Purchasing new photography accessory (laptop)

[RBennett]

Ok, so my laptop last night just died. Not sure what all is going on with it, but I think it's pretty safe to say it's had it. (Heck, I only paid $80 for it and it's lasted me about a year; not bad.) So I am looking at buying a new laptop for my photography and the only thing that I'm really going to put on it is PS Elements, Design Studio (for DW scrapbooking) and then use it for internet and the such. Not a lot of demand here. But I'm getting overwhelmed by the vast sea of laptops. Does anyone have a brand preference or any certain aspect I should focus on? Right now my key areas that I look at are customer rating, hard drive space, RAM size, and processor speed. Is there anything else that I should worry about or does anyone have any brand-preference? THANKS!!!

 

[Angrypenguin]

Get a mac! Just picked up a refurb Macbook Pro, and I had both lightroom and iMovie up and running simultaneously, and it was handling both flawlessly as I hopped between the two.

Do you mind if I ask wh at your budget is?

 

[RBennett]

Get a mac! Just picked up a refurb Macbook Pro, and I had both lightroom and iMovie up and running simultaneously, and it was handling both flawlessly as I hopped between the two.

Do you mind if I ask wh at your budget is?

I don't mind asking; I'm really wanting to keep it under $1,000 (and preferably $800) just because this is not my main computer. I have a desktop PC that I back everything up to and an external hard drive as well. The only thing that we really use our laptop is dumping pictures on vacation, the occassional scrapbooking for DW, but mainly internet.

 

[fitzperry]

Have to add another plug for Mac. I also have a refurb'ed 15" Macbook Pro and I LOVE it. It doesn't crash. Software runs better on it. It is a beautiful thing to work on a computer that I don't want to heave out my office window at least once a day.

It's a little over your budget, but you can get one of the new 13" Macbook Pros for $1199. I bought a 13" Macbook last fall and returned it because I thought the display was subpar, but from what I've heard when they added the 13" version to the "Pro" lineup, they upgraded the display and it looks great now.

 

[lap3]

Another MBP user here and I couldn't be more pleased with my purchase! Bought it in October and has been bullet proof since. I would recommend a Mac to anyone...

 

[ukcatfan]

I will not give a preference, but rather a non-preference. Stay as far away from Acer (and their subsidiary Gateway) as possible. Their CS is the worst I have ever experienced in my entire life!!! No kidding at all. They have this excuse that every repair must go back to the customer in total factory like new condition. So, if you say wear the paint on the lid down, scratch it, or cause any other meaningless cosmetic change they will not do any warranty covered repairs unless you PAY to get the cosmetic repairs fixed. It was going to cost me $400 to replace the entire case (not needed at all) to get the power plug fixed under warranty. After contacting the president's office, I only got it reduced to $200. Then after "supposedly" being returned to factory condition, the screen failed at the 13 month of ownership mark (i.e. out of warranty). They will never get another penny of mine!

I only have one thing to say about Apple. The supporters always talk about it being more reliable less likely to get viruses, etc. The only reason that is true is because hackers get more bang for their buck developing viruses, worms, trojans, etc. for Windows based PCs. The more popular Apple gets, the more the hackers will give it their attention.

 

[YesDear]

I have recently gotten a netbook. The only thing that would probably not work for you is the screen size. It was $300. I got an MSI wind but there are many other brands. I got it for an upcoming trip to China and I did not want to take my mac!

DS got a mac about 6 years ago and we gave him grief. Now we all own mac laptops and desktops as well as pc's. If it were not for legacy stuff I have on pc's they all would be mac's.

You know people who do not own mac's say we have them for the lack of virus stuff. That is really a very small part for me. They just run better. They do not crash like pc's, their software is better, in my opinion, and they are easier to operate. I am typing on a 17" mac right now that is almost 4yrs old and the only thing I have ever had to do is replace the battery. I have photoshop CS and and Elements, as well as Capture NX2 on this machine and they run great.

Has it ever hung up, yeah but I can restart it and not be concerned about it not restarting. DW would not give up her mac laptop if she had to.

Go to an Apple store if you have one near you and play. You will like it.

 

[Groucho]

Mac = no Irfanview. That and I'll start using a Canon before I ever touch any Apple product.

To answer the original question... if you're looking at a "full-size" laptop, memory is probably the most important thing. Two gigs is the bare minimum, especially if it's running Vista (as it probably will be.) Laptop memory is pretty cheap though, so don't pay too much extra. (4gb laptop memory kits at NewEgg are under $45 now.) Similarly, a larger hard drive is nice but don't pay too much extra - 320g drives can easily be had for $80 and sometimes less.

A lot of cheaper ones have glossy screens which look pretty but may not be as good for actually using as a matte screen... that's kind of a personal preference.

One other thing to pay attention to right now is if you get a free upgrade to Windows 7 - that is certainly worthwhile. I've been running Win7 "release candidate" for a few weeks now and it's pretty solid (one or two annoyances but those will hopefully be fixed with the final release), it's not as "annoying" as Vista. (I haven't even disabled User Access Control yet - ie, the "warnings" every time you do anything - and that was always the first thing I did on Vista!)

You can certainly get a half-way decent laptop for $400 or so nowadays. Sometimes you can find a Thinkpad (my favorite laptop) for $600 or so, maybe even cheaper. You certainly shouldn't need to spend more than that. If you have some left over, maybe pick up a color calibrator and tweak that screen - or put it towards a proper external monitor, as the laptop's LCD will never be very good for doing any kind of photo work.

 

[boBQuincy]

Mac = no Irfanview. That and I'll start using a Canon before I ever touch any Apple product.

*That's* the spirit!

I even switched to Canon and I *still* won't touch Apple products!

Seriously, my laptop is only for travel and for that I like netbooks (we have an Asus Eee 900 and 1001). They are limited in power for sure, but at 2 and 3 pounds they are hard to beat for portability. For home use I like desktops, they are more reliable and cost less. Windows XP has been very stable, I expect 7 will be good too.

 

[EnnEss]

Apple does some things really well. Im a professional computer user and stayed away from them after trying them over a decade ago. They are a lot better now.

Somethings to consider though. The price you pay for a mac, you get a better pc than the mac is. It will be faster, the battery will last longer, and there will be more memory.

The photo browsing software on Macs is currently superior. BUT, just the browsing software. Too many amazing apps aren't available on macs currently. This is always the case, they are always second for apps.

Now, please mac users dont kill me. I have a dual booting pc, it runs leopard and Windows 7. 7 is already more stable than Vista was at launch btw. I love somethings about mac, there are just way too many downsides.

Here's what you want for a laptop, assuming you don't get a mac, and you really shouldnt. Macs are great if you want portability (weight) at a premium, and are willing to sacrifice power and versatility to do it. There's just no argument there. For a very limited number of people (graphic design, and this does not mean photos) macs MIGHT be better. Even then many graphic designers use pcs because of the tech lag macs have. Mac has the best ad campaign in the industry. Otherwise their market share would be even lower than the pathetic share it has in home pcs (fiver percentish). One day mac will open up their restrictions even more and be a truly amazing product. Compared to 10 years ago they already loosened so many restrictions (more open with code, getting intel processors etc). Currently a 800 dollar pc will be more powerful than the cheapest 1199 macbook.

1. Processor TYPE then speed. This is very important. You just don't want a pentium over an AMD (currently just not cutting it) you want a certain model of pentium, you need to decide EXACTLY how much you want to spend, not kid yourself, before you can get advice on this.

2. Processor Speed. You do not want a quad core, you want a duo for your uses by the way. This means you will get a faster processor and you wont cap it doing what you're doing anyways.

3. You want to fit in this budget a graphics card if at all possible. This could actually be the number one most important thing, but it's a tough call. This is confusing to many people as all computers have one, but 90% of laptops sold have integrated ones. You want a STAND ALONE card. You have to find someone who knows their stuff to read the specs and tell you. Most best buy employees etc have no clue. This will improve the performance of your computer by easily 30 - 50 percent by the way.

4. HD size. Hard to up on a laptop

5. Ram, easy to upgrade.

6. User reviews. Most users are largely ignorant and have no idea how to rate a computer. Their one opinion based on basically nothing is pretty useless. Technical specs and parts used to make the computer are far more important.

Good luck. It's really not that tough to find the best deal once you know your price. This is the main issue for almost everyone. How much do you want to spend? Really how much, not maybe 1000 or 800, how much, before tax, will you pay? If you say that it's really easy for someone to hit you with a few links and say buy that, or for 100 more buy that and get x, or for 100 less buy that and get y. You get what you pay for with pcs if you have someone who knows their stuff looking for you. You can also pay 1000 for a pile of memory and processor speed but an old processor and no graphics card that runs the same as a 750 dollar one.

Good luck!

Oh, as for your screen. This is really immaterial. CRT are better for photograhy still, but its not an issue for most. If you want a CRT you can get one and plug it in, they are cheap. They also work in multiple res's where as lcds are trash outside of their native reso.

 

[EnnEss]

1. 850 dollars, this is a beauty. We'll compare everything else to it.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9173262&type=product&id=1218044029168

2. 700.
You get a lot less. The processor clock speed is slower. The l2 cache is 1mb less, so slower still and the architecture is worse, slower yet again. The HD is the identical size, but 33 percent slower. You will notice this accessing files and installing things and transferring things etc.

Most importantly, the Asus has a gcard, this one does not. The difference there will be large. Your processor and ram will have to do that job. This will mean you get about 500 megs less of effective ram on this computer, the integrated graphics will suck it up. Your processor is still slower again because its working to help the graphics.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9166582&type=product&id=1218041149529

3. 665

basically the same as above but color.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9167652&type=product&id=1218041150023

4. 900
Here you get a slower processor than the first one, no graphics card, smaller hd and the list goes on, but its the same price. An example of a very bad buy.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9059243&type=product&id=1218014228376

5. 900
13 inch monitor means it will have a longer battery life and be lighter, easier to transport. I love 13 inch screens, some dont. This is basically identical to the first computer, but the HD is again the 33 percent slower one. I'd take this for the smaller screen. Some would prefer a bigger screen. Think of this as a macbook but way more powerful and 300 dollars less.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9027714&type=product&id=1218010176167


6. 900

smoking processor. You're paying for it though. Integrated graphics. 14 inch screen, which you may like, but the slower hd again. This is a computer you'd want to buy in 6 months when they are putting a graphics card in it for the same price. Not right now though.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9022979&type=product&id=1218009474848


1 and 3 are examples of good buys. 1 is better value but costs more. 3 is decent computer, nothing special, but not a rip off. computer 2, you're paying for the dell name, and i have no idea why anyone would. The apple of the pc world although in the past 5 years their prices have come down to reasonable levels. 4 is a horrific deal. 5 is a great deal, i'd buy it, but it's comparable to the first one and you may prefer a bigger screen. I travel a lot and like the smaller computers. I have 3 desktops though and 2 laptops soooooooooooo, you probably dont have that much to choose from. 6 is great technology, horrific value.

That's just an example from one store. Usually I never ever ever buy from name brand stores, but family owned ones and they are almost always cheaper and better service but you really have to know the stores and computers to bother with that, probably not worth the 50 bucks you'd save for you. Adds up for me.

 

[pjacobi]

Note that Bestbuy and Staples stock only the most common configurations. If you want a fast processor or better graphics, go to the manufacture website and order a customized version.

If retails stores get overstocked, they cut the price and you may get a better deal than on-line.


-Paul

 

[EnnEss]

Buying direct from the manufacturer is a sticky proposal, you pay msrp, which is not fun. Any decent computer store can get you the exact config you want special order and will get it to you almost always at a better price. The two I deal with can do this with same day delivery, I suppose this assumes youre in a major city. Never buy direct from dell for instance unless you like giving money away. Their sales are notorious for actually being upped prices then discounted online and you end up paying their original msrp.

Laptops aren't desktops and tweaking them and getting certain parts, beyond memory and processor upgrades, isn't an option. Even the graphic cards are literally custom built to fit into the case of a specific model of laptop. You can't swap it out for a different type, the company has to build a configuration that fits it, physically and power wise. The result is there are ONLY common configurations, but there are 100s of common configs so it doesn't really matter. What dell sells to you as customization is 3 or 4 models with different memory amounts. Woop dee doo.

But, as I noted the best place to buy computers isnt a big box store but the smaller ones that will do this, its not really the way to go for a novice user for multiple reasons. Option 1 I posted is a prime example of a great deal because they are clearing it out.

 

[wdwwishes]

Here's another vote for a Mac. We changed over to macs 3 years ago and haven't looked back. Macs still have a bit of an edge over PCs in the creative/photographic/graphic field. But like everything else, everyone has an opinion and their own level of expertise here and will be happy to share that knowledge. Good luck making your decision. The one thing I will say about Mac products is that you can schedule a one to one shopping session prior to making your purchase so that you have one sales rep to answer any and all questions you may have at no charge. After you make your purchase, you can purchase 52 One to One sessions where you have a "trainer" who will work with you on your computer (you bring it into the store) on topics from getting started on your mac to using iPhoto to making your own website etc.