Laptop for photo editing?

hey good to meet you on here. are you in taipei or in taipei often?

ryan

I use an Acer Travelmate 4330 and I can run Photoshop with ease. At home I use a separate keyboard and mouse and I hook it up to a 19" screen. I have no complaints with 1,9 GHz and 3 gigs of RAM. It’s running programs flawlessly for me.

I bet it’s considerably cheaper than most of the other devices mentioned so far. I think I did good. :slight_smile:

@mabagal- im currently residing at hualien, and goes up to taipei once in awhile. how long have you been here and staying for how long?

-ramz

In case you’re still considering the MacBook, 3C right now is clearing the outgoing Core2 Duo, 9400M, 2GB, 250GB white MacBooks for 27999. Some haggling might be able to net a RAM upgrade with it.

We bought 5 of these machines when the A1 Apple Retailer was firesaling them at like 25k, but I think they ran out. The ones being used by the design peeps are running CS4 and CS5 quite well and they double as legit machines for building iPhone apps, which is why we standardized on MacBooks.

[quote=“ramzchillin”]@mabagal- im currently residing at hualien, and goes up to taipei once in awhile. how long have you been here and staying for how long?

-ramz[/quote]

sorry meant to PM last night but hit the wrong button and just submitted really quickly. been here for about 6 months and staying indefinitely. if you want to get together or something for drinks, hit me up on PM.

Will you really only do photo editing with the laptop?
Photoshop CS5 comes at the same price for Windows 7 and Mac OS X.
Same Nikon editing for tools like Capture NX, Camera Control Pro or PTGui, Photomatix (for HDR).
That said, I wouldn’t see a use of having to pay more for the Apple Laptop (except for the eye candy of the thing).
Otherwise (for a PC), get everything above a T7500. I got a Asus Laptop with 2.5 GB RAM (and Vista) a Nvidea 8400M (128 MB RAM only!) and I find its never too slow for photo editing. Don’t see the point to spend money on a big graphic card for photo editing (unless you do some of the new 3D stuff in Photoshop CS5).
Make sure your PC (or MAC) has FAST, a lot and good RAM (and that the OS actually supports it).

Thanks for the feedback…

I’m not going the Apple (Macbook Pro) way…pretty much narrowed it down to to a Sony VAIO Z114GX/S or one of the HP Pavilion models.

[quote=“jands”]Thanks for the feedback…

I’m not going the Apple (Macbook Pro) way…pretty much narrowed it down to to a Sony VAIO Z114GX/S or one of the HP Pavilion models.[/quote]

Sony - yes, especially the z series.
HP - no, generally!
but everyone knows thinkpads are the best!

what is your budget?
it really depends on your budget and preferred screen size. Also, do you intend to take it with you on shoots, in your bag with your camera, or just keep it in your car or at the hotel or, are we talking about in a studio?
Size matters a lot here!

I do like the z series viao, but I can’t find a decent example of the one you mention online. All the previous links (to PChome didn’t work).

I’m pretty objective, so let me know your preferences and we can try to figure something out! There is so much choice you are definitely going to be able to find what you want!

It’d be the 115, 116, 117, 126 or 129 in Taiwan for the Vaio Z sonystyle.com.tw/is-bin/INTE … EbtVUMjHGi

The nice thing with the Vaio Z is either 1600x900 or 1920x1080 resolution which means you’ll have an easier task editing pictures, albeit on a fairly small screen.

the viao screens on the z and x series are beautiful. HD is overkill, IMHO.

still they are very expensive…
I might be tempted by a touch screen thinkpad x201
http://shopap.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/twweb/LenovoPortal/zh_TW/catalog.workflow:expandcategory?issBase=ProductsCategory&issCategory=/Notebooks/ThinkPad%20Notebooks/X%20Series%20Tablet
smaller screen but better for editing using touch screen, right?
for pure looks and screen quality I think the viaos have it. but man, you have to pay!

Still deciding if i am gonna buy from the USA (and have the hassle of dealing with warranty stuff), or buying in Taiwan.

My ideal config is:

Intel® Core™ i7-620M processor (2.66GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
Black
256GB (128GBx2) Solid State Drive with RAID 0 Technology (
8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
13.1" VAIO Full HD Premium Display (1920x1080)
CD/DVD Player/Burner

This is similar to the VPCZ129GW/XQ ( sonystyle.com.tw/is-bin/INTE … uctContain ) on the Taiwan website, except that one has 4x 64GB SD drives, I would rather have 2x 128GB or MAYBE even 2x256GB (which is available on the US site) . I already spoke to the Sony Taiwan CS reps, and they do not have the 128SSD drives in taiwan ??? :loco:

I would love to get a Vaio Z with 11", but the smallest size is 13.1.
I know 11" is small, but this is a travel laptop, and 11" fits PERFECTLY in most hotel safes, not sure about an 13.1"??

Have you ever used a touch screen notebook? I have and imho they’re shite and utterly useless, even the convertible ones.

Sure, the Sony’s aren’t cheap, but have you checked the spec, build quality, weight etc? It’s not for nothing that they’re expensive. Since the OP wants something lightweight with a high resolution display, he’s only got so many options, as sadly, 90% of notebooks between 12 and 15-inches all have 1280x720/800 or 1366x768 resolution, neither which is great for editing large pictures on.

@thelostswede: yeah, don’t recall ever having used one! Shame. I’m sure they’ll get better eventually. Also turns out that touch screen photoshop is science fiction.
I know those Sony’s are sweet. I would love to drop the cash on one. Seriously would be hard not to get a thinkpad, however (if, like I say apart from the screen - no backlit LCDs - which in this case is priority. I value a pukka keyboard and build quality of the thinkpad over that of the sony. They are beautiful and very well spec’d but I do not think they are as practical as thinkpads).

Intel® Core™ i7-620M processor (2.66GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
Black
256GB (128GBx2) Solid State Drive with RAID 0 Technology (
8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
13.1" VAIO Full HD Premium Display (1920x1080)
CD/DVD Player/Burner

That’s a 100k, FFS! Is it really worth the price difference?!?
11" is way more portable, but if you are just going to be leaving it in a hotel…
Why worry about 2xSSD’s when you can burn stuff to disk for storage?
Full HD on a 13" display is nuts, if you ask me…
Mmm, Ive got a feeling we’re not really talking practicality here!
Come back to reality, man!

totally agreed. i’ve have 4 or 5 (maybe 6, I forget) of these through the years, all convertibles. they were all horrible. people who haven’t experienced how shite it was before usually are the ones who talk badly of the iPad. reality is, as you describe, the whole experience with touch-screen portables was pretty horrible with everything else.

what some people have done is rig up the iPad as a secondary monitor to use with photoshop. the layered drawing support on native iPad apps is also getting better and better each day, but not quite photoshop yet. that said, i have read more and more about people simply using the iPad as a field editor and then doing any real work when they are back to their 27" monitor.

[quote=“trubadour”]
Intel® Core™ i7-620M processor (2.66GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
Black
256GB (128GBx2) Solid State Drive with RAID 0 Technology (
8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
13.1" VAIO Full HD Premium Display (1920x1080)
CD/DVD Player/Burner

That’s a 100k, FFS! Is it really worth the price difference?!?
11" is way more portable, but if you are just going to be leaving it in a hotel…
Why worry about 2xSSD’s when you can burn stuff to disk for storage?
Full HD on a 13" display is nuts, if you ask me…
Mmm, Ive got a feeling we’re not really talking practicality here!
Come back to reality, man![/quote]

My co-founder has one of these. The display on this thing is… wow. The SSD is… yah, it’s nice. The whole thing is really really nice, but it overheated every day. He gave up and switched to a Macbook Air, despite the deficiencies. It was the funniest sight to see this top-line Sony sitting on a little metal laptop lifter to keep it from cooking itself.

On the ThinkPad… really? Who even buys ThinkPads besides management consultants and government workers? They are… boxes.

I think your priorities should go in this order sounding from your needs:
1 - Monitor quality (you want a monitor with great color reproduction that is preferably LED backlit)
2 - RAM and lots of it
3 - GPU and lots of it
4 - Size and weight
5 - 7200 or SSD if you’re willing to spring for it
6 - CPU

I don’t know where “fashion” fits in there for you, but for the hard bits, that should be your order of ops.

Fashion? Completely not an issue ( I have never owned an Apple product and am happy driving a Nissan March).

Overheating is an issue…I have read numerous reviews and articles about older Vaio Z series models which mention overheating, as well as news about a few recalls by Sony.

Did your co-founder have the exact model I am looking at?

Will need to do more research on that, and if possible go to a shop and take it for a test run.

Thinkpad is not an option as it does not have a dedicated graphics card, except for the W series.

Actually, I was referring more to the Sonys rather than the Apples. It’s often been said, that Vaios are for people who want the fashion but refuse to go to the darkside. :slight_smile:

What I love about the VAIO logo is it represents first a SINE WAVE in the V and A and then “1 0” in IO. Analog and Digital. Beautiful, really.

He has that Z-Series that he configured. IIRC it’s i7, 6GB, 1080p, 256SSD, BluRay. He also has this thing for carbon fiber, so it’s that too.

trubadour - yes it’s expensive, I’m aware of that, but the op wanted something light and portable, yet powerful enough for his needs. Also, what’s the point of buying something that won’t last?

I wasn’t aware of the overheating issues, that’s really bad if it’s the case. I guess sticking that GeForce 330M in there was a bad move, they should’ve gone for a more basic graphics solution that doesn’t run as hot.

I don’t think the op needs to highest-end model though and they even have one without the optical drive and a 500GB hard drive instead of the SSDs which isn’t terrible at NT$60k, although you’re losing the benefit of having an SSD RAID array.

I’ve got one alternative to the Sony though, but it’s only using the integrated graphics in the CPU laptops.toshiba.com/laptops/portege/R700
It should launch here on Thursday, but again, it’s not cheap, although it’s very light and more affordable than the Sony.

Considering that since the previous version, Photoshop supports GPU acceleration, getting a graphics card will help in some scenarios, although I don’t know which graphics cards are supported and how much difference it makes.

There’s also this one from Fujitsu shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 1H&ROWNO=1
But and there’s a big but here, the CPU is one of Intel’s low power Core i7’s which means it’s clocked at mere 1.2GHz, although it will “turbo” to over 2GHz in the right circumstances. Again, only Intel graphics.

Another option is this one which actually has a graphics card gohappy.com.tw/shopping/Brow … pid=987350 and it’s not terribly heavy at 1.6kg.

Asus also has this one coming asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=aMCVqkGz1jReppcv but I have a feeling it’s too heavy for what the op wants.

Finally Acer has this one shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 1W&ROWNO=1 but again it’s one of the low power processors at 1.2GHz, but this one only goes to 1.7GHz at the most. 11.6-inches and 1.4kg is nice though, but no dedicated graphics (and the spec in the link are wrong).

If you’re getting something in the US, then maybe this would do the job panasonic.com/business/tough … pc.asp#/C1 very reliable, 1.45kg, but no graphics.

I did some searching for computers on this list: intel.com/shop/laptops?usage … sorNumber= , and it appears that overheating is a problem with a number of laptops that have a dedicated graphics card.

SO, it may be one of those “I can’t have my cake and eat it” situations??? My (very limited) understanding is that CS4 and CS5 will run faster with “qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics card” ( kb2.adobe.com/cps/831/cpsid_83117.html

I personally would not have a problem sitting my laptop on a cooler, if the laptop is worth it.

Weigh is only a concern once I know what the airline restrictions are. If I can take a 7kg carry-on bag with me, and also have a laptop over my shoulder, then weight is a non-issue.

Regarding carry-on, so far the only airline that I have found problematic is Cebu Pacific, because those buggers actually weight carry-on luggage at check in.

Austrian air also did a nasty, they selected customers in the boarding gate waiting room, and weighed their carry-on luggage.