Posted by Drew Fulton on March 26, 2006 at 12:21 AM
Here comes the first of many questions for my upcoming Australia project....
One of the first situations I need to solve for my trip is what I am going to be using for a computer. Here are the following requirements and a couple ideas I have had.
1) I will be living out of a car so power must be able to draw from an inverter off of a 12v battery.
2) Computer must be able to handle PS CS (maybe CS2 by then), Nikon Capture 4 (and the new version when it comes out), Raw files from a D2x and D100, and lots of files. Also need to be able to run GoLive CS, and other things.
3) I need to be able to process files for web but not print as I will not have a printer with me. Color correction important for web.
4) Ability to backup files.
5) Computer has to last me a year.
Possible Solutions...
A) The most obvious solution is a laptop with a series of external hard drives for storage. DVD burner can provide a redunancy backup. I think this will provide the processing power but am a bit worried about color correction on a laptop screen. Also is portable so I can have some mobility.
B) A small tower plugged into an inverter and possible auxillary battery with a small LCD monitor. This might be a bit cheaper but power becomes an issue. Portability is decreased but I plan on purchasing a P2000 and upgrading it to a 100gb hard drive. Again, external hard drives and a DVD burner can provide backups.
C) Something else creative that I haven't considered.
I would go for a portable laptop with a good screen. Something like the Dell 700m (or 710m) is very light and convenient to use and the screens, albeit small, are surprisingly good. Of course you can always hook a laptop to an external display as well if you need to.
Guy
Posted by Scott Buckel on March 26, 2006 at 3:16 PM
Drew - I agree with Guy. I was on a month long trip in which a number of people were using the 700 series of Dell laptops. They worked very well and the editing ability was very good. I have now looked at a couple of images that were color corrected on the laptops and they look great on my desktop computer.
The 5.5 hours of battery life is great with the extended life battery.
I think the tower + monitor etc. is asking for trouble. Some laptops have pretty good screens and portability is what they are made for. Also, Very Few people use calibrated screens to surf the web so very delicate colour corrections will get wasted on most anyway.
Laptops have much better power management - so you`d need less juice than with a tower. The newer HP series has very good advertised battery life with external travel batteries. I believe the better laptop HDD-s have provisions to prevent damage from shocks and vibration - this might be an issue for a year on the weels.
Discussion
3 repliesOne of the first situations I need to solve for my trip is what I am going to be using for a computer. Here are the following requirements and a couple ideas I have had.
1) I will be living out of a car so power must be able to draw from an inverter off of a 12v battery.
2) Computer must be able to handle PS CS (maybe CS2 by then), Nikon Capture 4 (and the new version when it comes out), Raw files from a D2x and D100, and lots of files. Also need to be able to run GoLive CS, and other things.
3) I need to be able to process files for web but not print as I will not have a printer with me. Color correction important for web.
4) Ability to backup files.
5) Computer has to last me a year.
Possible Solutions...
A) The most obvious solution is a laptop with a series of external hard drives for storage. DVD burner can provide a redunancy backup. I think this will provide the processing power but am a bit worried about color correction on a laptop screen. Also is portable so I can have some mobility.
B) A small tower plugged into an inverter and possible auxillary battery with a small LCD monitor. This might be a bit cheaper but power becomes an issue. Portability is decreased but I plan on purchasing a P2000 and upgrading it to a 100gb hard drive. Again, external hard drives and a DVD burner can provide backups.
C) Something else creative that I haven't considered.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!
Guy
The 5.5 hours of battery life is great with the extended life battery.
Laptops have much better power management - so you`d need less juice than with a tower. The newer HP series has very good advertised battery life with external travel batteries. I believe the better laptop HDD-s have provisions to prevent damage from shocks and vibration - this might be an issue for a year on the weels.