Laptops and Color Management

[photographist]

Many opinions out there state that Laptops are not good for critical or color managed work.  Despite this statement though, I’ve noted many professional and renowned photographers (Michael R and others) utilize laptops in their field work or while traveling.  

  I travel 5 days a week (usually to a single location) and am home for only about 36 hours a week.   My main “lightroom” is at home, so hence my quandary…  What is the best approach to doing critical work while on the road, without hauling an entire lightroom with me each trip?     The choices that I see seem to come down to: 1) locating and purchasing the best PC or MAC laptop that can be color managed successfully; or 2) purchase one of the new iMacs (Intel based) and travel with it from hotel to hotel.  Let’s look at each option for a moment…

   Selection of a laptop works from the portability point of view.  However, the limited screen space, even with a 17” monitor is a bit of a hindrance, but with habit can be overcome.  However, color management and maintenance is a critical piece.   My IBM T41 had done well for me, but color differences, even using Spyder, is apparent with my CRT managed lightroom at home.   Is there a “good” or “best” laptop, either Mac or PC laptop out there that I can rely on to hold and work with color management (read Spyder and Optical here) to work consistently?  I’m looking at HP’s Pavilion v8000 series and Dells e1705 series as serious contenders.  It may be I should wait for Apples Intel Probook in 17”!

  The 2nd alternative is to pick up a 20” iMac (duo core) and work with it in the hotel.  The bigger screen would be a boon and assuming I can find a good hard case for it, wouldn’t mind moving it around with me.   I’ve little MAC experience, but did play with one of the 20” iMacs in the store.  The image quality wasn’t what I expected, but am willing to learn.  

  So… that leaves the following questions:
-   Does anyone know if the 20” iMac (mactel) uses the same display/tech that is used on the cinema monitors?
-   Does anyone have experience using laptops (mac/pc) for critical light-room work?
-   If so, any suggestions or recommendations for specific laptops?

Thank you all in advance for your help and discussion on this point.

[digitaldog]

-   Does anyone know if the 20” iMac (mactel) uses the same display/tech that is used on the cinema monitors?
-   Does anyone have experience using laptops (mac/pc) for critical light-room work?
-   If so, any suggestions or recommendations for specific laptops?


The new iMac LCD is pretty nice (for an LCD) and yes, I do calibrate with an EyeOne (it most certainly helps). I don't know it has identical spec's for all the other Apple LCDs.

Calibrating and profiling a laptop (I use a Powerbook) again is a help. Its a far cry from my Artisan but anything you can do to nail the color is a good idea. Again, with either the EyeOne or OPTIX, I've seen pretty good results with a Powerbook.

[sralser]

Doesn't the new MacBookPro (or is it macprobook) have screen  which is supposed to be the same quality oas the cineeam displays?

Steve

[digitaldog]

Doesn't the new MacBookPro (or is it macprobook) have screen  which is supposed to be the same quality oas the cineeam displays?

Steve
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Same luminance.

[svein]

If I understood your question right you're not actually using the laptop "on the road", but in locations like hotel rooms.
As the main problem with laptop color is the display and not the rest of the hardware a simple solution would be to buy a decent 17" (or whatever size you're willing to bring along) screen and calibrate that.
It would be much cheaper than an Imac, and packing your laptop + screen shouldn't be much more wheight.

[Graham Welland]

-   Does anyone have experience using laptops (mac/pc) for critical light-room work?
-   If so, any suggestions or recommendations for specific laptops?

Thank you all in advance for your help and discussion on this point.
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I color manage my Powerbook using Monaco Optix XR Pro and it does a pretty decent job with the color accuracy. However, the challenge I find for critical work, is that the brightness of the image is heavily dependent upon the angle of the screen/view which makes it very difficult to maintain consistency.

The recommendation of using an external monitor is a good one. You will get far more consistent results in this way. The iMac approach (which is essentially a screen with a laptop on the back) is also very manageable if you have the travel equipment. I've found the iMac screens (MacTel or PowerPC) to very sharp and easy to calibrate - I wouldn't trust a display model in the store as I often find that they are set up poorly.

When I'm on the road I tend to do basic adjustments for exposure (primarily using histograms/samples) and leave the big critical stuff to the static color managed desktop at home.

[mbutler]

Another option might be to carry a Mac Mini and a screen. You can hook a vga up to it.