E PC's and netbooks for travel

mushymushy Registered Users Posts: 643 Major grins
edited October 7, 2010 in Accessories
I'm off to Hueco tanks in January for a bouldering trip and will be taking my camera gear of course.
In the evenings I'd like to be able to at the minimum add exif data as to the area or problems being climbed.
So the question is does anyone have experiences using a mini laptop setup to do minor photo work on the road?
cheers in advance for any assistance :thumb
May I take your picture?

Comments

  • BigAlBigAl Registered Users Posts: 2,294 Major grins
    edited October 1, 2010
    I use a netbook for Internet access and looking at pics while travelling, but wouldn't use it for serious editing work - I've never been able to calibrate the screen properly. The battery life is pretty good, and you can also use the hard drive for extra storage.
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  • mushymushy Registered Users Posts: 643 Major grins
    edited October 1, 2010
    BigAl wrote: »
    I use a netbook for Internet access and looking at pics while travelling, but wouldn't use it for serious editing work - I've never been able to calibrate the screen properly. The battery life is pretty good, and you can also use the hard drive for extra storage.

    Thanks for the quick reply, it would be just used for culling photo's and adding exif so I know where exactly the photo was taken and on what climb.
    Other option is just the old fashioned pen and paper trick and write stuff down as I go!
    May I take your picture?
  • David_S85David_S85 Administrators Posts: 13,245 moderator
    edited October 1, 2010
    An Asus 1005HA is an essential tool in my remote adventures. 160GB is plenty to DL pics to and do some non-serious editing. As an alternative to one of those pocket-sized card to HD things with hardly a screen (and at 2x the cost), a netbook can do way more. My first test was last year at Acadia for the SM/DGrin Shootout. We also happened to have free wifi at the hotel, and that also proved invaluable as a link back home. I'm using it right now as I type this, in fact. The only options I added was 2GB of RAM ($26) and the 6-cell battery for 10 hours of use.

    Just don't trust netbooks for final editing. I've got a copy of PaintShop Pro and the latest Canon DPP software on it, so editing is possible if you are careful to white balance and use histograms. When I return home, I look at the keepers on the desktop and use PS CS2 for finals.
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  • mud390mud390 Registered Users Posts: 219 Major grins
    edited October 1, 2010
    I've got an MSI Wind netbook that is great for traveling, but not so great for serious editing. I upgraded to 2 gigs of ram and it will run photoshop CS4, but not very happily. I use it just to download images and internet access. For that it is great! It also runs Microsoft Word without any problems.

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  • digger2digger2 Registered Users Posts: 91 Big grins
    edited October 1, 2010
    I use a Dell Mini9. It runs xp, but will also run Mac os easily. What i find best is the it has an SSD drive, so no spinning parts at all.
  • OverfocusedOverfocused Registered Users Posts: 1,068 Major grins
    edited October 1, 2010
    Funny you ask just last week I really went into researching this since I wanted something portable for showing/dumping pictures on the road. Any 11.6" or smaller netbook/sublaptop with an Atom processor will last 5-12 hours (Depending on model) but they are ridiculously lacking in performance, even with web browsing. The AMD K125 processor is a perfect balance of power to performance ratio currently in netbooks/sub and can handle some general editing as well as HD videos etc... although I'd only edit in the evening/dim light since most of them have glossy screens that reflect like crazy.

    But, for compact and mobile light editing, I'm actually going to buy (and recommend) an Acer AO521 or AO721 (havent made my mind up yet)

    A few netbooks/sublaptops under $400 that have the K125 are:

    Acer AO521
    Acer AO721
    Gateway LT21
    Gateway LT31

    Bigger:

    Asus Eee PC 1215T (less battery life)

    Faster:

    Gateway LT3119u (less battery life)


    There are others but the best I could find for under $400 are basically these models... the Acer AO models have the best overall reviews and performance to battery life ratios for the cost
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  • BigAlBigAl Registered Users Posts: 2,294 Major grins
    edited October 2, 2010
    Overfocused wrote: »
    [snip]
    but they are ridiculously lacking in performance, even with web browsing.
    [snip]

    I have an "old" Samsung NC10 (Atom 270 with 2GB RAM) and must admit I don't have performance issues. I run Linux (Ubuntu 10.04) on it, and on occasions run WinXP in a VirtualBox so that I can access DPP and Paintshop Pro. Some of the Linux software is a bit slow in building images from RAW files, but that's the software, not the machine.
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  • OverfocusedOverfocused Registered Users Posts: 1,068 Major grins
    edited October 2, 2010
    BigAl wrote: »
    I have an "old" Samsung NC10 (Atom 270 with 2GB RAM) and must admit I don't have performance issues. I run Linux (Ubuntu 10.04) on it, and on occasions run WinXP in a VirtualBox so that I can access DPP and Paintshop Pro. Some of the Linux software is a bit slow in building images from RAW files, but that's the software, not the machine.


    Well linux can run on a pentium 1, its kind of moot to argue linux when I doubt they'll use it

    I've just read mostly mediocre stuff about it and the benchmarks and reviews aren't great either... I personally want to be able to use mine for a little more than just internet scrolling, possibly semi-serious editing here and there, watching HD videos... and I think I'd die editing 60MB+ tiff files on the N270 xD

    http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
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  • mushymushy Registered Users Posts: 643 Major grins
    edited October 4, 2010
    wow, great info everyone. cheers.
    Had a feeling there would be plenty of opinions on this topic.
    It'll definitely help the decision making process, thanks againthumb.gif
    May I take your picture?
  • BigAlBigAl Registered Users Posts: 2,294 Major grins
    edited October 5, 2010
    Overfocused wrote: »
    Well linux can run on a pentium 1, its kind of moot to argue linux when I doubt they'll use it
    Yes, Linux will run on a P1 - if you don't have a GUI. I ran Ubuntu 7.04 on a P2 to access an old SCSI film scanner and that was as slow as pouring molasses.
    Overfocused wrote: »
    I've just read mostly mediocre stuff about it and the benchmarks and reviews aren't great either... I personally want to be able to use mine for a little more than just internet scrolling, possibly semi-serious editing here and there, watching HD videos... and I think I'd die editing 60MB+ tiff files on the N270 xD
    I don't know of any netbook with a DVD drive, so you're going to either have to carry an external DVD drive with you (which defeats the purpose of the portability of a netbook) or download your video.
    Overfocused wrote: »
    http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
    I'm always wary of benchmarks, especially those which include antique CPUs in the comparisons.

    FWIW, a netbook would be ideal for the OP's needs.
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  • OverfocusedOverfocused Registered Users Posts: 1,068 Major grins
    edited October 7, 2010
    Streaming HD was my main thought, but I do have a USB BD-ROM and would like to get use out of it on the road :)
    www.overfocused.com
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