Better than a epson P- whatever!

<p>OK i have to admit, i bought my first ever (and hopefully last one) PC last month!</p>

<p>" What!? Patrick, a mac affionado at the top of the Mac cult fanatic bought a PC..i must have read wrong for sure?!"</p>

<p>Nope, really i got one, a netbook, Asus EePC, 9inch screen, 1 gig ram 160gig hd, 3 usb port, wiifi, camera, speaker etc...260$CAN. Why? Because i had for years a epson P-2000 for when i travel to put my raw file from my Canon 5D to clear my CF card, and to review my image at night at the hotel BUT Epson decide that if you buy a newer camera model; read a Canon G9 and a Rebel T1i, they wont support those raw file .. and since theres no firmware update (what they said) there solution was to get a P-7000 for 800$?!</p>

<p>Looking at my option, and knowing that Apple dont do anything smaller than a 13inch (for now) and not wanting to invest 1k for something that will follow me aroudn the globe (i already have a Imac, a mac pro and a macbook pro so its enough), i decide to jump onto the dark side and get a small PC that work amazingly well after getting the window concept and accepting the fact that i wont have my HD icon appearing onto my desktop ; )</p>

<p>I used it to backup my SD card with the included SD slot, define a hot folder to grab the image and put it directly there when it detect the card, i use it to call in Montreal with my Skype to phone and keep in touch with my family and friend, listen my music in my hotel room when i was there, surf the web at night just for fun and sleep at night knowing that by pluging my lacie rugged HD to it i can get a backup... all that for just 260$CAN...</p>

<p>Is it powerfull? nope. i install Element and i have time to go take a shower before it open a image..but the point was just to see my images, so i install Faststone image viewer..a look alike Picassa software and free too. Fast being the main word in FASTstone, even for a net book.</p>

<p>So for those of you who travel a lot, want something small enough to put in your backpack while riding or walking and dont want to have to add weight to your already heavy photo bag.. a netbook is a must have, of course, the newest apple netbook due for next summer would be THE thing to get LOL</p>

 

<p>As long as you have the right expectations for this sort of device, they are indeed terrific little tools. I use an HP Mini (10.5" screen, a GB of RAM, a decent sized HD). Same basic class of machine. Very nimble, fast WiFi negotiation - not bad for $300.<br /><br />And, see? Windows ain't so bad, Patrick! It allows you to buy really cheap, useful hardware that works.</p>

<p>I also run an HP Mini Netbook while traveling and when on-location. But, unlike Matt, I run Ubuntu Netbook Remix instead of Windows. I'm a bit biased towards Ubuntu, though...my day job is Operational Systems Administrator for Canonical, the company that commercially sponsors the Ubuntu Linux distribution. ;)</p>

<blockquote>

<p>accepting the fact that i wont have my HD icon appearing onto my desktop</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Start Menu->Computer. Click on computer, right click on your disk and select "Make shortcut" or something like that. Voila! to speak in your native tongue.</p>

<p>Sean: if it makes you feel any better, I just spent all afternoon moving a bunch virtual machines off of MS VS hosts and over to VMware running on some Jaunty boxes. So, I'm a happy Ubuntu guy, but more on the server side of things. Keep up the good work on that distro, me likes it!</p>

<p>Another one here running Ubuntu Netbook remix... on a Dell Mini. It actually had a brief career as a rocket fast Hackintosh with OSX 10.5.8 but I'm more comfortable with Ubuntu. </p>

<p>I'll hold off on Mac until Snow Leopard gets replaced...something about "Chardonnay" in 2011 ...</p>

<p>Not bad, Patrick. If you get sick of it, send it to me!</p>

<p>But really, it's just a computer. They all work pretty well these days. So you get the best one for the particular job.</p>

<p>In my case, it's the guy at the keyboard that I have to worry about....</p>

<p>I also recently purchased my first non-Mac, a Dell Mini 9 with Ubuntu Netbook Remix for a mere $199.00.</p>

<p>So far, I consider it a fine investment. I was becoming concerned about the remaining lifetime of my laptop, and did not feel I could presently justify $1500.00 for a new MacBook Pro. It also occurred to me that I was using my "work" computer several hours a day for recreation, playing Facebook, blogging, Hulu, etc.</p>

<p>I still use the Mac for editing in the field, but the Mini 9 has been a perfect companion for web-based fun, taking some uneccessary strain off of my more expensive tools.</p>