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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> photography based laptop
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 03/14/2005 05:57:51 PM · #1
I am looking for a good laptop to get before fall semister starts next year. I was wondering if anyone knew of a good one that is designed for photography
 03/14/2005 06:01:22 PM · #2
A week ago today I got my new Mac G4 15" PowerBook. I'm very happy with it - I had photography in mind when I decided to switch from Windows based machines.

But regardless - RAM, RAM, and more RAM is a good place to start.
 03/14/2005 06:16:47 PM · #3
There are some new notebooks coming out with "BrightVeiw" or "X-Bright" screens that enhance the image on the screen tremendously. This is an option that I'm considering myself. And as joebok put it....RAM, RAM and more RAM. Get as much RAM as you can afford. Not so much at the point of purchase, but after market as it's usually cheaper that way and very easy to install. You may also want to look at the option of having intergrated memory card readers. I don't know how fast they are compared to USB-2 Card Readers but it's certainly convenient. Other than that, I can't think of anything else that would make a notebook Photography-based. I wish there was such a thing.

Message edited by author 2005-03-14 18:18:28.
 03/14/2005 06:21:13 PM · #4
Having a DVD burner would help for photo storage. Those things hold a lot.
 03/14/2005 06:23:49 PM · #5
Weight is the most important factor for me.
1.) Weight max 1.3kg (12,1")
2.) FSB speed, 533MHz recommended
3.) Centrino processor, 1.6GHz->
4.) 1GB of memory

That's the ultima photo laptop I can think of.
03/14/2005 06:24:26 PM · #6
stay away from HP notebooks unless you want to wait a half an hour for it to 'start'.

Joe
 03/14/2005 06:27:31 PM · #7
The major thing I noticed with laptop is slow with photoshop. I have 2 laptops a toshiba with 1 gb of ram running at 2.4ghz. There is enought processing power but when I run photoshop I know its working load is going up very high as the fan really starts kicking in and getting louder. The Sony only has 512mb ram but is also 2.4ghz. I dare only run photoshop if I doing minor editing like levels, curves or other adjustment layers. I dare not try any brush strokes. As far as the displays Toshiba with nvida graphics is on the lighter side after calibrating the monitor I noticed the screen got a little darker. The sony running ATI is naturally brighter and even after monitor calibration it still has the same brightness. I still though prefer to use a full CRT monitor for editing.
03/14/2005 06:30:01 PM · #8
On a side note - what is the advantage/disadvantage of one processor type over another (basically, centrino vs. P4)? Does centrino offer better battery economy? Is it significantly slower than P4 or are the GHz values computed differently / meaningless?
Thanks
 03/14/2005 07:16:12 PM · #9
You can read about centrino and the other processors over at intel.com, but yeah it offers way better battery capacity :)
03/14/2005 07:35:10 PM · #10
An Apple Powerbook
 03/14/2005 11:09:58 PM · #11
Originally posted by hdogg4u:
The major thing I noticed with laptop is slow with photoshop. I have 2 laptops a toshiba with 1 gb of ram running at 2.4ghz. There is enought processing power but when I run photoshop I know its working load is going up very high as the fan really starts kicking in and getting louder. The Sony only has 512mb ram but is also 2.4ghz. I dare only run photoshop if I doing minor editing like levels, curves or other adjustment layers. I dare not try any brush strokes. As far as the displays Toshiba with nvida graphics is on the lighter side after calibrating the monitor I noticed the screen got a little darker. The sony running ATI is naturally brighter and even after monitor calibration it still has the same brightness. I still though prefer to use a full CRT monitor for editing.


Are you sure you're not running too much in the background? The only computer of mine that I run Photoshop on is an 800MHz..that's right....MHZ NOT GHz, with about 300MB of RAM and I never have a problem.
 03/14/2005 11:12:53 PM · #12
Originally posted by K-Rob:
Originally posted by hdogg4u:
The major thing I noticed with laptop is slow with photoshop. I have 2 laptops a toshiba with 1 gb of ram running at 2.4ghz. There is enought processing power but when I run photoshop I know its working load is going up very high as the fan really starts kicking in and getting louder. The Sony only has 512mb ram but is also 2.4ghz. I dare only run photoshop if I doing minor editing like levels, curves or other adjustment layers. I dare not try any brush strokes. As far as the displays Toshiba with nvida graphics is on the lighter side after calibrating the monitor I noticed the screen got a little darker. The sony running ATI is naturally brighter and even after monitor calibration it still has the same brightness. I still though prefer to use a full CRT monitor for editing.


Are you sure you're not running too much in the background? The only computer of mine that I run Photoshop on is an 800MHz..that's right....MHZ NOT GHz, with about 300MB of RAM and I never have a problem.


I'm running a toshiba p4 2.8 with 512mb of ram.. and photoshop opens great on mine and quickly too
 03/14/2005 11:45:17 PM · #13
Originally posted by K-Rob:
Are you sure you're not running too much in the background? The only computer of mine that I run Photoshop on is an 800MHz..that's right....MHZ NOT GHz, with about 300MB of RAM and I never have a problem.


I don't think he is. I have 2 machines I run Photoshop CS on. One is a 2.4 Ghz with 1 Gb memory and the other is an 866 Mhz with 256 Mb, so essnetially similar to that system of yours. Neither have much going on in the background, and it is the same in both cases.

The difference in performance between those two machines is very significant, especially when running some CPU intensive processing, such as applying filter. Also, when working with the really large files, say a multi layer tiff at 100Mb or so, the performance difference becomes even more obvious.
 03/15/2005 12:02:57 AM · #14
I got the Toshiba p35, with a 17" x-brite screen, nice wireless setup, and the dvd burner. It weighs a ton and is the size of a coffee table book, but I love the display and it does what I need which is half photoshop, and half web stuff. I can now spend time editing and writing stuff like this out in the public areas of the house, with my family, instead of being back in my little warren of an office. The xbrite/trubrite is a breakthrough, hugely more enjoyable than the old tft screens. Best photoshop tool for those of us who have too much invested in PC land to go mac.
 03/15/2005 02:58:53 AM · #15
If you're looking at PCs then I would recommend a Sony Vaio of some kind. The Sony screens are excellent and their laptops are pretty well built.

Regarding CPU you should be looking at a Centrino. They're almost as fast as a Pentium 4 and their power saving is remarkable. For RAM - 1 gig is a nice aiming point but you don't have to get that from new. However, most laptops will not come with any spare RAM slots so you might have to remove your existing RAM in order to upgrade.

John
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