Small laptop ?

[Karlo]

Hello there

I am looking for a small laptop that has enough juice to run PTgui Pro and a few other programs like DPP and Lightroom. It would be mainly used for on site panorama stitching and CD/DVD burning for clients.
PTgui will be working with anywhere from 8 to 64 15mp images stitching them to various formats.
Photoshop is not important here . And form factor to be as small as possible but have a cd/dvd burner and a bit more juice than an average netbook ?
Any recommendations ?
(no mac's thx )

[basroil]

Photoshop may not be important, but CPU power is. The dell m1330 and studio xps 13 are both fairly good, I'd start looking at the studio xps 13 first. Same power as a macbook pro 17" (up to the same cpu speed as the 17" MBP actually, base config is lower, but price is lower too), at the same price as a macbook pro 13". Starts at about $1k, but can get pretty expensive after a few upgrades.

[MaxxuM]

Like basroil said, that's a tall order for a notebook computer. Heck, desktops would huff and puff stitching 64 x 15MP images together. I wouldn't work with less than 3GHz, 4GB RAM and a 7200RPM HDD, best in class battery life and a small footprint/wight - that begins adding up. MacBook Pro's fill that catagory, but you don't want Mac so I would look into Asus gaming or elite business lines. Workstation laptops would be better, but you don't want a bulky/heavy laptop.

[Karlo]

Thanks for your responses, so indeed i would be looking at a really steep price . Might as well go MAC , could RAM on an unibody be added by user ? I was always digging the design but am afraid of glossy (glass ? ) screens .

[basroil]

Originally Posted by MaxxuM

Like basroil said, that's a tall order for a notebook computer. Heck, desktops would huff and puff stitching 64 x 15MP images together. I wouldn't work with less than 3GHz, 4GB RAM and a 7200RPM HDD, best in class battery life and a small footprint/wight - that begins adding up. MacBook Pro's fill that catagory, but you don't want Mac so I would look into Asus gaming or elite business lines. Workstation laptops would be better, but you don't want a bulky/heavy laptop.

No need to go that far, you can run the XPS13 with a 2.8gh processor and 4gb ram for under $1400. May be a bit slower, but with the difference in price he can get a real computer as well. No need for a $3k macbook pro you know..

Originally Posted by Karlo

Thanks for your responses, so indeed i would be looking at a really steep price . Might as well go MAC , could RAM on an unibody be added by user ? I was always digging the design but am afraid of glossy (glass ? ) screens .

You need to remember Maxxum loves to exaggerate the need for speed. No need for a big clunky MBP 17" if you can get a 13" laptop with nearly the same speed.

[MaxxuM]

Originally Posted by Karlo

Thanks for your responses, so indeed i would be looking at a really steep price . Might as well go MAC , could RAM on an unibody be added by user ? I was always digging the design but am afraid of glossy (glass ? ) screens .

Yes, you can add memory later, but there shouldn't be any need as 4GB is the minimum they ship with. Jumping to 8GB is pricey! The 15" now has the non-glossy option I believe and my 15" is extremely easy to carry around in my camera bag. It's super thin and pretty light.

Originally Posted by basroil

No need to go that far, you can run the XPS13 with a 2.8gh processor and 4gb ram for under $1400. May be a bit slower, but with the difference in price he can get a real computer as well. No need for a $3k macbook pro you know.

True, that is an OK laptop with the speed options - but the last time I did a 18 x 10MP pano my work Dell crapped out and it was 2.4GHz Core2Duo. I had to use my Mac Pro (my MBP was at home at the time).

Originally Posted by basroil

You need to remember Maxxum loves to exaggerate the need for speed. No need for a big clunky MBP 17" if you can get a 13" laptop with nearly the same speed.

Really? That's a first. I thought I made it clear that dependability was my number one concern right behind functionality and ease of use. You're always the one that's saying speed=cost, not I.

And when's the last time you did a 20+ x 15MP pano? I'd like to hear how that went on your laptop.

[basroil]

Originally Posted by MaxxuM

Really? That's a first. I thought I made it clear that dependability was my number one concern right behind functionality and ease of use. You're always the one that's saying speed=cost, not I.

And when's the last time you did a 20+ x 15MP pano? I'd like to hear how that went on your laptop.

You said it needed to be 3ghz+ ("I wouldn't work with less than 3GHz, 4GB RAM and a 7200RPM HDD"), I simply said that though the XPS13 does only 2.8, it's not that much slower. And laptop chips really don't need to be fast, if you need speed you go for a small quadcore desktop to take with you and set up.

And I didn't, highest I've tried on my laptop was maybe 7x10mp, and then the memory ran out on my 2gb ram laptop. I just use my desktop for anything that actually needs to be run, and the cost of that XPS13+ my entire rig (including monitors) is under $3k, so you get speed, portability, and three monitors to work with. My vote was always on desktop+laptop, since you rarely do major editing on the run anyway (op may be different, I don't know).

[pwm2]

GHz isn't the only factor involved. Amount of processor cache makes a huge difference for some applications. And amount of RAM and the type/speed of the RAM.

[Karlo]

Well you guys just managed to get me puzzled ... I would no way give 1k$ for 8gb RAM is there a chance that they are user installable ?
And yes i would do post processing on the road as by what i offer i deliver the same day to the client - it seems the faster the turnaround time you give them more clients like your services and i am just starting so i need every client i can get.
I am not a computer newbie but i never owned a notebook only desktops and so far i managed to customize my for all i need and its fast and efficient thats just what i want from my notebook to be able to stitch a pano and burn a DVD without locking up 15 times in 30 minutes.

BTW whats the chance of MBP's being updated in near future ? I would hate to buy one and see an update roll out 1 month after that (my luck).

[MaxxuM]

Originally Posted by Karlo

Well you guys just managed to get me puzzled ... I would no way give 1k$ for 8gb RAM is there a chance that they are user installable ?
And yes i would do post processing on the road as by what i offer i deliver the same day to the client - it seems the faster the turnaround time you give them more clients like your services and i am just starting so i need every client i can get.
I am not a computer newbie but i never owned a notebook only desktops and so far i managed to customize my for all i need and its fast and efficient thats just what i want from my notebook to be able to stitch a pano and burn a DVD without locking up 15 times in 30 minutes.

BTW whats the chance of MBP's being updated in near future ? I would hate to buy one and see an update roll out 1 month after that (my luck).

You'll only save around $200 (last time I checked) if you buy them yourself - that's still around $800. Such big SODIMM's are still very expensive . People spend the extra $200 to have the Apple warranty.

When you start going over 15 10MP pano's most computers will have to start swaping out to the hard drive because they don't have enough memory. If you're going over 20 15MP images at once, you're going to need every single gig you can get. Personally, I wouldn't use anything less than 8GB. The most I believe I tried on my Mac Pro was 30 x 10MP.

If this is going to be your main computer I would seriously start looking at Dell workstation laptops and Apple 15/17" laptops with 8GB memory. I would also convert RAWs to JPEG's for the pano's. That's too much to ask of a laptop, even many consumer rigs.

Just curious, what are you using now to create these images?

[Karlo]

When i shoot for clients i shoot JPEG so i will not need raw conversion most of the time, i have my x2 8gb deskktoop as my main pc so i am looking for a "sidekick" for my pc. apps used will be mostly PTgui and kolor pano giga version.

[SuzyView]

I just bought a Toshiba U505 13.3 inch laptop. It is not the top model, but it has 4 gb RAM, 320 GB HD, DVD writer and is under $750. It's wonderful to use and now includes the window 7 upgrade free. I got it from Costco.

[basroil]

Originally Posted by Karlo

When i shoot for clients i shoot JPEG so i will not need raw conversion most of the time, i have my x2 8gb deskktoop as my main pc so i am looking for a "sidekick" for my pc. apps used will be mostly PTgui and kolor pano giga version.

Toshiba, HP, Dell, and even acer make decently spec'ed, well priced systems if that is what you are looking for. Search around, post some links, and you'll get some feedback that way