Lightweight device for photo editing

[richarddd]

I'm trying to reduce the weight of things I carry when traveling.  I currently have a 3.5 pound notebook for photo editing, etc. 

Every day I'd like to be able to at least identify good or bad photos and do some basic editing. This would help me decide what to change for the next day's photos and to upload some highlights to friends and relatives. I could re-edit at home.

Possibilities for something lighter

1) Ultrabook - a 2 (or maybe 2.5) pound notebook that can run Lightroom.  Main alternatives would seem to be a few Windows Ultrabooks or a Mac Air. An 11" screen could be sufficient.

2) A tablet - I'd need an app that can deal with RAW files and do at least basic editing, for example, cropping, color correction, exposure, preferably something like LR's shadows, highlights, whites, blacks, contrast, local editing.

I'd prefer a tablet, all things being equal, due to lighter weight. 64gb should be enough storage.

A Microsoft Surface Pro 2 could be a possibility, but they are not very popular.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, including recommendations on specific hardware and apps.

Is there a better place to explore these questions?

[mediumcool]

I am using a 2013 Macbook Air 13" with Capture One and it is very fast, even with only 4MB RAM—the SSD is responsible for a lot of the speed improvement over my older iMac and Macbook Pro.

I chose the 13" over the 11" for two reasons; the extra battery life and the additional 100 pixels vertically to fit C1’s dense interface.

HTH

[xocet]

I suppose first thing is to decide if you'd prefer a Mac or something Windows 8.1 based.

If you'd prefer a Mac, either and Air or 13" MacBook Pro with Retina screen, depending on whether light weight & battery life are most important, or you'd prefer the better screen.

If you are considering Windows devices, you could taka a look at Dell's new Venue Pro 11 line. You can get an add on keyboard with additional battery, and the dock is useful for when you're desk bound. The screen, a full HD panel is by all accounts quite good, and you have the option of an active stylus too.

[jerryrock]

For the past week I have been using the Wacom Cintiq Companion. At 14.8 x 9.8 x 0.7 inches and 3.9lbs it is not a lighter alternative but it is a powerful machine (Windows 8 Pro) that can run the Adobe Creative Suite. It has an13.3" touch and pen sensitive display (2048 levels of pressure sensitivity) with all of the Wacom controls, an Intel i7 processor, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, 8GB of ram and a 512GB solid state drive, 2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 mini display port out, micro SD card slot, headphone jack, front and rear facing cameras. The IPS screen is full HD 1920 x 1080.

For a longtime Wacom user who is used to a stylus instead of a mouse or track pad, this is portable the machine to get for photo editing, illustration and graphic design.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2427745,00.asp

[Ken Bennett]

I have both a Macbook Air 11 inch and a recent iPad. I find the MBA is much easier to use for this sort of thing, and it's really not much larger than the tablet. I can run Lightroom, and Photo Mechanic, and download a LOT more raw files, etc.