Laptop Advice

I am considering getting a laptop for when I am on the road. I don't know much about these. My concerns are mostly good color rendition, decent battery life, wireless capability, and being able to charge and run it in my car. What do you use? Thanks, chip (I need a PC that will be able to handle CS3 and Lightroom with 2gigs ram, and HD capacity isn't so important)

Thanks Mike. Looks like the Dell Inspiron 13 is the closest to what you are talking about $549 at the Outlet. 3 gig Ram, and 250 gig HD. What do think about this one?

Laptops all come with enough hard drive and RAM now, 2GB is standard (I upgraded to 4GB for 60 bucks!). What you want to be focusing on is the processor and screen. To make CS3 run smooth, you'll want at least a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo (Dual Core processor). I have a 2.0GHz T7200 in my laptop that I bought in 1996 and CS3 screamed. CS4 runs even faster of course, due to the OpenGL support, meaning in now uses your video card for horsepower (and it works!).

OK, 'nuff about Photoshop, Dell has some great sales (I just looked). You can get a 15.4" Inspiron laptop with a T5800 processor (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo), 3GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, built-in wireless, DVD/CD burner, 2-year warranty and HiDef audio for $799. And there are cheaper versions with a bit less power and storage. Here's the link.

You can go for the larger battery for $70, but the better thing to do would be to get the iGo Power Adapter, which you'd use as your regular power supply... it handles standard wall outlet power, car lighter power, and even the Empower jacks on airplanes. Very neat item. On Delta flights, I plug in and enjoy real power the whole flight. The Delta 737s have this Empower jack under the middle seat in the row in coach. Most people don't know they're there, not even the stewardesses. Whoops! Got on a rabbit trail again!

Anyway, this is definitely the best time to buy, these next two weeks. Have fun shopping!

I used to sell and repair laptops and from years of personal experience I can say with affirmation stay away from Sony, Dell and HP. All three have a long history of hardware problems - though Dell is getting better in recent years. I would recommend either Acer or Toshiba. They both make 13" models though the Acers are generally much cheaper. As far as the screen goes, however, you have to drop the cash for a higher end model to get a good, bright, screen and you're not going to find a quality screen on anything less than about $900.

Keep you desktop monitor, and don't expect to get quality results while on the road unless you haul your desktop monitor along so you can plug it in while you're in your motel room.

I've never found a laptop with a 1000:1 or higher contrast ratio... maybe they are out there, but I've personally never seen one.

I don't know jack about computers and laptops, but I remember seeing in a photo magazine an article about a laptop specifically for photographers. It was all business w/o any of the usual garbage that comes on computers from the factory. The best part was that it had a high end screen, with a built in calibration device which could adapt to your lighting conditions at all times. It pretty much was a dream come true, but I can't remember where I read it, or who the maker was. I wanna say toshiba...?

Anyway, I know that wasn't much help to the original question, but it might be worth some investigation if anyone is interested. I'll dig through some of my magazines that are around and see if i can find the article.

I'd love to hear more about it Aaron. Let me know when you find out.

Once you go Mac, you'll never go back

Chip, I found it.

It is a Lenovo w700. This laptop looks like a killer portable photo editing machine. But, after reading a few online reviews, it might be a little too good to be true. With a high quality 17" LCD, built in colorometer, and built in wacom digitizer, I just about started drooling, but it is huge and heavy with a pricetag ($2500 and up) to match its size. Seems to eat batteries like a starving gorilla as well. I don't know what your budget is but, do a little googleing and see what you think. It looks like one bad mamba-jamba, but I just don't know how I'd like to lug it around. Hope this helps.
-Aaron

I have the Lenovo T400 -- the screen isn't the best for serious editing, but with the LED backlit screen I get 7 hours with the larger battery...

Plus it is fairly rugged -- not Toughbook rugged, but it will take a hit better than most other computers...

MacBook or MacBook Pro. As long as you're shopping, why not take a look…

I have a PC here at home. Would I be able to use my CS3 and Lightroom versions on a Mac?

I just want to emphasize what Curtis said about color on a laptop. There are not any out there that have the size of gamut of a typical, basic desktop monitor. This means the color gamut of your laptop will be less than sRGB. Now if you calibrate your display, then color management can do the best it can to reproduce your colors as pleasingly as possible, and you might very well do just fine depending on your scene and how particular you are. But I want you to be aware of the limitations of laptop color...go into this with your eyes open.

http://www.colorwiki.com/images/b/b7/MacBook2.jpg

Here's a comparison of the sRGB profile with a very nice, new, LED-lit MacBook Pro laptop. (The MacBook is the smaller blue gamut in the middle.) This is typical of any laptop display gamut.

Well, after bringing two laptops home from Walmart(fist was a Compaq-$398- with a single core processor 15 inch., second was a Dell Inspiron 13 inch-$598-(had a defective optical drive), and returning both, I ordered a custom 13 inch Vostro from the small business page on Dells website.
Dual Core, 2gig ram, 250 gig HD, 128mb vid. card, Ultra-sharp WXGA lcd(true-life), 9-cell battery(up to 71/2 hrs), XP pro sp 3, and Case for $800 after tax and shipping. Normal price=about $1,200.
Tech support seemed pretty good when I had the problem with my other one, besides the language barrier!. The guy actually got onto my computer and confirmed the problem. Well see what happens with this.
In the long run the important things to me were-portability, screen and battery life. The other two seemed to have comparable screens-I calibrated both pretty well-they would be just fine in the field for viewing images and some minor editing just to see what I had while out.
Thanks for all the help. Let me know what you think. Anyone know about these?

Chip, I hope the new machine works out for you.

Patrick, thanks for the info/liink about the color gamut. I didn't know about the issue of a gamut smaller than sRGB. Yikes. Doesn't sound so good. I use a MacBook Pro because I didn't want to try to afford both a desktop and a laptop computer, and I'm still in that situation. Tough compromise, perhaps, but I valued portability first and figured I could add a desktop computer later maybe... In the couple of years I've been using the MacBook, a few prints have won awards. So, that's enough to suit me. Not very technical but rather putting my trust in the eye of the beholder.

OK, I changed my mind and cancelled my order for the Vostro. I ordered a xps 1330 from the outlet for $739 scratch and dent. It is smaller, lighter, and has an LED backlit screen. I have read that these are great screens and are only available on a few high end laptops. It has the same memory situation, and a dedicated video card as well. + a nine cell battery for about 5 hrs of life. It sounds like they use the same type of screens on the new Mac laptops as well. Less drain on the battery, wider color gamut, and brighter with better viewing angles. I'll let you know what I think when I get it. Anyone familiar with this type of laptop?

I've played with a low end version of the 1330. Probably the only Dell I'd ever consider buying. If you strip down all the unnecessary software and get a stable OS installed on there it should be a good little machine. I haven't seen one with a matte screen though, dunno if that's something they're offering on the newer models.

What do you mean by stable? I use Windows XP on my home computer, but this one comes with Vista. Do you suggest I downgrade, or just update Vista and go with it?

The stability of the OS can vary widely depending on what other software is installed, what hardware the computer uses, what version of the OS you're using, etc. I run XP SP2 and it never, ever crashes on me (on both my desktop and lappy). The early versions of Vista I played around with on the 1330 were prone to freezing every now and then, but that was prior to Vista SP1, so it may be stable now. YMMV. I don't know if it can be done or not, but if I were in your place, I would definitely be wiping it totally clean and installing XP instead (assuming compatible drivers can be found - and they very well may not even exist, in which case you're stuck with Vista). I'd say you are probably better sticking 4GB of ram in it, if it doesn't have that much already, and just go with Vista for the time being because downgrading is a PITA.

Well, I got the XPS. Everything seems pretty good. The screen isn't perfect-it has a few bright spots, pretty minor. I assume this is part of the heavy discount. The screen doesn't seem too different from the rest. I notice more of a 3-d look, and more sharpness with these LCD screens though(compared to my CRT that I use here at home).