My girlfriend needs advice on photography laptop

[jaypie77]

My girlfriend is going to take advantage of my recent lens purchase to get a double rebate on a new 300D tomorrow. She wants to get a laptop that is powerful enough for processing, etc... that she can take with her during extended periods of travel (cross-country road-trip). For this reason, being extremely light is not that important (more portable than a desktop), nor is a long battery-life (since she can recharge in cars or hotels). I haven't bought a laptop recently, so I didn't know if there were any recent experiences that anybody might have had with laptops and portable photo processing and storage solutions. Target price range is $1000 - $1500 USD.

[tim]

The main thing is to get lots of RAM - 1GB is fine. Most processors are pretty damn fast these days, so don't spend a lot to upgrade from say a 3400 to a 3800. A good graphics card will help, as will a good size/quality screen.

[alan sh]

You need to decide on Windows based or Apple Mac based. I would suggest Windows if she/you use it at work or want to do other things with it - software is cheaper and there is much more of it.

Then, what software will she use to process the photos ? Don't forget to allocate some money towards that.

So, you then need loads of RAM - as suggested, 1gb is good - 512mb is minimum. You also need oodles of disk space. a 40Gb disk is not unreasonable.

If, however, all you need is something to store the raw photos on untill you get home, look for small devices such as the Epnson P2000 or the Fastrax (?) devices. They have a 20/40 gb disk and can display jpg photos to look at.

Alan

[tim]

A 40GB disk is small - go for 80 or 120GB I rekon. Disk's cheap these days.

[wibbly]

A 40GB disk is small - go for 80 or 120GB I rekon. Disk's cheap these days.

And as was said earlier, it depends on the purpose of the laptop. I wouldn't trust my precious trip photos to a single hard disk in a laptop. Consider some combination of other media for back up whilst on the trip:

- Large CF cards (the most robust solution, I think, depending how many photos she thinks may be keepers over the trip)
- CD or DVD writer
- (2nd, external) hard disk drive


J

[DaveG]

My girlfriend is going to take advantage of my recent lens purchase to get a double rebate on a new 300D tomorrow. She wants to get a laptop that is powerful enough for processing, etc... that she can take with her during extended periods of travel (cross-country road-trip). For this reason, being extremely light is not that important (more portable than a desktop), nor is a long battery-life (since she can recharge in cars or hotels). I haven't bought a laptop recently, so I didn't know if there were any recent experiences that anybody might have had with laptops and portable photo processing and storage solutions. Target price range is $1000 - $1500 USD.
I needed to buy a notebook computer a year ago for a specific commercial job which paid for the computer, although it wasn't very profitable after that!

Anyway I'd say that the criteria I'd have now would be:

- DVD burner rather than CD burner. I shoot with a 20D and a card full of RAW files fill up a CD quickly. A principal use for the notebook was to get image from the camera, to hard drive, to CD/DVD, in the field and the CD's are looking smaller everyday.

- A built in CF card reader. I bought a PCMCIA card adapter, andit works well, but built in CF card readers are common options now.

- Wi-Fi. All but the cheapest notebooks will have this built in and it's wonderful to be able to find a hotspot, have a cup of coffee, and be able to move images in the field. If she's staying in motels they are almost cerrtainly wi-fi enabled, so she can email home. ;-) Many programs need to be intenet enabled now (Photoshop CS) and this might be the easiest way to connect. It'll also let her network the notebook to her home computer for very little money.

- Memory/microprocessor. The faster the microprocessor and the more memory she has will make processing images quicker. But you pay a big premium to have these resources in a notebook. If she gets 512Meg of RAM make sure that it's on one chip. I have 512Meg but it's on two chips and they take up both memory slots. If I want to upgrade to a Gig of RAM I now have to throw away some perfectly good memory. Instead of just being able to purchase one more 512Meg chip I'd have to buy two!

My notebook is not my primary computer and my goal is to get they images to CD/DVD as quickly as possible, so a large hard drive isn't all that important to me. Mine came with a 40Gig hard drive but now 60Gig seems to be the entry level size. Since 40 has been fine for me the 60 looks like a nice bonus.

- Mouse. Plan on buying one right away. The little built in mousey pad thing in mine is neat but is as useful as a dirty CMOS. I got a little retractible corded optical mouse and it works great. For big jobs I bring a full size roller ball with me.

[wibbly]

I shoot with a 20D and a card full of RAW files fill up a CD quickly.

The original poster didn't say if their girlfirend would likely be shooting RAW. DPReview claims a 300D in large/fine jpg mode takes ~3.1MB. So a 1GB card will hold 300+ images. Cards are quite inexpensive these days. If you take 3 or 4, that may more than meet a backup requirement for even a long holiday full of high quality jpg's you want to keep? Just don't delete them off the camera, and change cards when they get full. Just a thought - it may make the laptop part of the solution a little easier.

Personally, I've not found inexpensive laptops have good enough screens for serious photo editing. The user's viewing angle and the the position of the screen changes the contrast/colours too much. And you only have to move your head a few degrees and the picture looks completely different!

So why does your girlfriend want to edit the pictures whilst on holiday? Preparing them to look good in print may be very difficult/unreliable on a low cost laptop's screen. If it's to show them off (which is why I used to take a laptop), I've found just using a convenient TV is as good a way as any. The 300D has video out...

John

[jaypie77]

Thanks for all the comments, I appreciate all the input I can get. Since she is new to digital, she'll probably be using JPEG for a while until she gets some experience with RAW, on the other hand, because she's new to the camera, she might want to shoot raw so that she doesn't miss anything...

She'd like the laptop to be able to process because she will eventually use it as her main computer (and she might dock it with a CRT in the future). It's not ideal, but there is a financial limit to what she's willing to purchase.

[wibbly]

There are may (even pros) who don't "do" RAW. RAW isn't always best. Especially for beginners, it makes the 'processing' workflow more complex, even if it is more flexible.

I would look carefully at the need for the laptop for just photography when travelling. It *may* be more effective to go for a desktop at home. Laptops get a hard life and often break (especially the low cost ones). If it's a 'main machine' there's the risk of all her 'main' data will be lost if it breaks or is stolen, as well.

Travelling = camera kit and flash cards
Home = Desktop PC with good screen to start with, so editing is ok = better power/$ too, so maybe less $$$ as a solution.

Of course a laptop on the road has other uses, and takes less space at home, so these decisions are not always easy.

John

[jaypie77]

I don't think a desktop is really an option for her. She is fairly mobile right now and wants to remain so. I know that I would go for the desktop first and grab something portable depending on what I could afford, but she would really prefer a laptop.

[DaveG]

There are may (even pros) who don't "do" RAW. RAW isn't always best. Especially for beginners, it makes the 'processing' workflow more complex, even if it is more flexible.

I would look carefully at the need for the laptop for just photography when travelling. It *may* be more effective to go for a desktop at home. Laptops get a hard life and often break (especially the low cost ones). If it's a 'main machine' there's the risk of all her 'main' data will be lost if it breaks or is stolen, as well.

Travelling = camera kit and flash cards
Home = Desktop PC with good screen to start with, so editing is ok = better power/$ too, so maybe less $$$ as a solution.

Of course a laptop on the road has other uses, and takes less space at home, so these decisions are not always easy.

John
Although this is a bit off topic, the complexity of RAW comes up all of the time. If you use Canon software perhaps it is complex but if you use the Camera RAW portion of Photoshop CS or Elements III you'll find that it's MUCH simpler than messing with levels in the main program.

RAW preserves as much information as the initial exposure can have and you can revisit that information as your skills improve. There's no lost information caused by in-camera white balance decisions and you CAN'T overwrite a RAW file like you can a jpeg. You can delete it, but not overwrite it since if you try you must choose to save it as a jpeg. psd, tif (or whatever) file while the .crw/.cr2 RAW file is preserved.

The only advantage of jpegs are if you need to conserve card space, and I've been there; or you know (for sure, for certain, no doubt, can't revisit this decision later) that you'll only need small files. A grad prom photographer may decide that 4x6's are as big a print as they will make, and the lights are carefully metered so there's no variation from shot to shot. But for most of us it's about quality and I wouldn't want to close any doors.

I wouldn't want to get back from a trip and find out that I had a corrupted card. I mean I'm in a national park and do some shooting. I download it to the notebook and the card has failed. Not good but since I'm still there I can go and do a re-shoot with a good card. Or I can find out about the bad card when I get home. I also like to have things stored in as many places as I can. The hard drive on the notebook is good, but a CD is even better.

[skyphix]

FWIW, Dell is having some great deals on laptops right now.

[Mark Mathews]

Well I guess I'm the only Mac user replying; I love my G4 powerbook (15"). Slim, light, long battery life, rugged. There must be a reason why EVERY graphic designer, pro photographer, and art directors, publishers etc. I've met in 25 years of commercial photo work (not counting the prepress scanner operators and pressmen) uses Macs. I admit I'm not a collector of software; Photoshop being my main workhorse, and I don't believe it any more expensive for a Mac. I only wish they'd come out with a G5 laptop. You get what you pay for, mainly a superior operating system.

[Pelao]

It's very important to assess the overall computing needs.

In terms of Operating System I would advise Mac. It's significantly more stable and requires less management and maintenance. Viruses, spyware etc are not an issue. The most used software is available in Mac and Windows versions.

If mobility is important a 12" PowerBook is ideal. Lots of power, very strong and reliable. You can take it out of the box, charge it up and it's ready to manage your shots. The latest version of iPhoto has editing tools way beyond what casual users require. If you need more PS and PSE3 are of course available. When you return home it takes mere seconds to plug it in to a larger screen if required, and such screens are becoming cheaper every day. The PowerBook comes with a CD and/or a DVD burner. Outside software is not required to use the burner - it's all part of the OS.

Be very wary regarding the assertion that Macs are more expensive. Once you bring most Windows machines up to the same standard and add the needed decent software the price differential is minimal.

In terms of lifetime value Macs are a much better investment. A more stable and secure operating environment means more uptime, and more focus on what you are trying to achieve.

Whichever machine you purchase, think carefully about your needs over the next 3 years. As others have noted, get a big HD (60+ GB) and 1GB RAM.

[Canuck]

I'd go Mac and not look back. I am using a Mac iBook, hooked up to a 19" monitor and it rocks!

[pdrow]

I use a Dell laptop as my primary computer. I was using a dinosaur desktop and was miserable. I do have a great CRT monitor that I hook up to do major editing like color correction. For the targeted price range, you can get a lot of computer. I really do enjoy the DVD burner. I backed up all of my photos this last week. That was quick and easy.

As mentioned before, Dell is promoting some great deals. Because we were buying 3- one for me and two cheaper ones for our kids- I only bought 512 and a 40 gig harddrive. I do huge files in photoshop and have had no problem at all. I do empty my trash and the ps cache as well as performing the routine maintainance. I also burn my photos off onto a dvd and only keep a few gig of photos on the harddrive.

Also, with windows xp you can utilize the laptop monitor and the additional monitor at the same time.

good luck
pam