Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hello Folks

I am planning to buy a net book for new year ....
Basic internet, Photo storage while traveling,photo viewer, and basic photo editing using PS ( not not Gausian blur or some heavy stuff )

My research leads me to
Dell Mini 10

Which is 429$[url]
http://www1.ca.dell.com/ca/en/home/Lapt ... hs1&~ck=mn[/url]

Any suggestions and experiences are greatly appreciated
cheers
Yeshwanth[/url]

I've only tried to use Photoshop on a netbook once, and it was not a pleasant experience. IMO, the Atom processors simply lack the processing power for even moderate Photoshop/Lightroom use, let alone anything more intensive. If you're planning on even starting those applications up, I would suggest you have a look at some of the other small laptops (I have a 12" for example) that are available with more capable processors.

For just Internet, e-mail, storage, etc... a netbook would be fine.

More info here: http://tpmg.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13856

Thank you Qualdoth and Eric..

Somebody correct me if i am wrong....
I think its a wise idea to get a laptop,
12 inch screen with better processing power DVD Drive more RAM .....and much bigger HDD (250GB)

The above options lacks in net book and its lets say 100$ difference, it makes more sense to buy a cheap laptop which is more powerfull than the netbook.....

Thanks for the suggestion
Cheers
Yeshwanth

Personally I've spent about the same on an slightly older/used laptop with more computing power than would be in the "cheaper" laptop.

If you remove the PS requirement though, and say use a program like Irfanview instead which can do basic processing you could probably get away with a netbook, if you need the portability.

That was the reason why I got an inexpensive 12" laptop as opposed to a netbook. It met my requirements for portability and fit my user profile ('net, e-mail, photo storage, light photo processing). Whether it's the right fit for you though, only you can decide

I am using a Toshiba 1.8ghz laptop, run photoshop and Lightroom at the same time, sometimes, it's a real pain for the nerves... i do have 2gb ram though, also run a tuned XP PRO

I use the the lenovo s10 and its solid so far. I mainly just use it for ftp, web, picture transfer/viewing, storage and backup when traveling. I can use PS and lightroom on it but don't prefer it because it is sluggish. Just use Irfanview for basics and do editing when you get home to a more powerful computer. the netbook is good for organizing before transfering to the main computer. And also just get 2gb ram, it does run smoother.

Hello
Thank you for the replies ..potato eye and tonewhy..
I think i am going to buy this one...

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5220689&CatId=4935

what do you folks think
cheers
Yeshwanth

Looks like a pretty good deal. Just make sure you're ok with the size of that laptop. Ie, carrying it around, etc. At 15.6" photo editing would certainly be much easier.

Travelling with a 15.6" 5+lb laptop? That's crazy talk.

Looks quite good to me, DDR3 should be good. I travel with 17'' laptop, no problems so far, good work out. At some point you might need to get a WD my passport usb HDD for it

+1

If it's a secondary computer, who would lug around a 15.6 inch laptop for travel? My DSLR + Lenses is burden enough on my old body.

IMO, travel laptops should only be used for light editing and storage. All my heavy processing is done on my desktop. 13 is about as large as I will go and to me, it's still a compromise in portability.

If you can, wait for the boxing day sales (which are just days away!)

Thank you carbon4, 13 inches, Potato eye, and qualdoth...

Thanks for pointing out about the ease of carrying the laptop ....
Yea u guys are true ... carrying a 5.6lbs laptop is not eazy....


I dont mind waiting till boxing day .....
So far what I have seen is all the 13 inches are either priced higher or they suck in processing power....

Any suggestions on 13 inch laptop, that should I have a eye on for the boxing day ......

Thank you

Macbook Pro

Yeah, 3x the price of the pc one

I have a 10inch netbook for travel. I use it to download the raw files and email/web surfing where there's a connection. I can also view the images but I save the photo editing for my computer at home.

True, but well worth the $$$. Battery power alone will run longer on a MacBook then a lower price PC base laptop, and when out on the field battery power is king.

Also you're getting two for the price of one or price of two depending on the price point of the pc laptop. But you can also run windows op on all newer mac computers. Giving you the best of both worlds.

Hello Folks

I Dont have the budget for a Mac book......So thats out of the question......Yea mac is good and works great.
I am Looking For a portable and a powerful pc around 13-14inch in the budget of 650$ including tax.....

I am gonna wait till boxing day ..to find any last miniute deals...If not the lenova from tiger direct
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5220689&CatId=4935
at 579$ will be my best friend.....

I couldn't find one source supporting that. Battery life depends on what you are doing with the computer, and if you have the screen at full brightness.

My own laptop though can take two batteries (by removing the CD drive) so it can go even longer.

the more cells the better, plus the newer batteries can hold more

I've been using the new HP Mini 311 for a month now and it's quite possibly the perfect notebook/netbook. It uses an Atom 1.6 processor, but it also has the nVidia Ion chipset. The Ion is essentially a 9400m video card built right into the atom chipset. It runs CS3 and AutoCAD 2009 LT without any problems, it's snappy and usable. It comes with an 11.6" screen, 250 GB HD, 2 GB of RAM and Win 7 Home premium all for $499.99. It can even output full screen 1080p through it's built in HDMI port. So far only Costco is carrying it in canada.

Sounds pretty good.