Laptop/netbook/tablet for photographer

[Rex008]

I've got a bit of money to spend, and I'm thinking of getting one of the above. This will be for general use around the house, carrying about, trips, etc, but I'm also keen to use it as a photography aid (viewing, sorting, basic editing, etc).

 

First off - the hardest bit I think - which OS?

Windows - used to it (very, I'm a software developer), but tablet implementation is generally considered to be awful. Resource hungry. Lots of apps

IOS - I hate Apple, with total passion. I'd have to be seriously persuaded that it could do something I couldn't get elsewhere before considering. I'm very closed minded :)

Android - I think I'm defaulting to this if I go with a tablet, but have only used it on a phone. Android 3 Honeycomb is supposed to be pretty decent, but it is good for photographers? Any experience?

 

Then - form factor

Laptop - I'm thinking an ultra-portable, so 11-13" screen, unlikely to want bigger. Lots of lovely hard disc space, usually, and a good screen. Good connectivity. Almost certainly Windows OS. But relatively heavy. probably have to spend £400 to get something reasonable.

Netbook - as above, basically, but 10" screen. Less powerful, but I can get one thats 1.1kg (2.4lbs). So lighter than camera with decent lens on. Cheap (£200-250)

Tablet - very portable. Limited space (usually) and connectivity. Probably get more use round the house though. (>£300 for anything better than a nasty knock-off).

 

I started off thinking a Windows netbook, now I'm trying to persuade myself that an Asus Eee Pad transformer (£430) would be a frivolous toy. And I'm failing. Like the look of it.

 

Any photographers have experience with an Android 3 tablet? Useful?

Does anyone else take a computing device of some kind with them on a cruise (or holidays in general)? Whether it's for photography or anything else.

[zackiedawg]

I went the netbook route...though whether it would work for you I'm not sure. Here's the pros and cons, and why it worked for me:

 

Pros:

I liked it over a tablet because I also use it extensively during travel for e-mail and work remote access, so a full, normal keyboard was highly desired.

It's very small and light, very inexpensive, compared to a laptop.

It has a generous hard drive space for using as a portable drive for photography.

I don't do any editing on it, so I mostly just needed it for the ability to back up photos while traveling.

I like that you have a normal USB port unlike some tablets, making it easy to plug cameras directly in, it has a card reader for inserting memory cards to read, and I can plug in flash keys or portable harddrives to make duplicate redundant backups of my photos.

 

Cons:

Half-screen, which would make it awkward to to extensive editing of photos.

Slowish processor wouldn't handle larger editing suites which suck up memory.

Not as good for graphics, movies, entertainment, etc. with the smaller screens.

 

For me, the cons weren't an issue, as I didn't intend to do editing on it - just storage. I'm not a big 'watch-videos-chat-online-go-to-facebook' type of person especially when I travel, so none of that mattered to me at all. About the only thing I ever find myself occasionally noticing as a shortcoming is the half-sized screen, but this inconvenience is quickly and easily outweighed by the extreme compactness and portability of the netbook compared to my laptop, which I used to haul along on a few travels. The laptop required its own bag, was a carryon itself, was heavy, and took up space wherever I went (like tiny ship cabins). The netbook is small enough to slip into my camera bag, and can be set up on the narrowest of shelves/desks/etc, or just used handheld or in a lap.

 

I picked up the Asus Eee netbook with 1GB ram and 160GB harddrive, have remote desktop with my office computer, has an SD card reader built in, 2 USB ports, bluetooth built in, Wifi built in, and a 10 hour battery. It even looks good, in the nice dark blue shell color. It was $280...hard to beat the price for performance. I've had it trouble-free for a bit less than a year.

 

Hope that helps!

[pilotdane]

I also went with a netbook. It's 250 gig hard drive is large enough to backup photos and it's small, light weight and has very long battery life so it's great for watching movies on long flights. It has built-in wireless so it works great for checking E-mails. As already mentioned it's not a high powered desktop computer. It's screen is an odd resolution so most games will not run on it and I don't even try photo editing though simple actions could be done if you wanted.

[chipmaster]

Tablets: Don't care iAnything or iWantobes avoid them at all cost unless you only want to consum/view content on them. They are content consumption tools for another year or so till next generation. I am skeptical they will ever be content creation tools in that form factor. Don't care even another generation of Moore won't change that.

 

Content creation: Windows/Apple that is the first decision. If you don't want many choices and have money to burn than Apple. They make a beautiful machine and OS and software that you need make it the choice. They are pricey and have minimum upgrade.

 

Windows if you are a value persons, almost too many choices, choose wisely as laptops are not easily upgradable.

 

Netbook/laptop is a shade of grey. IMHO don't get a netbook unless spending the least is the prioirty. There are some pretty good thin and light in the mid price range.

 

1) HDD you want 360GB if you are serious about using it to store and view pictures. Pictures and vidoes add

 

2) Memory really want 2GB minimum, 4GB IMHO is really what you should start with.

 

3) Dedicated graphics: Yes spend a little more and get something with a nvidia or ATI graphics card.

 

Go entry and get entry performance, if that is for surfing the web and simply stuff will be fine. For running photoshop or even elements you'll want a mid range laptop.

[Glaciers]

I picked up the Asus Eee netbook with 1GB ram and 160GB harddrive, have remote desktop with my office computer, has an SD card reader built in, 2 USB ports, bluetooth built in, Wifi built in, and a 10 hour battery. It even looks good, in the nice dark blue shell color. It was $280...hard to beat the price for performance. I've had it trouble-free for a bit less than a year.

 

Hope that helps!

 

I purchased this same netbook a few months ago. Primarily used for backing up photos. I did not do enough research and was disappointed it only had Windows 7 Basic. I upgraded immediately. It works great. Very light and portable. I did not need a lot of bells and whistles and do the detailed photo editing when I get home. Hard to beat the price for what you get. There's always something better out there but do you really need it?

[cruiser1955]

Rex

 

I use a Toshiba Netbook 305-10F. Bought October 2010 @£329. I chose the Toshiba because of its battery life which gives me around 8 hours use (they claim 11 hours). I take it with me on fly/cruises as it is just small enough to fit in my carry on luggage (just hope they don't weigh it). It is fine for copying photos from the camera using Windows Explorer, but the software that came with the camera will not load as the screen does not meet the required resolution. I could get around that, but it isn't an issue for me as my main need is to take a copy of the photos. I also back the photos up to a portable 2½" drive.

 

The netbook is fine for email, etc but not up to anything too demanding. It will just about cope with playing HD video from my camcorder, but it does stutter a bit. There again, it is just a case of seeing that the video has worked.

 

I would suggest getting a netbook with 2GB of RAM as the 1 GB supplied isn't sufficient - I notice paging occurs quite a lot.

 

Mine came with Windows 7 starter. Doesn't include all the Win7 functions, but using Windows live 2011 programs seem to work well enough. It would be nice to do more on the machine, but do you want to enjoy the holiday or work on a pc:)

[Rex008]

Thanks all for the replies. I won't do any serious editing work on it - I have a decent PC at home for that. I'm thinking that a 10" netbook with a 600 line screen is probably just too little though - I'd either find one with a higher res, or go with a 11 or 12" screen, but then that becomes a larger machine to lug around.

 

The Asus Eee Pad is also pushing my buttons here, as it has a 1280x800 screen on a 10" display, which is nice. But then the Android OS worries me a little when it comes to doing some of the things I want to do (copying files around). Anybody got an Android tablet yet? Understand they haven't been around very long.

 

I've read some netbook group tests, and Asus and Toshiba usually share honours between them, depending on what the reviewer is focussing on.

 

Hmmmm, still thinking. More opinions welcome!

[dodger501]

Dell Mini-10. Great battery life, Windows 7 Starter

It fits in my Lowepro sling bag so perfect for dumping CF cards. Well, not perfect, it doesn't have a reader - I have to bring one. But it does have a SD slot for the video.

Watching movies on the plane, composing email, Kindle for PC, etc.

 

I actually have Lightroom 3 loaded on this puppy but i pretty much use it only for importing, cataloging, keywording. And for slideshows to impress my cruise-mates.

[Rex008]

Thanks Dodger

I'm still somewhat torn. I REALLY like the look of the Asus Eee Pad. But I'm also wondering how useful the Android OS will be for photo duties. And I still haven't found any togs who use Android 3 for anything other than slide shows yet. Just too young. Whereas Windows is a known quantity. And to be able to catalog and import with Lightroom on the go would be very useful. How does that work syncing with your main photo PC, by the way - I'm only just getting into Lightroom myself, so don't really know how a multi-machine system would work. Is it easy to sync?

 

Oh, and the Eee Pad (bundle with keyboard) is sold out everywhere at the moment, so I can't even scratch the itch I've got NOW :rolleyes:.

[sherilyn70]

I have not used an android tablet yet (or netbook) but I do have an android phone. You can do some pretty decent quick touchups and edits with PicSay, I think I paid around $5 or less for the pro version of it and it was worth it. They do have a "lite" version for free. File management shouldn't be an issue either since there plenty of free apps for that.

 

I a considering getting a droid tablet or netbook as well for travel instead of the small $300 emachine (full fledged laptop) that I currently use.

[morphers82]

If you are looking at something to backup your pictures, and then look at them all every night while on your way to the next port of call, you should seriously consider a multimedia storage backup device. There's a breakdown of some good ones on a post I found here: Link One of the backup devices listed on the linked post can even hook up to an iPad, so if you get that storage device, then you should definately get an iPad because it would be the best for any photographer's needs while travelling. And you can bring along a whole bunch of movies and stuff stored on the drive as well and watch them too on your iPad

[awboater]

I am using a $250 Acer Aspire One netbook. I am dual-booting it with Windows and Ubuntu (linux).

 

While it is a dog on Windows, it runs respectively fast under Ubuntu. Being a software developer and all, you should be right at home with Ubuntu.

 

Ubuntu used to make a dedicated netbook version, but I am not sure if they still do. At any rate, I am running ver 10-4, which is about 14 months old, and it will still be supported for 2 or 3 years. So I think running the netbook version of Ubuntu 10-4 would be satisfactory.

 

And with the linux version of Gimp, I can even do some photo editing. Gimp runs under linux - even on a netbook - fairly fast (even faster than the Windows version of Gimp on my more powerful laptop).

 

I did replace the drive on the netbook to a 500gb drive so I could have more space. One thing about the drives; if you replace one with a larger capacity drive as soon as you buy the netbook (or laptop for that matter), you can buy a $20 housing and use the original drive as a USB drive - so you are really not wasting any money by upgrading the netbook's drive.

[dileep]

I am using a $250 Acer Aspire One netbook.

 

I did replace the drive on the netbook to a 500gb drive so I could have more space. One thing about the drives; if you replace one with a larger capacity drive as soon as you buy the netbook (or laptop for that matter), you can buy a $20 housing and use the original drive as a USB drive - so you are really not wasting any money by upgrading the netbook's drive.

 

I have a Acer Notebook too. Instead of replacing the drive, I bought a portable USB drive - $59 for 500MB!

[awboater]

Either way will work...

[dileep]

Either way will work...

 

Sorry! One is a lot more work and not easy for the average user than the other! I took the easier path! Many would not be able to make your suggestion work without help from an "expert".

[awboater]

Use a screwdriver, open the bottom, pull out the old drive, insert the new drive, restore with the disks that came with your computer. Its not really that hard. You don't even need to open the case, just a trap door on the bottom.

 

You just have to make sure you buy the right drive.

[dileep]

Use a screwdriver, open the bottom, pull out the old drive, insert the new drive, restore with the disks that came with your computer. Its not really that hard. You don't even need to open the case, just a trap door on the bottom.

 

You just have to make sure you buy the right drive.

 

Many netbooks do not come with a DVD-ROM. Mine did not!

 

With a Portable USB drive: open the box and plug in the USB connector! No tools. No software re-install. No waiting.