Laptops for Photographers

I'm a beginner photographer and I'm getting into the digital aspect. I have a

computer now with photoshop 7 but it's old and been running real sluggish. I

want to buy a laptop but don't know what specifications to look for that will

benefit me as a photographer. I basically only use my computer for photos,

graphics, internet....

 

All I hear about it Apple's for this type of stuff, but I wanted to get another PC.

 

Any information would be great. Thanks in advance.

I have been a Mac user since 1985 (and still write fairly regularly for Macworld) but I use PCs and Macs these days, and you can do fine with either. The only decisive reason I can think of for a photographer to buy a Mac now is to be able to run Aperture, which runs only on the Mac OS. But I think Adobe Lightroom is as good as Lightroom and it will run on Windows or Mac.

 

Couple of things to consider.

 

First, don't get one of those shiny, ultrabrite screens. (They are given a different name by every company but I hope you know what I mean.) They're an abomination. They seem designed mainly to make the screens look sexy in the store. You do NOT want to have to stare at one of those screens for hours, or worry constantly about where your computer is positioned to avoid glare.

 

Second, make sure that your laptop has the ability to connect to an independent external display. Many laptops allow you to connect a mirrored display--a display that is simply a duplicate of what you see on your laptop's display. That is mainly for folks who are using their computers to run presentations. It's more useful for you to be able to buy a high-quality external display and have it show its own share of the desktop. You might not want to do this right away, but it's good to have this ability.

 

Also be sure that you get enough connectivity ports. I have all my raw photos on an external drive. I often use an external keyboard and almost always use a mouse rather than my laptop's touchpad. Then there's my card reader. I use my four USB ports all the time. You can get a hub but it's easier to be able to plug right into the laptop.

 

Get lots of ram: You may be able to work with just 1 GB, but for my needs, anyway, 2 GB seems a minimum these days.

 

Pay more attention to power and functionality than to form. The new MacBook Air is really sleek and sexy, but it's a business manager's machine, designed mainly for looks rather than utility. If you do buy an Apple laptop, get a MacBook Pro, not the lower-cost MacBook "Amateur."

Dave, keep in mind that laptops are SLOWER in most cases, than a desktop. And, dollar for dollar, you get more computer in a desktop.

 

One reason for the slowness is the hard drives in laptops often read and write slower. I recommend spending extra to get the fastest type hard drive you can.

 

I spent big bucks on a notebook computer a few years ago. I thought I wanted the portability. Turns out the notebook site on a desk most of the time.

 

As others have said, get as much RAM as you can afford.

 

Buy a Mac if you want to overpay and have a limited selection of software titles.

 

Otherwise, get a Dell.

If you work for a big company, ask the Dell salesperson about a corporate discount. You'll then be referred to call a different number.

You can not edit photos on a lap top as the screen looks different from different angles. Apples are the best I have seen, but it is not as good as a dull plastic screen in this respect.

 

Notebooks are generally not plesant to edit with. Ok if you get a keyboard, mouse, and external screen. But why buy a laptop then.

a mouse is a minimum. There are certain operations where you need the left hand on the keys and right on a mouse. A lap does not itself to it well.

 

Mac`s are the industry standard for graphics for reasons of functionality. Talk to anybody in graphic arts.

 

Current Photoshop CS3 will work with up to 2 gb ram with common files, up to 4 gb for tiff files only. You will use tiff only for scanned film and some graphic arts application.

 

Windows needs more ram than Apple because of the cumbersome Vista OS.

 

I use a 80gb hard dr and 1 gb mem Macbook to run my second allowed instalation of CS3. It is just a travel computer, but actually it seens to run as well as my iMac 24. It is nowhere near a nice to edit on, but it works and I do it if I must. I attach a external mouse. It has a shinny screen, but in a proper room I can put the same pic up on a plastic screen iMac and put the two in the same place and can not tell the difference.

 

I have also downloaded some Flickr files on a new Gateway lap. They look like trash compared to what I see on the el cheapo Macbook.

You can edit on a laptop but it's not recommended to do so. They are getting better in terms of screen viewing angles but still aren't as good as you'd like them to be. The screens in laptops are where the biggest compromises are made to keep costs down. The screens are tougher to calibrate than desktop screens (although it can be done) and they typically don't have the contrast ratio necessary for really critical editing.

 

I typically use my laptop for initial culling and only very cursory colour and editing work. I'll use it for more "serious" work if I'm traveling and have no other choice. it works, but it's not as good as my desktop. I have edited shots for newspaper publication but that's a low quality output format and I wouldn't use it to edit for art prints or book publishing. Mine's an Acer Travelmate with a 15.4" screen. It's got a dual core 1.8GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 160GB HDD that's split into two partitions; one for programs and the other for files. Mine came with XP Pro and Acer is still configuring some of its computers with XP. A couple nice things are that it's got a magnesium alloy case which is a little more protective than the standard plastic case and it's got some built in protection for the hard drive. It's not as good as if it had a solid state hard drive but it's better than nothing.

 

If you are going to get a laptop, then I'd suggest getting an accessory monitor to use with it. You can use the separate monitor when editing at home or in the office and just the laptop when away from the office.

All this information is great. Thanks. I was thinking about the laptop for versatility and freedom but I may just look into a better desktop. I currently have a Compaq Presario that's almost 10 years old so anything will do better than that. I was hoping to use the laptop to be able to show my photo's to "Clients". I say that because I just started and anyone that pays me is basically friends or friends of friends. I just figured that I could bring that somewhere and show them my portfolio or results of their shoot.

Also, please keep in mind that I don't need a professional computer just yet. I was only hoping to spend approx. $1K (if that).

An Apple MacBook Pro or MacBook makes a very good computing environment for

photographic image processing and both have excellent video output to drive a large

desktop monitor when you want to do presentations and critical image adjustment. Stuff

'em up with a big drive and lots of RAM and you get a darn good system. You can also

install and run Windows as the primary OS on them if you prefer.

 

They'll cost more than $1000. And they're worth the price.

 

Godfrey

"Running sluggish" usually means there's a lot of junk on the C drive.

 

Do a disc cleanup. Uninstall software you don't use often unless you don't have a CD for it. Find some space on C drive.

 

Recognize that you'll probably have grief with Windows Vista or the latest Mac application if you have software or printers or scanners that worked on Windows XP...

Dave, laptops are fine for a lot of things. Using one that's got a calibrated screen is going to be better than using an uncalibrated desktop screen most probably. I use mine for the same things you're talking about. I had an editor and publisher want to see some recent studio shots so showed them on the laptop. I had an editor want to see a slideshow of a hockey tournament I covered so showed that on the laptop. Laptops aren't evil. You just have to be aware of the limitations inherent in them.

Unless you absolutely need to be mobile, a laptop is not a great choice for image editing.

Why not get "just something": 2nd hand Win XP, 1GB Ram and single core processor? - It should float your mobility boat well enough, depending on battery life and HDD size. Such laptops should be at 50% or less of current crop entry level price and handle 6MP RAW files well enough IMHO. For severe number crunching at home I suggest ocasional cleaning of the fans and heat sinks plus maybe some spacer under it to allow better air circulation. Add a reasonable desktop with plenty of RAM plus a 2nd internal HDD and you should be happy.

Well....I just recently bought a 500gb external hard drive for back up but also to get some stuff off of my computers hard drive. I just need to go through and start removing stuff. I already removed 7gb of photo's so that's a start.

So I just bought a Sony Vaio FZ340. Haven't had a chance to do much with it yet seeing that I just got it tonight.

Asus G2S-B2 has a dual bulb display 17.1 WUXGA (1920x1200), Intel Dual Core 2 T7700 2.4GHZ, 3GB memory.

 

This laptop has an icredible bright detailed screen. It is fast and well made.

 

It does have a reflective screen but I have sat in front of it for many hours with no problems.

 

David W