Laptops - Whats a good one for Travel Photography

[Marlyn]

I am looking to buy a new laptop, specifically for travelling and photography work so would appreciate any suggestions folks may have on that,  preferably with experience with the latest models - for PHOTOGRAPHY WORK.


What I (think)  i need is:

- Decent screen quality for Photo-work.  Able to be calibrated decently, with decent quality for photo view/editing.  Preferably high res, but small is fine.   (The new gloss screens any good ?  any particular panel better than others for calibration ? etc)

- Able to run lightroom and CS3, I want to be able to catalog, and do some image work on the road.  
- Firewire
- Easy way to download photo's (I currently use a PCMCIA card reader, so no external device), although that is ok if needed and laptop small enough.

- Small, light, portable, I don't want a brick, and we all know the carry-on issue on planes.
- 2gb, maybe 4g ram.
- Sturdy, reliable. (but not a toughbook! :)

I travel a fair bit, so it needs to survice Planes (International), trains, and automobiles of the 4WD / Australian outback kind!

I have other requirments, but frankly, any modern laptop will fullfil the email/word/codeing/study/yada yada requirment if it can boot windows.

I have never owned a MAC in my life, everything has been PC's, but now that they can run windows (which I need for work and the odd game), I am happy to seriously consider one for photo work.  Are they really that much better for THIS kind of work ? and are they more powerfull (measured by say, PS CS3) than an equiv size PC version.
If so, are there some specific models worth looking at? (wouldn't know a mac if I fell over it).  

PS: I acknowledge that the laptop will never compete with my Workstation and Eizo, thats fine, but the closer I can get, the better.

Look forward to your thoughts, and hope I havn't just started a religious argument :)

Regards

Mark.

[Andy M]

http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html

[luong]

http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html


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Beware that the screen has a great amount of brightness variation with respect to tilt. There is also no slot for a card. On the plus side, firewire provides power.

[Marlyn]

Beware that the screen has a great amount of brightness variation with respect to tilt. There is also no slot for a card. On the plus side, firewire provides power.
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Subtle

Yes, I've read the Macbook site, they look quite nice.  The question is, WHY is better.   Does anyone have any performance comparison of say CS3 on a PC or a MAC of similar spec ?  (i.e. core-2-Duo, 2.2ghz)

How do the mac laptop screens go for calibration with a Spyder 2.

Would you go the Glossy screen, or the non-gloss for Photo work.

The 13@ looks damn attractive for a traveling laptop,  with 2 or 4gb in it.

Can you dual boot the laptop to windows, or does it have to be that emulation thing i've heard about ?

/ponder.

[marcmccalmont]

I'm happy with the HP DV series laptop. It has as an option a wide gamut display "Ultra Bright View" I think it is called. They usually have very good discounts between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Marc

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping...&v1=HP+Pavilion

[luong]

Subtle

Yes, I've read the Macbook site, they look quite nice.  The question is, WHY is better.   Does anyone have any performance comparison of say CS3 on a PC or a MAC of similar spec ?  (i.e. core-2-Duo, 2.2ghz)

How do the mac laptop screens go for calibration with a Spyder 2.

Would you go the Glossy screen, or the non-gloss for Photo work.

The 13@ looks damn attractive for a traveling laptop,  with 2 or 4gb in it.

Can you dual boot the laptop to windows, or does it have to be that emulation thing i've heard about ?

/ponder.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=154548\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I don't think the performance would be different. The only significant difference is the OS and industrial design, so this is a matter of personal preference.  You can either boot in windows,  use emulation (parallels or vmware), or do both.

[Paul Kay]

All I can do is to tell you that for the past few years I have used 12" G4 Powerbooks for travel and have found them to be small, reliable (the only problem that I've had is that one wouldn't write DVDs on a yacht with the engine running - the vibration seemed to corrupt them!) and have an extensive range of power adapters, etc., etc. I've run CS2 on them quite happily with a lot less RAM than you are considering.

Of course they are not made anymore, but I have read a review (www.robgalbraith.com) of the new 15" LED lit MacBookPro which reckoned that the screen was well good enough to callibrate and more importantly even edit on - I usually plug a 20" Apple monitor into my 12" P'book when at home.

All that said if I were to replace one of my 12" G4s I would (or probably am) actually seriously consider(ing) the cheaper Macbook with increased RAM as they are 13" as opposed to 15", so I assume lighter (I haven't checked) and a lot cheaper. As for P'shop speed, well, I find that when travelling there is a limited amount that I can do on the computer so speed has never been of extreme importance, but this depends on your own travel needs and what you are trying to achieve I expect.

Sorry not to comment on any other laptops, my experience is entirely Apple (17 years now), but I have seen some smaller and even lighter notebooks - although I'd personally say that 12"/13" is the smallest screen that I'd want.

[to-mas]

My suggestions

Macbook 13 white ( I own one)
  + solid (not as macbook pro)
  + small
  + powerful
  + battery life
  - screen (not to bad, bud glossy, definitely not well for calibration)
  -no pcmca card slot
  -miniDVI not normal DVI.for 20inch screen and more its better to have normal DVI
  -not so much lighter than 15inch macbook pro

Macbook pro 15
  + solid
  + LED screen, matt
  + etc, just a great HW
  + you can run windows, but you can give a try a MAC OS.It took me 2 weeks to get use to
  + DVI
  -  dont know

SONY VAIO 13inch (many types)
  + solid
  + light
  + LED screen, one of the best
  + good HW
  - windows. VISTA sucks, and XP is getting old (my opinion)
 

Many things depend on you. I like 13 inch as is small enough to have it in my backpack everyday (photojournalist), its fine for normal tasks.But for lightroom is kinda small.

Check the weight of 15 macbook pro and compare it. If you will travel by car, train to the hotel its better to have 15inch pro. If you hitchhike as I take 13 inch.

If you really need WINDOWS and 13 inch probably the VAIO is better (more plugs).
IF you want 15inch I would go for macbook pro (WIN or MAC anyway).

my 2 cents

[lightstand]

First I don't mean to hijack this thread as I am also interested in this question and have a couple of additional questions for others. I have been using a powerbook 12" for the last couple of years shooting mostly tethered into the laptop on location so portably is very important to me. I do love it's size and every-time I'm around a 15" I just can't imagine lugging one around. My one main complaint has been not being able to calibrate the screen even good enough to do a rough edit on location. Making it so all raw conversions and even the slightest PS work forces me back into the darkroom called my office with it's workstation- yes reducing my Starbucks bill but increasing office time.

My first question, has anyone switched from the 15" down to the 13" because the 15" was just  completely too big for regular day to day travel or vice versa has anyone gone from the 13" up to the 15" and found the additional size not to be that big of a problem? I realize this is dictated by the individual just asking your real life opinion on the matter.

Second question is about speculation. It is rumored that Apple will be releasing an ultra thin tablet (of course after 12/31) at SFMW. Could any of the Color experts/PS gurus give a speculation on how today's technology with tablets will relate to calibration & judging color/tones? (again just looking for an opinion) Thank you in advance & Happy Thanksgiving. jeff

[Wayne Fox]

I don't think the performance would be different. The only significant difference is the OS and industrial design, so this is a matter of personal preference.  You can either boot in windows,  use emulation (parallels or vmware), or do both.
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I believe Parallels and vmware are virtualization, not emulation.

[Tom Rollins]

I am looking to buy a new laptop, specifically for travelling and photography work so would appreciate any suggestions folks may have on that,  preferably with experience with the latest models - for PHOTOGRAPHY WORK.
What I (think)  i need is:

- Decent screen quality for Photo-work.  Able to be calibrated decently, with decent quality for photo view/editing.  Preferably high res, but small is fine.   (The new gloss screens any good ?  any particular panel better than others for calibration ? etc)

- Able to run lightroom and CS3, I want to be able to catalog, and do some image work on the road.   
- Firewire
- Easy way to download photo's (I currently use a PCMCIA card reader, so no external device), although that is ok if needed and laptop small enough.

- Small, light, portable, I don't want a brick, and we all know the carry-on issue on planes.
- 2gb, maybe 4g ram.
- Sturdy, reliable. (but not a toughbook!

I travel a fair bit, so it needs to survice Planes (International), trains, and automobiles of the 4WD / Australian outback kind!

I have other requirments, but frankly, any modern laptop will fullfil the email/word/codeing/study/yada yada requirment if it can boot windows.

I have never owned a MAC in my life, everything has been PC's, but now that they can run windows (which I need for work and the odd game), I am happy to seriously consider one for photo work.  Are they really that much better for THIS kind of work ? and are they more powerfull (measured by say, PS CS3) than an equiv size PC version.
If so, are there some specific models worth looking at? (wouldn't know a mac if I fell over it). 

PS: I acknowledge that the laptop will never compete with my Workstation and Eizo, thats fine, but the closer I can get, the better.

Look forward to your thoughts, and hope I havn't just started a religious argument

Regards

Mark.
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