Netbook Practicality?

[colbyb25]

With the recent rise in popularity, it seems netbooks are all over the place. I wanted to get some hands on experience from some of the photographers on this forum who utilize these machines. What are they practical for? What are they not? I just sold my old 12in G4 PowerMac and have been thinking about picking one of these up to use when traveling abroad to shoot, which I do alot. The PowerMac was just too heavy and cumbersome for me. Any and all advice is welcome.

[Deerio]

I use mine to store my photos during my trips. Quite handy for that, but no use editing pictures. External HD gives a nice backup capacity also.

[ed rader]

With the recent rise in popularity, it seems netbooks are all over the place. I wanted to get some hands on experience from some of the photographers on this forum who utilize these machines. What are they practical for? What are they not? I just sold my old 12in G4 PowerMac and have been thinking about picking one of these up to use when traveling abroad to shoot, which I do alot. The PowerMac was just too heavy and cumbersome for me. Any and all advice is welcome.


depends on what you need a laptop for. my wife uses a laptop as a portable office...she's a teacher. she said she'd like to have a netbook but it couldn't take the place of her laptop.

the only time i use a laptop is when i go out of town. and i use it mostly for internet and storing and viewing my RAW files. a netbook isn't practical for editing files unless you want to e-mail someome a snapshot or make a quick posting to the net.

for me the netbook has taken the place of my laptop as well as my epson p3000.

ed rader

[colbyb25]

depends on what you need a laptop for. my wife uses a laptop as a portable office...she's a teacher. she said she'd like to have a netbook but it couldn't take the place of her laptop.

the only time i use a laptop is when i go out of town. and i use it mostly for internet and storing and viewing my RAW files. a netbook isn't practical for editing files unless you want to e-mail someomne a picture or make a quick posting to the net.

for me the netbook has taken the place of my laptop as well as my epson p3000.

ed rader

Which netbook do you have? Do you recommend it or another one that is newer? I like the idea of the netbook. It is small, light and portable.

[mitchella68]

I use a Dell xps m1730 and a Asus G1s to do most of my work. Both are color calibrated. I am happy with them both, I wouldn't mind a matt screen at times. I spent allot of time looking at different desktops and notebook and aside from having a nice 24" display I don't feel I missed anything

[ed rader]

]Which netbook do you have? Do you recommend it or another one that is newer?[/COLOR] I like the idea of the netbook. It is small, light and portable.

i have the HP mini 1033CL. what i like about it is .....

-- 10" screen (very good quality LCD)

-- "large" keyboard and mouse pad

-- windows XP

-- 2.38 lbs

the only possible negative is the HD is only 60gb and 160gb is pretty common now.

i would recommend it but also shop around because netbooks are getting cheaper and more feature-packed by the day.

ed rader

[That_Fox]

I use my MacBook Air as portable computer. It goes with my on shoots that encompass multiple days and I load the pictures onto see how they are coming out, see what I need to do for the next day, etc. I can do editing on it like photoshop, although it doesn't replace my main computer for all the editing. Although I have to admit that it is pretty powerful and I would recommend it, as it is plenty portable and is a lot more full featured than most netbooks.

[ed rader]

I use my MacBook Air as portable computer. It goes with my on shoots that encompass multiple days and I load the pictures onto see how they are coming out, see what I need to do for the next day, etc. I can do editing on it like photoshop, although it doesn't replace my main computer for all the editing. Although I have to admit that it is pretty powerful and I would recommend it, as it is plenty portable and is a lot more full featured than most netbooks.

how about the cost...what does jobs get for that puppy :D?

ed rader

[cicopo]

HP is introducing a new version of what I have, which is the HP 2133 mini, which has an 8.9 inch screen with 1280 X 768 resolution . The new model adds the 10.1 inch screen with an optional screen upgrade on some versions that will go to 1366 X 768 resolution. The basic screen will be 1024 X 576, and the basic size stays the same as my 2133. The new model is a 2140 mini
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/sm/WF25a/321957-321957-64295-306995-306995-3872994.html

From reading other forums with similar discussions the best VALUE right now is supposed to be the Asus 1000HE, but like most it's 1024 X 576

[Supa Lao]

Does anybody have a dell mini 9? I hear they make good hackintosh from my research on it.

[Dave.H]

I use mine to store my photos during my trips. Quite handy for that, but no use editing pictures. External HD gives a nice backup capacity also.


x2

Display is far from ideal to edit photos but great for backup on a trip and to send family the occasional snap shot.

[Stinger]

The screens are small and too low res for editing images, and the processing power is right at the bottom end for all currently available netbooks. I think there wil be some models that come out in the not too distant future that are better suited. In the meantime, my solution is to use an ultra portable, 12" screen, and much lighter and thinner than the netbooks with twice the procesing power and 1280 x 800 res... the downside, they cost about 3x the price of a netbook.

[anon1010]

I have a 12 inch G4 IBook and a 15 inch G4 Powerbook. I just bought the Acer 100 with the 160 hd and 5 hour battery. I am a public defender and use the Acer on nights when I teach because it is lightweight and I can drag it around all day. I can't tell a difference in processing speed b/w the Acer and the Apples, but I can tell a big difference in the weight.

I hate Windows, but I'll suffer (there are directions on the web on how to load Mac OS, but it looked like an aggravation).

The Acer touchpad is annoying. The buttons are very narrow and are on the left and right of the touchpad. I usually use the mouse.

I've used mine for word processing and making presentations in PowerPoint. It's also handy for back-up photo storage when I'm out of town. I would not use it for any serious photo manipulation.

[c2thew]

don't go with the dell mini 9. it has no wifi.

the reasons you should buy a netbook
1) wifi for checking email and surfing
2) typing during lectures
3) storing data temporarily between shoots and such.

i have yet to move some photo editing programs onto my samsung nc10. will do so within the week. it fits into my flipside 300 pretty nicely, though i have to remove it every time i want to use my camera.

[jcw122]

Like others have said, only practical if you want:
-web browsing
-typing
-simple storage

But not practical if you need to run a powerful program, as they are not powerful computers by design. They have minimalist intentions.

[Josh_30]

don't go with the dell mini 9. it has no wifi.

the reasons you should buy a netbook
1) wifi for checking email and surfing
2) typing during lectures
3) storing data temporarily between shoots and such.

i have yet to move some photo editing programs onto my samsung nc10. will do so within the week. it fits into my flipside 300 pretty nicely, though i have to remove it every time i want to use my camera.

A 802.11g card is listed on the equipment list on Dell's website.

[eastcoast909]

Hmmm. I run a MSI wind, and am not sure what is meant by not practical for running a powerful program.

I run paint shop pro 9.1 no problem on this, have had CS2 but deleted it as it was taking up too much space and really is not practical on such a small screen.

All the MS Office programs are here and function no problem.

Will it run the current games? Nope, but neither will my desktop.

Would I use this as a graphic editor machine? No, or rather only with an external monitor.

We bought this for geocaching and it works very well for this, and you can combat web surf, or find a hot spot in most cases. Comes with WiFi and bluetooth built in.

Hard drive is 80Gbyte, but can be up-graded to 500 Gbyte easily. Most of the net books are similar in size and capability. My son has the EEEPC and I like the build of that machine better. Ed has the hp and I've heard good things about that also.

Bottom line. All excel at portability, some are better at battery consumption, EEEPC I believe is the best, but I run on adapter most time and have a small adapter in my car when required. Price can't be beat.

I do not like the touch pad on this machine and use an external mouse. I download any pictures that I need to the machine but usually only use this for viewing only, sometimes with minimul editing in PS.

I love this machine and use it almost exclusively.

Hope this helps,

John

[Supa Lao]

don't go with the dell mini 9. it has no wifi.

the reasons you should buy a netbook
1) wifi for checking email and surfing
2) typing during lectures
3) storing data temporarily between shoots and such.

I see:Wireless Networking Cards
Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
Listed on there website.
You can get refurbished mini 9 for just a little over $200 with the 15% off coupon at dell's outlet.

[ed rader]

does the mini 9 have a 9" screen? if so you can get netbooks with 10" screens that are as small or smaller. one feature that i insisted on was 10" screen.

ed rader

[JayCee Images]

For photo editing they are entirely worthless...for viewing or just to have some extra storage space, their great! If you need something portable that will let you get on the web for super cheap, they are also a bargain.

[SuzyView]

I have the ASUS HA with 2 GB of RAM, I added the new module.

It's not the fastest out there, and I have an external DVD writer, and a CF card reader. But it's very small and I paid $399, but some have gotten them for around $299. I like it a lot. But I have a 17 inch Dell I take to pro shoots for editing. I can't travel now with out both.

[cicopo]

There isn't a single correct answer. If one meets your needs it's practical, but is it worth the cost? Can you use one to edit? YES; but not easily compared to a nice big screen desktop or laptop. I use mine for travel, and size & weight are extremely important because I travel heavy. I take several pieces of Scuba gear, some lenses, 2 bodies, batteries, an underwater camera (G9) and strobes for it, a 430 & 580EX flash in either my carry on or camera bag (personal item) PLUS either a laptop or Netbook and a change of cloths. I am a member of a travel forum, and last trip I edited & uploaded several hundred photos using my Netbook for forum members to enjoy the day they were shot, and for that use it was perfect. Once home I re checked the photos I had uploaded and for that use I was happy with my edits exactly as done.
A few years ago I had to go to Kauai for my daughter's wedding, and that was not that long after buying my 20D (a big upgrade from an Olympus C-3030) so I bought a very low end used laptop off of Ebay to store photos because back then memory cards were expensive (In Canada a 1Gig quality card was over $150). Not only was I able to back up my photos but I was also able to upload the wedding photos (lowered the resolution) so that those at home could see the wedding photos within a few hours of the event. It all comes down to what you need vs what you're willing to pay vs what's available. For me, and I think I jumped too early & paid too much) I'm still very happy with what I bought for my needs. Mine does EVERYTHING I bought it to do, and compared to the cost of a Hyperdrive with similar storage I'm happy to carry the extra weight.

[elbowbone]

I have the HP MINI 1000 and I bought this unit specifically for travel. The ideas was that it can serve as a backup drive for my photos and also give me access to web accounts, email, flikr,etc and allow for basic computing (word processing, spreadsheets, etc). I've had since November '08 and here's my verdict.

I am happy with size and portability. Its great for what I wanted it to do. Only issue is the screen. The 10" wide screen format is the smallest I would go. The screen is quite short and make reading webpages for any significant amount of time a chore. The avavilable processing power is acceptable for what I use it for, but it might be underpowered for anyone looking to do more than the above.

Just my $.02.

[toksuede]

My two cents is that it's worth it.

1. Price
I bought my Samsung NC10 for about 300 pounds with the 2GB RAM. MB Air costs at least triple or quadruple that.

2. Performance
I shoot football professionally and since I have been using the netbook, I have had ZERO problems with it. Sure, I hate windows and mac is a superior operating system, but if you streamline your work process with your netbook, you shouldn't have any problems with it. I run Photo Mechanic, Thunderbird, and Fireforx at the same time and the performance speed is fine with me. But I don't think I will be editing my photos with this machine as the screen is less than ideal for that.

3. Battery
The NC10 lasts around 4-5 hours with full screen brightness and max performance. If I did that with my MB Pro, I'd be happy to be running for 2 hours.

4. Weight
No frills airplane is my friend and is my worst enemy. I hate them, but I need them to fly to football matches on a weekly basis. It's godsend for freelancers like myself, but you have to lighten your equipment to qualify your equipment as a carry on. The netbook weighs at least half of MB Pro and it's 25% smaller. Can't beat it.

5. Storage
Do you really need more than 160GB?

6. Keyboard
The keys are big, but the trackpad is not really all that. But they are totally useful.

And really, it's one of the best decisions I've ever made in terms of equipment purchase.

But if you don't need it, don't buy it.

[50D Newbe]

Can a movie be watched on these? Say if you down load a movie from Itunes... For plane trips?

[stathunter]

http://www.amazon.com/10-Inch-Netbook-Processor-Storage-Bluetooth/dp/B001QTXL82/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241439615&sr=8-1

I bought this one with a 160gb hard drive-- love it. I use it to back up cards during dinner at weddings. I wished that Apple made a netbook like this-- rumor is that that might be coming. Until then this is what I carry in my bag.

[minhi]

i just bought an msi wind for a friend and she seems to like it. me i think it would be a great second laptop or for weekends/short trips where i'd want a laptop but not willing to carry a full size one.

there's no right answer, it's like asking what the perfect focal length is for someone or whether the 24-70 or 24-105 is best for someone. it depends on your use and expectations.

but one thing you've got going for you is that these things are cheap i picked up the msi wind for less then $300. i also like that the wind uses 2.5 sata laptop drives. the idea of flash storage is great but if you want to use it for offloading pictures i think 16G (or even 32G) would run out fast.

as far as hackintosh, well i've persuaded a few machines to use it and the wind was by far the easiest. the wireless support is not native (you have to use a 3rd party driver) but it works great.

[leroy_sunset]

I'm on my Mini 9 right now. I like it better than my wife's EEEPC, mostly because the keyboard is better suited for my larger fingers.

While its screen isn't suited for editing, you can get away with a lot if you're patient. I like to get my pics right when they come out of the camera :D so a lot of what I do involves Irfanview. Pretty good battery life, very decent wireless detection, and the processor isn't bad. I upped the RAM to 2 gigs, and if I ever get around to it, I'll upgrade the SSHD to a Runcore. I hear they run Hackintosh very well, and Windows 7 is supposed to be awesome. I'm running XP Pro because I'm lazy, and it's great.

Best part: cost me $234 with shipping, tax, and the RAM upgrade. That is a deal that can't be beat. Oh, and it weighs just a hair over 2 pounds (lighter than my wife's EEE). Fits perfectly in my camera backpack.

[donaldjl]

I've got the Lenovo S10, and I love it. It's the model with 160GB HDD, 2GB of RAM, and the six-cell battery.

We use it for general surfing, emails, light office work, photo storage, interacting with our GPS, and with my older copy of PS Elements 4.0 to do light resizing/cropping/unsharp masking, and posting photos to the web. Anything that needs "typical" or more serious editing is done on the large laptop at home or the desktop.

[50D Newbe]

Has anyone tried to watch a movie on one of these? I seem to fly alot and would like to be able to watch a movie on a plane.. Anybody?

[javanutsy]

After much research, I just ordered a Samsung NC10. Can't wait to receive it... I'm not looking to PP photos, but I'm sure it would come in handy for web surfing, emails, and photo storage when traveling.

[stathunter]

Has anyone tried to watch a movie on one of these? I seem to fly alot and would like to be able to watch a movie on a plane.. Anybody?

No problem -- mine worked fine.

[pdslowik]

+1 on the Lenovo S10. I absolutely love mine and the 10.1 inch LED screen. I upgraded to 2gb memory and 320gb HD. Easy upgrade.

What hasn't been mentioned yet is the S10 has built in Express Card 32 slot which gives you access to much more capability including eSATA adapter, Firewire adapter, and CF card readers.

[cicopo]

My HP 2133 also has the expresscard slot, and it recognizes SDHC cards in the SD slot. I haven't tried to play a movie but it is supposed to be able to do it. Odly enough though it won't boot up if my CF reading expresscard is installed. I need to pull it out for the boot sequence to complete.

[rossmcross]

How is editing/processing of RAW files?

i use a 40D and G10.

The G10 RAW files aren't compatible with CS3. Argh!

I'd like a netbook (Samsung NC10) for some editing/uploading whilst traveling.

And suggestions gratefully received!

ta

[JayCee Images]

How is editing/processing of RAW files?

i use a 40D and G10.

The G10 RAW files aren't compatible with CS3. Argh!

I'd like a netbook (Samsung NC10) for some editing/uploading whilst traveling.

And suggestions gratefully received!

ta

Slow...the screen is too small for any even halfway serious editing...plus, most have low res screens which makes it a nightmare or impossible to navigate alot of photo editing software.

[cicopo]

Seeing that this is active again I thought I would add links to 2 forums I have found that may be helpful. First is for HP Mini's

http://www.hp2133guide.com/

and one for the Asus EEEPC's

http://forum.eeeuser.com/

Maybe others can add any for the other brands.

[hollis_f]

For the Acer Aspire One

http://www.aspireoneuser.com/

[Obsidian]

I have a samsung nc10 and it runs lightroom and photoshop. Works very well.

[jtrchiang]

I have an 8.9" aspire one (the old single-core version). I'll ditto what everyone else is saying: if you are traveling, you simply can't beat its portability; but if you want to do serious editing, wait till you get home and use your desktop (or another more powerful laptop).

B the W, the max res. on 9" aspire one is 1024 * 600, which is smaller than the required resolution of the canon software suite.

[tdodd]

I don't have a netbook, and I can't set the resolution on my main laptop to 1024x576, but setting my screen resolution to 800x600, as an example, here is what Lightroom and DPP look like (see attachments). So DPP won't even run and you can imagine (I hope) what Lightroom might look like at 1024x576 - not great.

For travel purposes I use a 12.1" conventional laptop with a 1280x800 screen, a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB and 100GB. Although I have calibrated the screen it is not the best tool for editing. However, at least my little machine will run editing software properly and without too much scrolling. I would not bother with a netbook if it had to support photography demands as well as surfing and email. In fact, even for those modest demands, I'm not sure I'd be happy with that meagre resolution. My regular laptop (Dell XPS M1710) is 1920x1200 and there is a very good reason I chose to have that resolution.

[Jon]

The Aspire One, Asus Eee and other netbooks using the Intel graphics chipset let you run DPP or other applications that need high resolution with AsTray. The AsTray Plus (http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=18260) utility basically makes the physical screen a window into a larger virtual screen.

[Wilt]

Jon, am I missing something here...it seems that 1024 x 600 is the maximum resolution of AsTray Plan, which is no better than the current Asus Aspire provides out of the box.

[Jon]

I'm running my Aspire One at 1024x768 or larger on the built-in screen. I think those are just resolutions added to the default configuration in the latest (beta) version. I can set it to anything the display adapter supports, including 1400x1050 (my external monitor).

[pdslowik]

I haven't used the Lenovo S10 for much in way of hardcore image editing. I never intended to. But I've been very pleasantly surprised with it's quickness in every other way. I intended it for storage and offline viewing, sorting and tagging images and remote internet access and uploading. For that work you can't beat it.

[eelnoraa]

With the recent rise in popularity, it seems netbooks are all over the place. I wanted to get some hands on experience from some of the photographers on this forum who utilize these machines. What are they practical for? What are they not? I just sold my old 12in G4 PowerMac and have been thinking about picking one of these up to use when traveling abroad to shoot, which I do alot. The PowerMac was just too heavy and cumbersome for me. Any and all advice is welcome.

This is true 8 monthes to 1 year ago. Now, the netbook market is either saturated already or even shrinking. The initial attraction of the netlist is low price, small, light, long battery life. Now, the low price is no longer true as netbook price has gone up. I would high suggest picking up a Dell Vostro 13" laptop over any netbook. You give some some size and weight, but you gain lots of processing power, flexibility and battery life. This is my personal experience after having eeePC 901HA and Vostro 1330.

[Wilt]

Lots of netbooks still available with 8.9" screens; the newer ones are more expensive due to the size of the LCD going up to 10". The really cheap ones come only with a small SSD, but most now come with a 160GB harddrive. Also, the 6-cell long life batteries also add to the expense. You should easily find 8.9" 160GB 6-cell units at about $350.

[Jon]

Yep. as Wilt says, they're still out there. I wouldn't want one with more than a 9" screen - part of the appeal is that they fit in a regular camera bag seamlessly; I'm not toting a computer bag with room for a couple of lenses, but a camera bag that has a computer in the corner.

[hollis_f]

Yep. as Wilt says, they're still out there. I wouldn't want one with more than a 9" screen - part of the appeal is that they fit in a regular camera bag seamlessly; I'm not toting a computer bag with room for a couple of lenses, but a camera bag that has a computer in the corner.

Exactly! My Netbook isn't for doing loads of processing - that's why I have a decent laptop and a better desktop. It's for taking when I'm going abroad (when weight is critical) and I want storage for my images and the ability to cull obvious duds. The fact that it can (just about) run Lightroom is an added bonus - just in case I do want to process the odd one or two images.

[touch]

i've just bought the samsung NC10 and couldn't install photoshop as it says the screen resolution is too low - tried to alter the resolution in the system but to no avail. Can anybody with the NC10 help? Many thanks in advance

[kenyc]

I can't say I've used it extensively, but I have the Acer Aspire One and it works great. There are a variety of battery options and add-ons available. I would never use if for serious editing, but internet when traveling and data storage. My only issue with it is that it does not have build-in CF card reader (but does for SD).

I love it.

[Jon]

i've just bought the samsung NC10 and couldn't install photoshop as it says the screen resolution is too low - tried to alter the resolution in the system but to no avail. Can anybody with the NC10 help? Many thanks in advance
Quick and easy solution is to attach it to an external monitor. I don't know what graphics adapter it uses; if it's Intel's, AsTray may work on it.