Getting a NEW Laptop!

itsanaddiction · Jun 8, 2008

Yay! I'm getting a new laptop! However, I need suggestions. If you are mac why? If you have a specific setup please tell me about it. I'm saving up but the skies the limit. Also, I have access to most of the programs I would use. And I can buy everything else. Thanks in advance!

Danielle

Mav · Jun 8, 2008

Well if you're into digital photography, Macs just plain work better, their screens are great, and already calibrated. Most Windows based laptops are very poor when it comes to photography. Someone I know had a Windows laptop screen that was so bad that he couldn't even get it calibrated properly with a $150 calibration system. I also had an IBM Thinkpad T40 and T43 whose screens were horrible as well. That's what actually drove me back to desktops, and the usual Windows BS pushed me to Mac. Couldn't be happier with my 24" iMac. I'd get a MacBook Pro with the 15" screen. My wife is planning to get the MB Air, but we're waiting for her T40 to blow up.

STICKMAN · Jun 8, 2008

I am no big pc person but from the friends and co-workers that I spoke with each and every person suggested a Mac if you are going to be doing photo work. This is just what was suggested to me, if money is no issues then I would go that route.........

Alfred D. · Jun 8, 2008

itsanaddiction said:
Yay! I'm getting a new laptop! However, I need suggestions. If you are mac why? If you have a specific setup please tell me about it. I'm saving up but the skies the limit. Also, I have access to most of the programs I would use. And I can buy everything else. Thanks in advance!

Wow! You got a sugar daddy, Danielle?

Anyway, to answer your question:
in your shoes I would get a 17" MacBook Pro and a 1TB Time Capsule, up the MBP's RAM to 2GB, switch it on, and away you go!

And, for giggles: with a MacBook Pro you will also have the fastest Windows Vista running laptop on the market (a kick in the pants Vista sorely needs, as we all know), should you need to run that. Can't imagine why, though.

*Mike* · Jun 8, 2008

What software do you already have? If it's not mac compatible you have to decide if it's worth switching... Some companies will transfer the license at minimal cost (but huge headaches), and some you may have to buy all over again.

Personally, I would never advocate a laptop for editing. Ambient light changes way too much, and angle of viewing also changes everytime you open the lid.

I'm not a mac person... and I couldn't justify the premium that it calls for. So, I'd advocate a good desktop PC.

elemental · Jun 8, 2008

Mav said:
Well if you're into digital photography, Macs just plain work better, their screens are great, and already calibrated. Most Windows based laptops are very poor when it comes to photography. Someone I know had a Windows laptop screen that was so bad that he couldn't even get it calibrated properly with a $150 calibration system. I also had an IBM Thinkpad T40 and T43 whose screens were horrible as well. That's what actually drove me back to desktops, and the usual Windows BS pushed me to Mac. Couldn't be happier with my 24" iMac. I'd get a MacBook Pro with the 15" screen. My wife is planning to get the MB Air, but we're waiting for her T40 to blow up.

I love my Macbook Pro (the old Core Duo 2.0 bumped up to 2GB RAM). It runs heavy software no program and is simpler and (to me) more satisfying to use. If it doesn't need to be portable, iMac or Mac Pro (ultimate hotness) are the way to go is you ask me.

Alfred D. · Jun 8, 2008

*Mike* said:
I couldn't justify the premium that [a Mac] calls for.

That's an urban legend, Mike.

dylj · Jun 8, 2008

I don't agree that it's an urban legend.

I purchased my laptop half a year ago for $1200. It has an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0ghz, 2gb RAM, GeForce 8600 GT DDR3, 160gb 5400 rpm, 15.4 1280x800.

The Apple equivalent is the MBP, which is $2000. The MBP is slightly lighter but thicker than my Dell XPS 1530. The processor, RAM, and graphics card are exactly the same. Same size screen, webcam, hard drive, everything.

As to the upkeep costs -- I haven't paid anything in terms of service or troubleshooting.

Samriel · Jun 8, 2008

What do you want to do with it? Do you plan on going professional and need it to check and edit the pictures right away in front of the client or similar? If not, I would to get a proper desktop (Quad CPU, 8GB RAM, 24"-30" screen) for the same (or actually less) money you are going to buy a laptop (with four times worse specs...), and then get a cheap 500$ laptop for transfering and viewing (but not heavily editing) your pictures on site. If you decide to go for a laptop only, a Mac is the better option. If you decide to go for the desktop+laptop option, you can go both ways. If you really need a computer for photography ONLY, Mac seems to be the better choice. If you wan't to use it for other things as well, a PC might be the better option. Also depends what you are used to working with. I am personally a PC person, and prefer the (hardware and software) options of the PC. I do like the Mac screens though.
Also, on a desktop vs laptop note, I have to say that any laptop that is "good" for photography is going to be at least 3kg in weight, which means it's not necessarily easy to carry around. I'd personally rather go for a powerful desktop + light laptop configuration than the "kinda powerful and mobile all-in-one" laptop configuration. It's like having a decent SLR with good speciality lenses or having a P&S which does everything but nothing as good as the SLR can.

PhotoDonkey · Jun 8, 2008

Macs are, indeed, more expensive than PCs. When I was researching prices for a new notebook PC about 6 months ago, a low-end Mac was more expensive than the high-powered Notebook PCs I was looking at.

In the end, I went with a Toshiba notebook. But photography doesn't even make the list of needs when I purchase a PC. It's just a hobby for me and all I care about in terms of that is disk space, but I care about that with pretty much every need I have for a PC.

I'm not saying you shouldn't get a mac, but it's most definitely NOT an urban legend when it's said that Macs are more expensive than PCs. A few web searches should turn that up for you rather quickly.

That said, what you get in any PC amounts to what your needs are. If your needs go beyond the realm of photography, this is probably not the best place to get your answer.

*Mike* · Jun 8, 2008

Alfred D. said:
That's an urban legend, Mike.

That's propaganda Alfred. :mrgreen:

Rhys · Jun 8, 2008

I went for a Mac. The bonuses are not immediately apparent but they're there. They run better than PCs - they don't slow down as the disk fills. They don't slow down as updates are applied. They don't need resource-hogging antivirus programs as to be effective, viruses need to be installed and that needs a password.

The software works better and Hell, I wish I'd gone mac years ago.

Alfred D. · Jun 8, 2008

*Mike* said:
That's propaganda Alfred. :mrgreen:

Yeah! Don't you just love it? :lol:

Propaganda

Although it can be a bit confrontational for some people, of course. :lol:

jakedoza · Jun 8, 2008

Ok.. I did not even read any of the other posts on this question, but I will when I am done writing this.
I have been a computer repair tech for the past 12 years and have seen the best and the worst. I have also been into video/photo editing for most of that time. Here are my suggestions based on my personal experiences.

First suggestion..
DO NOT BUY A LAPTOP FOR PHOTO/VIDEO EDITING. People who do this are asking for punishment.
2. Laptops are 1/3 slower than desktops with the same stats.
3. Laptops get hot and die.... and are simply not made for this type of work.
4. Laptops are expensive to fix when they break down
5. The hard drives on Laptops DO NOT LAST. The reason being is that Hard drives are not meant to be moved about and jostled around, it will cause damage. I can not count how many laptop hard drives I had to do data recovery on in the past 6 months, and believe me... data recovery is expensive.
6. Laptops are very proprietary. All the parts are on the MB.
7. Laptops are very limited when it comes to upgrading them. Usually you can only upgrade the RAM and the Hard Drive.

Laptops are nice to have, and if I were to buy a new one I would not buy the highest end laptop nor the lowest end laptop. As far as brand and reliability, I would buy a Lenovo, or a Toshiba over any other brand out there.

If you buy a laptop... GET THE EXTENDED warranty, but remember that this will not cover data loss for a failed hard drive.

Why I would not buy a MAC:
Now let me first start off by saying that I don't think MACs are bad computers, because they are great systems.

1. They are very proprietary when they come to parts for repair, as well as very expensive. If they break, you might as well buy a new one.
2. There is NOTHING a MAC can do that my PC cant..... even when it comes to running MAC OSX, but I wont get into that.
3. There is a TON of software out there that simply will not run on a MAC.
4. People that say that MACs are better when it comes to video/photo are full of crap. They havent experienced a well built PC.

I would NOT buy a branded Desktop PC.
A few years ago I might would have, but now most branded PCs are proprietary when it comes to parts.
Proprietary parts are expensive and usually have to be ordered when it comes to replacing parts.

Here is what I would do. Find a good, reputable computer shop in town and have them build you a custom system. Let them know what you will be doing with the system and if they are a good computer shop, they can tailor one to your needs. A good system for photo editing should run you around $1700. Now, if you shop yourself and know what you are looking for, you can piece one together for about 3/4 of the price. The system I am running now I put together myself. It ran me around $1400 for everything, but if I were to have a shop do it, it would have cost me over $2500. It will out perform any MAC you throw at it and doesn't even flinch when I open photoshop cs3 along with 10 other programs.

I would NOT use Windows Vista... for obvious reasons...

I apologize if I stepped on anyone's toes.. but I'm a tech and I speak from experience. Heck, I work on computers that people like you guys use, and see all the good and the bad.. and the worse.

jakedoza · Jun 8, 2008

Rhys said:
I went for a Mac. The bonuses are not immediately apparent but they're there. They run better than PCs - they don't slow down as the disk fills. They don't slow down as updates are applied. They don't need resource-hogging antivirus programs as to be effective, viruses need to be installed and that needs a password.

The software works better and Hell, I wish I'd gone mac years ago.

You have NO CLUE what you are talking about, and probably have no clue how to operate a PC...

FACT:
ALL hard drives slow down when they start to fill up.
Most AV programs are resource hogs, but if you get a good one (AVG FREE) it is not a resource hog. And don't think for one second that MACs dont get viruses. Because they do and soon the virus market will be written for more and more MACs.
If you don't go downloading everything you see, you will not contract a computer virus. In 10 years I have NEVER contracted a computer virus that I did not Intentionally put on my system (which was for educational purposes so I could remove it on systems that I had to repair).

The slowing down for the updates that you talk about is the only true thing you said, but if you don't get a PC with the MINIMUM amont of RAM for Windows to run, then you wont have that problem. WinXP really needs a minimum of 1GB of RAM to run optimal.

Sorry if I stepped on your toes.. I just hate it when people say things that they know nothing about.