let's talk laptops..

[Iwant2BAprincess]

We are beginning to toss around adding a laptop to our house with the primary use being pictures from the camera-it has been 4 years since the last time I looked into specs and quite frankly it is looking greek. What can you guys recommend for basic specs that I need to look for???

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Minimum 4 gb RAM, minimum 500 gb hard drive. If going with PC (not Mac) then I would go with a minimum of the new Intel i5 processor. Everything else is pretty subjective, sound card, etc. Also, I would look for one that has the built-in multi-port card reader. If you don't already have one (or two), I would purchase an external hard drive. This will allow you to save the photos in multiple locations so they are not lost should you have a hard drive failure. I currently have two WD Passports in my camera bag. There are other brands, Seagate, etc. I have had very good luck with Western Digital and also own two WD My Books for both of my other computers.

Good luck on your purchase.

 

[Frantasmic]

What kind of camera? What type of pictures? (RAW?) What type of post-download processing will you do?

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Not sure of your budget but I'll see if I can make it kind of simple......

RAM is going to play a big part in the speed of your laptop. I wouldn't go less than 4 GB but it wouldn't be the end of the world if you had to go with 3. Don't go down to 2 or it'll be acting like your old laptop in no time.

Hard Drive is where you're storage space is. The bigger the better. If you shoot in RAW, you really need to go big. I shoot jpg and used 55 GB for 18,000 pictures. That's just part of the 220 GB's of data I have stored so far. You can never have TOO MUCH hard drive space. Also, the RPM's of a hard drive determine how fast you can access that data. i.e. 7200 RPM will be faster than 5400

Processors are all different and some people prefer Intel, some go AMD....blah blah.....again, not sure budget wise what you're looking at but I will say do not go with a Celeron or Atom at all. Even if it's free.

Card reader is a huge thing for me. I love being able to pop the camera card in and grab my pictures with no adapter.

USB and Firewire. what kind of devices do you have already? Make sure the laptop has what you need to use them.

Webcam. It's one of those things I've just recently started using. I just started using skype again and not talk face to face with relatives pretty regularly instead of just Thanksgiving.

DVD burner. Some of the less expensive laptops still have CD burners and DVD readers. Make sure it burns DVD's. It still reads and writes CD's also.

Video out. This can be a big thing or not. Most laptops have an output for an LCD monitor. A big plus would be an output for HDMI going to a HD TV. One of the things I'd REALLY like is the wireless connection for a TV. Best Buy sells their Blue Line now which has it built into the laptops. Basically, you push a button on the laptop and it sends a signal to a small box plugged into your TV. My laptop is less than 1 yr old so I have to wait a while. The next one will have it.

Battery life. The longer the better. 6 hrs does not get you 6 hrs if you are actually using it.

Wifi. You probably can't buy a laptop without it but just double check.

Monitor size. I like the bigger style but if you're lugging it around all the time you may not want a heavier computer. I take mine everywhere and found that the 15.6" HD Widescreen was the perfect balance.

Weight. 2 pounds make a big difference.

Operating system. Windows, MAC, Linux........go with what you know.

I know I'm missing something but I haven't had a full cup of coffee yet.

 

[pgowder]

We are beginning to toss around adding a laptop to our house with the primary use being pictures from the camera-it has been 4 years since the last time I looked into specs and quite frankly it is looking greek. What can you guys recommend for basic specs that I need to look for???

Made the switch to a MacBook Pro about a year ago and haven't looked back! Lightroom runs great on it!

 

[ukcatfan]

You have some good info on specs, so I will give my two cents on brands. I currently have a Sony Vaio and I am extremely happy with it! I will also say that Win 7 is great. It blows Vista out of the water. I cannot think of a single problem with it so far. I will also say that my wife has been pretty happy with her HPs. She is on her second one. The ones I would avoid completely are Acer and Gateway (b/c it is owned by Acer). They have the single worst customer service I have ever experienced for anything in my entire life!!!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Not thrilled with gateway's service either. My Dell on the other hand has been excellent so far. I needed to replace my power supply recently and I knocked of a key on the keyboard a while back. Both parts were ordered between 12 and 2pm and the parts were at my door by noon the next day via Fed Ex.


One more thing since you mentioned HP. My wife's laptop is going on 2 years old now and it really gets hot underneath. Hot enough that it's uncomfortable on your lap even with jeans on. My Dell doesn't even get warm. That in itself would push me away from one and into another.

 

[YesDear]

second vote for a mac book pro.

 

[Iwant2BAprincess]

I mentioned before I am in greek land right.. What is the difference in a Mac? What makes it different?

Again-thanks for all the input!!!

 

[boBQuincy]

I mentioned before I am in greek land right.. What is the difference in a Mac? What makes it different?

Again-thanks for all the input!!!

The operating system. The hardware is the same as a PC. Oh, and the price is a lot higher!

 

[pgowder]

The operating system. The hardware is the same as a PC. Oh, and the price is a lot higher!

Not always higher.

When I was shopping for a new laptop, I priced similar hardware with Dell and Apple. The Mac was about the same if not cheaper than similar Dells.

It is hard to find a laptop with a screen that even compares with a Macbooks! And if you do it will be close to the Mac's price.

As for the other differences, there are many!

When a company controls the OS and the hardware, things work much better! The OS is much more efficient at using the CPU and memory. Everything runs much faster than a Windows machine with the same CPU and ram.

I work in IT. I work on Windows computers all day long and have for years. But I got tired of doing IT work at home. I wanted to spend more time using the computer than fixing it!

Things on my Mac just work!

 

[handicap18]

Prices for the Mac's have come WAY down over the last year.

If I were going to buy a new computer, laptop or desktop, I would definitely go with a Mac. You may pay a little bit more upfront, but, IMO, its worth it. Software upgrades on a Mac are a lot less than on a PC (upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista is $110 (from older systems might be more money depending on your OS), upgrade on Mac's OS is about $50)

Virus' out there are for PC's. Not Mac's (if there are some for Mac's there are very very few... completely different OS and the typical virus' you get on a PC can't do anything to a Mac).

From what I've read thus far and learned from talking to a few Mac users, Mac's make better use of the RAM. Pretty much everything you have for Window's will transfer pretty easily to a Mac (all of your files, photos and video's).

The only thing I've encountered so far is Blu-Ray and Mac's. Haven't read enough or heard enough yet on how Blu-Rays work with the Mac. I talked to one guy at our local Apple store and he didn't know. Even with an external Blu-Ray drive, not sure. Still researching that.

When I bought my current PC 2 years ago for $1400 with monitor, a comparable Mac was $2200 (iirc, maybe it was $2100, either way it was over $2000). Right now the 21.5" iMac is $1199 with 4GB Ram and 500GB hard drive and a 3.06GHz Intel Core duo processor. A Mac book starts at $999. A little more than PC laptops, but last year my wife got a PC laptop and it was $899. You can get cheeper PC laptops depending on what features you get.

Go to apple.com and check our their video's. They have a bunch of video's about converting from Window's and how it compares.

Personally, I'm sold on a Mac and we will be Mac's for any new computers we get in the future. Even though I've been using a PC for about 12 years.

Good luck with your purchase.

 

[scoot241]

The only thing I've encountered so far is Blu-Ray and Mac's. Haven't read enough or heard enough yet on how Blu-Rays work with the Mac. I talked to one guy at our local Apple store and he didn't know. Even with an external Blu-Ray drive, not sure. Still researching that.

As far as I understand, Blu-Ray does not work in OS X. Steve Jobs referred to Blu-Ray a while ago as "a bag of hurt" and said the licensing was complex. He then pointed everyone to iTunes instead of Blu-Rays.

 

[pgowder]

And as someone who has had to support a lot of PC laptops, remember you get what you pay for. Those $499, $699, etc, laptops have great prices. But there is a reason they are so cheap. The components inside are not top quality. I've seen lots of hard drives go bad on those laptops!

I had two of those inexpensive PC laptops before my Mac. And in 3 years I lost 4 hard drives!

You get what you pay for!

 

[Geoff_M]

And as someone who has had to support a lot of PC laptops, remember you get what you pay for. Those $499, $699, etc, laptops have great prices. But there is a reason they are so cheap. The components inside are not top quality. I've seen lots of hard drives go bad on those laptops!

I had two of those inexpensive PC laptops before my Mac. And in 3 years I lost 4 hard drives!

You get what you pay for!

Don't be too quick to dismiss low-cost PC laptops. I walked into our Best Buy three weeks ago to buy some tax software and walked out with an HP laptop. It's a Pavilion 1555DX that's loaded. Normally sold for $799, but it was on clearance for $400 (got the last one)! I know some of the low-end laptops can be cheaply built, but if you're careful and look around you can find some great PC laptop deals on some nice units.

 

[pgowder]

Don't be too quick to dismiss low-cost PC laptops. I walked into our Best Buy three weeks ago to buy some tax software and walked out with an HP laptop. It's a Pavilion 1555DX that's loaded. Normally sold for $799, but it was on clearance for $400 (got the last one)! I know some of the low-end laptops can be cheaply built, but if you're careful and look around you can find some great PC laptop deals on some nice units.

I thought the same. Post back in 18 months!

 

[Geoff_M]

I thought the same. Post back in 18 months!

It's got a Hitachi drive, I think I'll be fine.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

I can't complain too much about the cheaper ones. I know a few people that went cheap and haven't had any problems yet. Mine was $600 which isn't the cheapest but not exactly expensive. Loving it so far.

 

[photo_chick]

I just got a new one since my desktop has been taken over by my son. I mainly use it to run Lightroom and Photoshop, which is does well. It also gets used for gaming, which it does adequately.

It's an HP dv7 base
AMD dual core 2.5 Ghz
500 GB HDD
4 GB of RAM
64 bit Win 7 installed
ATI Radeon HD 4350 series GPU
Lightscribe combo drive
card reader
wifi and bluetooth

It ran me $800 after the mail in rebate

I've had it a month and my only complaint is the card reader. My Canon 50D uses CF cards and the reader takes all the others except CF. But hey, it can read my daughters XD cards and the MS for the PSP and the SD for the GPS.

ON the memory.. keep in mind that with windows 7 if you are running 32 bit you can only use 3 GB of memory. That caught me off guard when I was shopping.

And my advice for storing your image library... invest in a NAS with remote access. You can upload your files to it anywhere you can get online and if, heaven forbid, you should loose your laptop bag while traveling your files are safe at home on the NAS.