Small Centrino laptop for travelling PS/digital photography

DE
Posted By
Dave Ello
Apr 10, 2004
Views
351
Replies
9
Status
Closed
Hi all,

I’m a pro photographer and travel often, and regularly in remote countries of Asia. I need a laptop that is both conveniently small and capable of providing:

– good graphics processing capability for PS7 (soon CS) – edit 6 Mpixel image files,
– good battery life,
– DVD burner (may have to be USB 2 but was hoping for internal – ie. battery powered. Nice to have battery DVD burning but not essential).

The Sony Vaio range sounds interesting but here in Australia, noone can give me even a subjective answer to the question regarding graphics capability. I contacted IBM about their smaller range and they gave an honest answer regards graphics – not very good.

I think I don’t want shared video RAM but if I have 1 Gb RAM will that give reasonable performance?

Friends are trying to convert me to Mac but for now I require a PC. Ideally a 12" will be great but could consider a 14". At this stage not massively concerned about budget.

Any brand/model recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Dave E

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XT
xalinai_Two
Apr 10, 2004
On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 18:21:04 +1000, "Dave Ello" wrote:

Hi all,

I’m a pro photographer and travel often, and regularly in remote countries of Asia. I need a laptop that is both conveniently small and capable of providing:

– good graphics processing capability for PS7 (soon CS) – edit 6 Mpixel image files,

For 2D apps like PS any new modern notebook with enough memory will do. 6 MP images are only 18 MB in memory.

– good battery life,
This is more difficult – but those who have the Centrino label should have useful energy saving techniques.

– DVD burner (may have to be USB 2 but was hoping for internal – ie. battery powered. Nice to have battery DVD burning but not essential).
The Sony Vaio range sounds interesting but here in Australia, noone can give me even a subjective answer to the question regarding graphics capability. I contacted IBM about their smaller range and they gave an honest answer regards graphics – not very good.

I think I don’t want shared video RAM but if I have 1 Gb RAM will that give reasonable performance?

Again: For 2D graphics there should be no problem with shared memory – and you can keep the share size very small (16 MB will be sufficient).

Friends are trying to convert me to Mac but for now I require a PC. Ideally a 12" will be great but could consider a 14". At this stage not massively concerned about budget.

Any brand/model recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

There are so many different notebooks out there and you didn’t specify anything that isn’t covered by >90% of the 2003/2004 models. You could simply go and take any major brand Centrino model.

Maybe you should just check where the support centers are in countries you visit and take the one with the best support.

Michael
DE
Dave Ello
Apr 11, 2004
Hi Michael,

Thanks for your response. It’s a bit hard here as there are no opportunities to try PS on one of these laptops before buying. I guess, going on your comments and from what little I know, PS speed for my use probably relies more heavily on a fast HDD and processor/RAM combination and less on a fast graphics processor.

Again, I appreciate your time and will go forth and purchase me a new toy!

Cheers,
David E

"Xalinai" wrote in message
On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 18:21:04 +1000, "Dave Ello" wrote:

Hi all,

I’m a pro photographer and travel often, and regularly in remote
countries
of Asia. I need a laptop that is both conveniently small and capable of providing:

– good graphics processing capability for PS7 (soon CS) – edit 6 Mpixel image files,

For 2D apps like PS any new modern notebook with enough memory will do. 6 MP images are only 18 MB in memory.

– good battery life,
This is more difficult – but those who have the Centrino label should have useful energy saving techniques.

– DVD burner (may have to be USB 2 but was hoping for internal – ie.
battery
powered. Nice to have battery DVD burning but not essential).
The Sony Vaio range sounds interesting but here in Australia, noone can
give
me even a subjective answer to the question regarding graphics
capability.
I contacted IBM about their smaller range and they gave an honest answer regards graphics – not very good.

I think I don’t want shared video RAM but if I have 1 Gb RAM will that
give
reasonable performance?

Again: For 2D graphics there should be no problem with shared memory – and you can keep the share size very small (16 MB will be sufficient).

Friends are trying to convert me to Mac but for now I require a PC.
Ideally
a 12" will be great but could consider a 14". At this stage not
massively
concerned about budget.

Any brand/model recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

There are so many different notebooks out there and you didn’t specify anything that isn’t covered by >90% of the 2003/2004 models. You could simply go and take any major brand Centrino model.
Maybe you should just check where the support centers are in countries you visit and take the one with the best support.

Michael
C
Clyde
Apr 11, 2004
Dave Ello wrote:

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your response. It’s a bit hard here as there are no opportunities to try PS on one of these laptops before buying. I guess, going on your comments and from what little I know, PS speed for my use probably relies more heavily on a fast HDD and processor/RAM combination and less on a fast graphics processor.

Again, I appreciate your time and will go forth and purchase me a new toy!
Cheers,
David E

"Xalinai" wrote in message

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 18:21:04 +1000, "Dave Ello" wrote:

Hi all,

I’m a pro photographer and travel often, and regularly in remote

countries

of Asia. I need a laptop that is both conveniently small and capable of providing:

– good graphics processing capability for PS7 (soon CS) – edit 6 Mpixel image files,

For 2D apps like PS any new modern notebook with enough memory will do. 6 MP images are only 18 MB in memory.

– good battery life,

This is more difficult – but those who have the Centrino label should have useful energy saving techniques.

– DVD burner (may have to be USB 2 but was hoping for internal – ie.

battery

powered. Nice to have battery DVD burning but not essential).
The Sony Vaio range sounds interesting but here in Australia, noone can

give

me even a subjective answer to the question regarding graphics

capability.

I contacted IBM about their smaller range and they gave an honest answer regards graphics – not very good.

I think I don’t want shared video RAM but if I have 1 Gb RAM will that

give

reasonable performance?

Again: For 2D graphics there should be no problem with shared memory – and you can keep the share size very small (16 MB will be sufficient).

Friends are trying to convert me to Mac but for now I require a PC.

Ideally

a 12" will be great but could consider a 14". At this stage not

massively

concerned about budget.

Any brand/model recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

There are so many different notebooks out there and you didn’t specify anything that isn’t covered by >90% of the 2003/2004 models. You could simply go and take any major brand Centrino model.
Maybe you should just check where the support centers are in countries you visit and take the one with the best support.

Michael
I think I would want lots of RAM and as fast a processor as I could get. Those seem to be the keys to speed in PS – in my experience. I doubt a fast HD will do a lot for you. (Which is good because most notebook don’t have fast HD.) DVD burning will certainly use up battery power, but you should be able to wait until you get to an outlet.

The problem is that combination doesn’t fit light weight and low cost very well. Yeah, I sell computer equipment as my full time job and photography as my part time job. Usually the faster the processor and DVD burning capabilities means more loaded, heavier, and more money.

Probably your best solution would be a notebook from a "white box" manufacturer. That way you can get exactly what you need. They tend to be less expensive too.

Clyde
HT
Henrik Tived
Apr 12, 2004
Hi Dave,

Have a look at this one here
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/field.shtml check out the Fujitsu Lifebook 2000. Seems like the thing to get. I have been using Toshiba first Satelite Pro 6100 but it was far too big and now a Tecra which I got as a replacement for hte 6100, though still a bit too big, it was a good compromise. However I do think that the smaller 12" would be better to get as they will be lighter even this Tecra at 2.8 kg seems heavy. However, with two batteries I have about 6:30 hours which is a waste improvement.1.7Ghz PIV-M (1mb cache) 1Gb ram (max 2GB) and 30Gb HDD, 32mb ATI Redeo vga (not shared) only thing is that I don’t have DVD-RW just DVD/CD-RW.
I work on 32-64mb DSLR files (8 or 16-bit) which it seems to handle ok, could always be better but it isn’t bad.

Good luck on your adventures

Henrik

"Dave Ello" wrote in message
Hi all,

I’m a pro photographer and travel often, and regularly in remote countries of Asia. I need a laptop that is both conveniently small and capable of providing:

– good graphics processing capability for PS7 (soon CS) – edit 6 Mpixel image files,
– good battery life,
– DVD burner (may have to be USB 2 but was hoping for internal – ie.
battery
powered. Nice to have battery DVD burning but not essential).
The Sony Vaio range sounds interesting but here in Australia, noone can
give
me even a subjective answer to the question regarding graphics capability. I contacted IBM about their smaller range and they gave an honest answer regards graphics – not very good.

I think I don’t want shared video RAM but if I have 1 Gb RAM will that
give
reasonable performance?

Friends are trying to convert me to Mac but for now I require a PC.
Ideally
a 12" will be great but could consider a 14". At this stage not massively concerned about budget.

Any brand/model recommendations will be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Dave E

HT
Henrik Tived
Apr 12, 2004
from memory I think you can get 7200rpm laptop drives now! at a premium!

Henrik
XT
xalinai_Two
Apr 12, 2004
On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 11:27:17 +1000, "Dave Ello" wrote:

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your response. It’s a bit hard here as there are no opportunities to try PS on one of these laptops before buying. I guess, going on your comments and from what little I know, PS speed for my use probably relies more heavily on a fast HDD and processor/RAM combination and less on a fast graphics processor.

You are perfectly right here. For a notebook, it might be difficullt to find a real fast disk drive, maybe even an external fire wire or USB2.0 drive will be an improvement (while being a necessity for a travelling user, reducing the chance for data loss when used as a backup drive too).

Michael
A
adykes
Apr 12, 2004
In article ,
Xalinai wrote:
On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 11:27:17 +1000, "Dave Ello" wrote:

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your response. It’s a bit hard here as there are no opportunities to try PS on one of these laptops before buying. I guess, going on your comments and from what little I know, PS speed for my use probably relies more heavily on a fast HDD and processor/RAM combination and less on a fast graphics processor.

You are perfectly right here. For a notebook, it might be difficullt to find a real fast disk drive, maybe even an external fire wire or USB2.0 drive will be an improvement (while being a necessity for a travelling user, reducing the chance for data loss when used as a backup drive too).

Michael

There are new 7200rpm laptop disks that have measurably (if not perceptable) increases in transfer speeds. Look at reviews in tomshardware.com. Battery life doesn’t seem to suffer. People with older laptops are buying them for an upgrade.

USB sucks CPU cycles while it’s transfering data. I suspect you won’t be able to use a USB backpack drive as a second disk in a laptop system. I’m told thatCPU load for FW is comparable to an IDE disk, and it makes a usable second disk, so you use a backpack for your images and the laptop internal disk as a PS cache disk. It sounds like a good idea on paper. I’d tuck a PCI FW card in my luggage just in case the laptop dies and I needed to see my pics.

While the disk space on the laptop lasts you can duplicate your files on the laptop and the FW disk, just in case one of them dies or gets lost.


Al Dykes
———–
adykes at p a n i x . c o m
XT
xalinai_Two
Apr 12, 2004
On 12 Apr 2004 08:55:07 -0400, (Al Dykes) wrote:

In article ,
Xalinai wrote:
On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 11:27:17 +1000, "Dave Ello" wrote:

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your response. It’s a bit hard here as there are no opportunities to try PS on one of these laptops before buying. I guess, going on your comments and from what little I know, PS speed for my use probably relies more heavily on a fast HDD and processor/RAM combination and less on a fast graphics processor.

You are perfectly right here. For a notebook, it might be difficullt to find a real fast disk drive, maybe even an external fire wire or USB2.0 drive will be an improvement (while being a necessity for a travelling user, reducing the chance for data loss when used as a backup drive too).

Michael

There are new 7200rpm laptop disks that have measurably (if not perceptable) increases in transfer speeds. Look at reviews in tomshardware.com. Battery life doesn’t seem to suffer. People with older laptops are buying them for an upgrade.

USB sucks CPU cycles while it’s transfering data.

That doesn’t matter if the CPU is already waiting for the data from scratch drives. It is relevant for applications that have disk access while doing something productive, but PS has disk access when it needs data from the disk or waits for the disk finishing a writing job so it doesn’t matter if some cycles are not spent idling.

If applications and drivers make concurrent use of the CPU there might be a problem (playing video from USB DVD), but still: The amount of CPU cyles the can be spent on USB depends on the speed of the device. With current processor speed and disk speed still near last decades values there should be no noticeable slowdown.

I suspect you won’t
be able to use a USB backpack drive as a second disk in a laptop system.

There are drives available that have their own power supply and batteries, others can live with the 500mA from USB. Unused 6V battery packs (2000mAh) for camcorders make nice emergency power supplies for many of the 5V devices available (with a little knowledge).

I’m told thatCPU load for FW is comparable to an IDE disk, and it makes a usable second disk, so you use a backpack for your images and the laptop internal disk as a PS cache disk. It sounds like a good idea on paper. I’d tuck a PCI FW card in my luggage just in case the laptop dies and I needed to see my pics.

I’d really be happy to search for someone with a firewire connection if my notebook died and I knew all images safe on a second disk 🙂

While the disk space on the laptop lasts you can duplicate your files on the laptop and the FW disk, just in case one of them dies or gets lost.

My words….

Michael
N
noone
Jun 25, 2004
In article <c5a6v2$2r0ati$>,
says…
Hi Michael,

Thanks for your response. It’s a bit hard here as there are no opportunities to try PS on one of these laptops before buying. I guess, going on your comments and from what little I know, PS speed for my use probably relies more heavily on a fast HDD and processor/RAM combination and less on a fast graphics processor.

Again, I appreciate your time and will go forth and purchase me a new toy!
Cheers,
David E
[SNIP original post]

David,

I know that trekking with tons of gear is a problem, but if you plan on doing any PS work on the road, beyond just downloading your images and moving them into folders, I’d urge you to go with a larger screen. Sony’s Vaio line tops out with some very nice UXGA monitors. Don’t know if they have those in the Centrino processors though.

As stated before, about 90% of the laptops out there will run PS fine, it only will be limited by your HDD space (80GB’s are now pretty well standard), and what you can see on the screen.

Hunt

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