portable laptop

[jPadilla]

well, it's that time again.

i'm looking for a new laptop...

requirements:

ultra portable
able to process raw files
very light editing in cs4

that's about it. everything else i need it for will be found in any laptop. and any major editing will be handled by my desktop.

i've been looking at the dell 14z for it's size and cost.
http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-studio-14z/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-studio-14z&cs=19&s=dhs

i'm a windows guy. mac recommendations will be falling on def ears.

i shoot with a 30D but will be upgrading a 5DII soon...

any thoughts?

[basroil]

for "ultra" portable, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220632&cm_re=asus_ul30-_-34-220-632-_-Product

for very portable (about same size as 14z), just look at 13.3" computers with a regular laptop cpu, the studio xps 13 is a nice machine, quite small. You can also get a macbook (gasp) and run windows on it (safe!, didn't think I would say that now would you)

[MaxxuM]

i shoot with a 30D but will be upgrading a 5DII soon...

any thoughts?

I don't have much experience in that middle ground of computers except for the MacBook Pro series - but I've done some testing with my own laptop which is a 2.5GHz MacBook Pro and sample photos from a 5DMKII. I cannot remember off the top of my head what the exact numbers where, but if you're talking about importing and editing then you're probably going to want something a little faster than 2.2GHz. If you're going to be exporting (say, from RAW to PSD or TIFFs) I would highly recommend you get something above 2.4GHz. The one basroil pointed out would probably take longer than 20-30 seconds to export a single 5DMKII file from RAW to another format. Just my 2 cents gleaned from experience.

[basroil]

I don't have much experience in that middle ground of computers except for the MacBook Pro series - but I've done some testing with my own laptop which is a 2.5GHz MacBook Pro and sample photos from a 5DMKII. I cannot remember off the top of my head what the exact numbers where, but if you're talking about importing and editing then you're probably going to want something a little faster than 2.2GHz. If you're going to be exporting (say, from RAW to PSD or TIFFs) I would highly recommend you get something above 2.4GHz. The one basroil pointed out would probably take longer than 20-30 seconds to export a single 5DMKII file from RAW to another format. Just my 2 cents gleaned from experience.

CULV is about as powerful, maybe a bit more so for media stuff, than my core duo, and that takes between 10s and 20s depending on the editing and output size. Part of that is drive speed limitation though, only have a 5400rpm drive in it (at that time, 7200rpm drive options were not even 80gb, and even then, took about three times the power of a 5400rpm drive, killing battery life).

[jPadilla]

okay, thanks for the quick responses...

i tend to pop in and out of the computer market and with all the advancements in tech i seem to find myself behind the times a lot...

basroil...with that being said, what advantages do you see in the system you recommended over the 14z? maybe i'm missing something but this is what i see:

14z
C2D T6600 2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache (upgradable to C2D P8700 2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3MB cache for $125)
NVIDIA® GeForce® 9400M G chipset
250gb 5.4k HD
720p LED display
3gb shared DDR3 at 1066mhz
weight 4.3lbs

asus
C2D SU7300 1.3Ghz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache
Intel GS45 chipset/Intel GMA 4500MHD
320gb 5.4k HD
1366x768 LED
4GB DDR3 at 1066mhz
weight 3.74lbs

i see the 14z as being almost 75% faster but having a smaller cache. i also believe it will consume more power ie shorter battery life. this doesn't really bother me so much. the resolution is a tad bit lower on the 14z as well as a smaller hard drive. i'd pay the $50 to upgrade the 14z to a 250gb 7.2k drive anyway. it's 1/2lb heavier but i doubt that would be a bother compared to the dino i have now! it has less ram but i'd end up upgrading that myself.

as configured, i've upgraded the 14z to the better processor and the 7.2k drive for $924...

under $1000 seems to be my price point...

i'm not looking for something state-of-the-art or blazing fast but something that is going to be able to get the job done...my current laptop is an inspiron 6000 which won't even run photoshop. and, as i said before, for intense editing, i've got a C2Q with 8gb ram and a 9800GT for that...

[jPadilla]

alright, now i'm looking at the studio xps 13. i can bump it up a little bit. maybe 11-1200

[MaxxuM]

CULV is about as powerful, maybe a bit more so for media stuff, than my core duo, and that takes between 10s and 20s depending on the editing and output size. Part of that is drive speed limitation though, only have a 5400rpm drive in it (at that time, 7200rpm drive options were not even 80gb, and even then, took about three times the power of a 5400rpm drive, killing battery life).


I tried to look up some benchmarks on the SU7300 vs T series and could not find any (just a quick search), but the SU series is weighed against netbook CPU's all over the place. I can only assume that means it's in an entirely difference class of processors - netbook+ class. I'd be willing to bet exporting 100 photos from such a computer would at the very least take 40+ minutes. If you're willing to wait that long, go with a netbook. I have a Lenovo S10 and it's great for importing and image storage on the go, but that's about it.

[basroil]

I tried to look up some benchmarks on the SU7300 vs T series and could not find any (just a quick search), but the SU series is weighed against netbook CPU's all over the place. I can only assume that means it's in an entirely difference class of processors - netbook+ class. I'd be willing to bet exporting 100 photos from such a computer would at the very least take 40+ minutes. If you're willing to wait that long, go with a netbook. I have a Lenovo S10 and it's great for importing and image storage on the go, but that's about it.

SU is generally about three times as fast as atom processors, and about linear with standard core 2 processors in terms of performance per MHz (maybe a bit higher). So it'll be much faster than 40+ min. In fact, the 1.4gh su9400 has almost the exact same specs as my 2gh t2500 (corresponds well with the 40% improvement in calculations per clock). last time i had to do road import and editing, imported about 200 photos, culled all and edited about 5%, all in about half an hour.

okay, thanks for the quick responses...

i tend to pop in and out of the computer market and with all the advancements in tech i seem to find myself behind the times a lot...

basroil...with that being said, what advantages do you see in the system you recommended over the 14z? maybe i'm missing something but this is what i see:

14z
C2D T6600 2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache (upgradable to C2D P8700 2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3MB cache for $125)
NVIDIA® GeForce® 9400M G chipset
250gb 5.4k HD
720p LED display
3gb shared DDR3 at 1066mhz
weight 4.3lbs

asus
C2D SU7300 1.3Ghz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache
Intel GS45 chipset/Intel GMA 4500MHD
320gb 5.4k HD
1366x768 LED
4GB DDR3 at 1066mhz
weight 3.74lbs

i see the 14z as being almost 75% faster but having a smaller cache. i also believe it will consume more power ie shorter battery life. this doesn't really bother me so much. the resolution is a tad bit lower on the 14z as well as a smaller hard drive. i'd pay the $50 to upgrade the 14z to a 250gb 7.2k drive anyway. it's 1/2lb heavier but i doubt that would be a bother compared to the dino i have now! it has less ram but i'd end up upgrading that myself.

as configured, i've upgraded the 14z to the better processor and the 7.2k drive for $924...

under $1000 seems to be my price point...

i'm not looking for something state-of-the-art or blazing fast but something that is going to be able to get the job done...my current laptop is an inspiron 6000 which won't even run photoshop. and, as i said before, for intense editing, i've got a C2Q with 8gb ram and a 9800GT for that...

standard core 2 duo chips are between 25 and 35TDW, SU versions are slower, but only 10TDW. that means on average you'll get about double the battery life. Like I said though, all on what your definition of portable is, and also how much power you need

EDIT: Also now ran benching with SSE extensions, SU9400 is about 20% faster, but not sure how much LR2 will make use of SSE extensions