almost always plugged in. But I guess it would depend on how much memory you have, where you are shooting, etc. Once or twice I've brought my laptop with me shooting, well I left it in the car, shot some, went back to the car and copied everything over and then went out again.

I would think that the longest and hardest workout I would give it off of battery is sitting on a plane watching a DVD . . . any thoughts or suggestions on speed, battery life, brands to recommend with these concerns in mind? Thanks.

Our new laptops will do about 3hrs on a "standard" battery, but that's working on things that aren't CPU intensive and without the DVD drive running (both of which will drop that time down a bit). If you can stand the weight, I'd go with a portable DVD player, it will also do one movie per charge, but at least you'll still have your laptop to do work on.

Andrew

[neil_r]

I use a Tosh, Fabulous screen and v fast however it is big and not sturdy. I recently went on a road trip to the US and took a Panasonic Toughbook,

http://www.panasonic.com/computer/toughbook/learn_more_tb18.asp

Very small, very light and as tough as old boots.

N

[pcasciola]

I use a Tosh, Fabulous screen and v fast Funny, I was just about to say I would not get a Toshiba because they have the worst screens. My last two notebooks were Toshibas and they both work very well, but from what I've seen lately, Sony and HP are leading the way in terms of high resolution, ultra-bright and high contrast LCDs. I don't believe Toshiba offers a screen that has above a 1440x900 resolution which is very low by today's standards. HP offers their new Brightview displays which is available in 1680x1050, and Sony has XBrite which is a razor sharp 1920x1200. I haven't tried either of these outdoors yet, which is where they are supposed to excel, but I've seen photos on them and they are amazing compared to the stanard low res displays that most of the Toshibas and other notebooks seem to have. Maybe Toshiba has a model now where the newer LCD is available, but I haven't seen one yet.

[neil_r]

Funny, I was just about to say I would not get a Toshiba because they have the worst screens.......

I don't believe Toshiba offers a screen that has above a 1440x900 resolution which is very low by today's standards......

Maybe Toshiba has a model now where the newer LCD is available, but I haven't seen one yet.
I am writing this on a Toshiba Satellite Pro SP10 with the screen running @ 1920 x 1200. :D

Cheers

N

[MazerRakhm]

I’m amazed by the amount of Toshiba advocates as well. In my experience they’ve been nothing but problematic. Being in the IT field the last two companies have both used IBM Thinkpads exclusively, my present employer having almost a thousand of them in the field. They’re built well, last, and I’ve had a decent to good overall experience with technical support.

My only complaint with Thinkpads is the (IMHO) mediocre video cards they put in them. I personally want something a little more robust with the an eye for 3D, (I admit I like to play games.) but other than that I believe Thinkpads to be solid and reliable performers in a mobile environment.

[pcasciola]

I am writing this on a Toshiba Satellite Pro SP10 with the screen running @ 1920 x 1200. :D

Cheers

NNice!!! I didn't even know they made that. How to you think that screen compares to the HP Brightview or Sony XBrite (The two models I "thought" I had it narrowed down to until just now).

I can't find the Toshiba Satellite Pro SP10 specifications anywhere. I see a lot of their notebooks support 1920x1440 on the external video connection, but I don't see any that have that high resolution of an LCD. Maybe it's not a US model?

[neil_r]

Nice!!! I didn't even know they made that. How to you think that screen compares to the HP Brightview or Sony XBrite (The two models I "thought" I had it narrowed down to until just now).
Being totaly honest and non partisan, The Sony XBright pips it, I don't know the HP Product. Tosh is less expensive than Sony in the UK.

http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.com/cgi-bin/ToshibaCSG/product_page.jsp?service=EU&PRODUCT_ID=85895&toshibaShop=reseller

Cheers

N

[pcasciola]

Following your link, I cannot find any of their notebooks with 1920x1440 resolution on the LCD, only the external video. The internal LCD on the A40 is listed as 1024x768. I'd be really interested to know if I can get this model here, because I'd rather stick with Toshiba except that I haven't seen this high res LCD you have.

[neil_r]

Just rechecked my Laptop,

It is a Toshiba Satellit Pro SP10-804 Model No PSP10E-34FJR-EN, Pentium 4 WiFi and Nvidia G-Force FX. And It is running @ 1920 x 1200 (32bit) on the internal (attached) wide screen. I bought it through my Company on a purchase b4 tax deal.
Not sure if this is significant or not but on the plate with the model number it also states "Toshiba Europe Ltd GMBH"

Hope this helps

N

(P.S. If you can tell me how to do a screen capture I will post it)

[pcasciola]

I did some searches and it looks like that's a U.K. only model. I can't believe they wouldn't offer at least one model here with that display. I am looking for something exactly like what you have as a desktop replacement at home.