laptops

missy me

Im starting to save up for a laptop and was just wondering what might be the best one to get.as i would mainly be using it for photography i need the appropriate make etc.anyone got any ideas?

Jim

In terms of media an iBook or Powerbook are probably your best bet, if your willing to get ripped off of course.

rob1891

I have a powerbook and i got to say the screen is very disappointing. You expect on a tft (or whatever they're called) that the colours will change when you view it at extreme angles but on the powerbook (12") they are shifting even as I move my head around while working. For a brand that is so popular with visual media type I think it's a pretty awful screen compared to what I've seen on toshibas and other laptops. I don't know what the 15' and 17' are like but I wouldn't recommend the 12 that I got (second newest model) even though the rest of it is beautiful.

eclectichoney

well i do a bit of photography (nothing much - run photoshop and fireworks off it and do all my digital photography stuff) and i have a dell and no problems with it - screen is great, very sharp compared to my old HP.got 512 ram cause you need it as a min when running intensive graphics progs.

RicardoSmith

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

In terms of media an iBook or Powerbook are probably your best bet, if your willing to get ripped off of course.

What kinda advice is that ?????

It would depend if you want a very portable laptop, ie small and light, or a very powerful one that would be bigger and heavier. Do you want a big screen or a small screen. DO you want to use Windows or Apple software.

Personally I have a Sony, as I feel their screens are the best of all, but expensive and not the best value. The Dells are a good compromise. Apple are ok too.

For me the screen was all important, mine has a 16" screen for example and a large keyboard for typing. But its large and the battery life is poor. Very powerful though. Lots of ram!!! and big hard disk. Which is needed for photoshop.

raphaelS

RicardoSmith wrote:

What kinda advice is that ?????

It would depend if you want a very portable laptop, ie small and light, or a very powerful one that would be bigger and heavier. Do you want a big screen or a small screen. DO you want to use Windows or Apple software.

Personally I have a Sony, as I feel their screens are the best of all, but expensive and not the best value. The Dells are a good compromise. Apple are ok too.

For me the screen was all important, mine has a 16" screen for example and a large keyboard for typing. But its large and the battery life is poor. Very powerful though. Lots of ram!!! and big hard disk. Which is needed for photoshop.

I am agree with you. I choose a Sony with a 16" (1400x1050), yes Sony will be more expensive than other brand but I was able to compare the Sony screen side to side with few others brands (Dell, Toshiba) with the same photo, well I have no regrets!

Also what you might need is memory to be confortable in Photoshop... 256 Meg is a very minimum today, I will go for 512. You need a CD or better DVD burner because you shouldn't keep all your photos one only 1 media.

Raphael

RicardoSmith

I also have an external HD as a backup.

SOL

I have an acer 64bit, 15inch 1400x1050 512 ram and inbuilt card reader, it was relatively in expensive but it tends to eat battery because of the processor,

acous

raphaelS wrote:

I am agree with you. I choose a Sony with a 16" (1400x1050), yes Sony will be more expensive than other brand but I was able to compare the Sony screen side to side with few others brands (Dell, Toshiba) with the same photo, well I have no regrets!

Did you get to compare it with a 15" or 17" powerbook screen? I'd be curious to know how their screens stack up against the competition (aside from their relatively low res). Supposedly they're quite good but that's just hearsay.

I can still heartily reccomend apple laptops though. great battery life, OS X and the best hardware design I've seen. They also depreciate much slower than their x86 counterparts.

RicardoSmith

Personally I think the Sony screens are much better.

raphaelS

Acous wrote:

Did you get to compare it with a 15" or 17" powerbook screen? I'd be curious to know how their screens stack up against the competition (aside from their relatively low res). Supposedly they're quite good but that's just hearsay.

I can still heartily reccomend apple laptops though. great battery life, OS X and the best hardware design I've seen. They also depreciate much slower than their x86 counterparts.

Yes, the Apple powerbook screens are good, better than some other brands, but still Sony's are better.
As for choosing a Powerbook for digital photo, it can be a good choice but for me the lack of PC Card slot on their latest models means I wouldn't be able to use my PCMCIA CF Card reader and use an external card reader or a cable to the camera... for me having a laptop means (among other things) almost no cables to around the computer!
They had one before, when their Powerbook were black!

Raphael

acous

new powerbooks (except the 12") do have PC Card slots. are you sure you compared?

raphaelS

Acous wrote:

new powerbooks (except the 12") do have PC Card slots. are you sure you compared?

Hmmm must have been a 12" then... I'll ask because I am sure there wasn't any!
Anyway, if you get a chance, find someone with a Sony with a BlackOnyx screen to compare it side to side with your powerbook and you will see there's a real difference!
If you were in Dublin, we would have done it with my laptop.

Raphael

acous

I could go into the sony shop... but I only have a 12" ibook & the screen is crap. The 12" powerbook isn't much better AFAIK. Ah well

heggie

I use a 12" powerbook quite a bit and (with exception to the sony and the new hp brightscreen) its better than most pc laptop models screens, similar to the high quality toshiba ones, but the sony xbright/onyx screens are by far the best out there. Also the hp brightscreen is equally as good ( i think it has the same screen manufacturer) but it's only available in the 17" model's afaik.

RicardoSmith

The only problem with those sony BlackOnyx screens is that they tend to catch glare a bit more than a standard screen. But they are superb for DVD's. For general computing I think a non BlackOnyx Sony screen is actually better.

I was looking at the Dell 505 screens at work and they are very good too.