Posted by Rob Howard on December 18, 2007 at 7:29 PM
Hi All,
I will be on the look out in the sales for a laptop to be used only for previewing images not processing, so, vital it has a card reader. To save me the hassle of talking to people who have no knowledge in my local store can you guys point me in some sort of direction please. Not worried about screen size, but as I say must be good for viewing in the field and giving me a good representation of the image.
TIA
Regards
Rob
Posted by Mike Smith on December 19, 2007 at 2:24 AM
not too sure that a laptop is really what you want, surely it is too big and heavy to lug around! - have a look at this
I have an earlier Hyperdrive unit without the screen as my field back up unit. Fast reliable and does what it says it will do. This latest model is a substantial move forward. The Hyperdrive systems are probably the quickest back up units out there. Although any form of chimping/reviewing images seriously dents the battery life of any in-field unit.
Mike
Posted by Andy Astbury on December 19, 2007 at 3:08 AM
Got to agree with Mike here Rob - laptop wouldn't be my choice either, for the reasons Mike said plus it's just another stupid OS to give you grief unless you go Mac that is.
I know every time Bob Rigby gets them in they go - very quickly
Have a good one Rob
Posted by John MacTavish on December 19, 2007 at 3:48 AM
I've got a UMPC on order, but don't have an exact date for it's arrival.
Superb for wifi connection and reviewing shots.
If you have a wireless transmitter on your camera you can shoot directly to the UMPC and if you are in a wifi area you can have them ftp'd to your server automatically, doing away with the worry or need for multiple images being stored on one card or machine.
I've ordered this one but there are a number to choose from.
Battery life is not great on full operating mode but it's over a day on standby, which still recieves wireless files.
John
Posted by Dave Sewell on December 19, 2007 at 5:02 AM
Rob,
Interesting that at the bottom of the review on the Hyperdrive it says this...
'I still regard a laptop in the field as a necessity...' !!!
However, I agree with the others. Personally I use the Jobu giga-vu 80.
Even cheaper would be a Flashtrax which isn't very sophisticated but does the job you want and it's cheap as chips on the second hand market. I've got one here that you could have for nowt if you want - the batteries pretty knackered but that's easily replaceable and you could at least try it without shelling out any money.
Dave
Posted by Rob Howard on December 19, 2007 at 5:37 AM
Hi All,
I do have a flashtrax, but want something that other people can view on, instead of trying to see the image on the back of the camera! Will take a look at the above ideas
Regards
Rob
Posted by Rene de Heer on December 19, 2007 at 5:42 AM
Rob, i use one of the Sony Vaio TZ ultracompact laptops. The weight is just over a kilo and the screen quality is superb. Sorry but i dont think an imagetank with a screen like a Jobu or Epson comes anywhere close.
The downside is of course the fact that it is a bit bigger but i can easily put it in my Tamrac backpack and the price. Expect to pay somewhere around £1400-£1500.
Rene de Heer
Posted by Elliott Neep on December 19, 2007 at 5:59 AM
I'm ordering a Sony VAIO SZ Series VGN-SZ650N after Xmas. Like Rene's, it is ultra portable and only weighs 1.8kg. It has a 13"HD screen which is ideal for reviewing. I'm getting one so I can review images daily while abroad and cut down the time it takes to go through and process images at when I get home. I will be installing a copy of my Lightroom database so I can add all the metadata while I am away and work while I travel. As far as I can tell, the Sony's have had the best write up of any ultra portable notebooks. The only issue is that they come bundled with a load of crappy trial software, so you need to do an OS reinstall to overwrite it all.
Posted by Rene de Heer on December 19, 2007 at 6:10 AM
That is actually a very valid point Elliott.Yes it comes with a lot of Sony crap which makes the laptop slowwwwwwwwww, a clean install is a must but the VAIO's are superb!
Rene de Heer
Posted by Ben Micklem on December 19, 2007 at 6:31 AM
It's probably not that relevant, but Apple are rumored to be releasing a 12 or 13" ultra portable at MacWorld in January.
I have a Nexto ND2300 http://www.nextodi.co.uk/prod_nd2300.html that I am very happy with- it is very quick. I bought the enclosure for £75 a year ago, and used an old 80GB 2.5" drive I had spare. It has an internal CF slot, and a 'host' USB port, so can download from other USB mass storage devices (e.g. a card reader or direct from the camera- I use this for plugin in a cheap miniature SD card reader- much cheaper than a SD to CF adapter). My model does a software verification, but the ultra model does it in hardware.
It is not useful to you though, as it has no review screen!
Posted by Paul Gibbs on December 19, 2007 at 7:24 AM
If you must have a laptop on the move, i use an old Sony VAIO Picture book, 8" screen running windows XP, weighs in at less than a 70-300 VR and offers 4hours battery power. It suits me but i still rarely carry it as i have lots of CF cards...
Posted by Mark Smith on December 22, 2007 at 5:42 AM
Hi Rob,
If you need something to just view images on then I've been looking at an ultra portable laptop, an ASUS eee PC at only £200 it has no hard drive just a 4Gb solid state disc and runs Linux only. A friend has one and the thing boots up in 15 secs, has a battery life of over 3hrs a 7in screen and wifi. The OS is set up to do all the simple things, email, web surfing viewing pictures etc. it only has an SD card slot but has plenty of spare USB2 connections for an external hard drive and CF reader if required.
Discussion
11 repliesI will be on the look out in the sales for a laptop to be used only for previewing images not processing, so, vital it has a card reader. To save me the hassle of talking to people who have no knowledge in my local store can you guys point me in some sort of direction please. Not worried about screen size, but as I say must be good for viewing in the field and giving me a good representation of the image.
TIA
Regards
Rob
I have an earlier Hyperdrive unit without the screen as my field back up unit. Fast reliable and does what it says it will do. This latest model is a substantial move forward. The Hyperdrive systems are probably the quickest back up units out there. Although any form of chimping/reviewing images seriously dents the battery life of any in-field unit.
Mike
I'd personally go for one of these myself http://www.jobo.com/jobo_digital/giga_vu_extreme/gb/index.html
I know every time Bob Rigby gets them in they go - very quickly
Have a good one Rob
Superb for wifi connection and reviewing shots.
If you have a wireless transmitter on your camera you can shoot directly to the UMPC and if you are in a wifi area you can have them ftp'd to your server automatically, doing away with the worry or need for multiple images being stored on one card or machine.
I've ordered this one but there are a number to choose from.
Battery life is not great on full operating mode but it's over a day on standby, which still recieves wireless files.
John
Interesting that at the bottom of the review on the Hyperdrive it says this...
'I still regard a laptop in the field as a necessity...' !!!
However, I agree with the others. Personally I use the Jobu giga-vu 80.
Even cheaper would be a Flashtrax which isn't very sophisticated but does the job you want and it's cheap as chips on the second hand market. I've got one here that you could have for nowt if you want - the batteries pretty knackered but that's easily replaceable and you could at least try it without shelling out any money.
Dave
I do have a flashtrax, but want something that other people can view on, instead of trying to see the image on the back of the camera! Will take a look at the above ideas
Regards
Rob
The downside is of course the fact that it is a bit bigger but i can easily put it in my Tamrac backpack and the price. Expect to pay somewhere around £1400-£1500.
Rene de Heer
Rene de Heer
I have a Nexto ND2300 http://www.nextodi.co.uk/prod_nd2300.html that I am very happy with- it is very quick. I bought the enclosure for £75 a year ago, and used an old 80GB 2.5" drive I had spare. It has an internal CF slot, and a 'host' USB port, so can download from other USB mass storage devices (e.g. a card reader or direct from the camera- I use this for plugin in a cheap miniature SD card reader- much cheaper than a SD to CF adapter). My model does a software verification, but the ultra model does it in hardware.
It is not useful to you though, as it has no review screen!
If you need something to just view images on then I've been looking at an ultra portable laptop, an ASUS eee PC at only £200 it has no hard drive just a 4Gb solid state disc and runs Linux only. A friend has one and the thing boots up in 15 secs, has a battery life of over 3hrs a 7in screen and wifi. The OS is set up to do all the simple things, email, web surfing viewing pictures etc. it only has an SD card slot but has plenty of spare USB2 connections for an external hard drive and CF reader if required.
Follow the link http://eeepc.asus.com/global/
The only problem is is they are selling like hot cakes (1 every 6 seconds according to ASUS) and most places are out of stock.
Mark