Netbooks for the traveling/working photographer?

dugrant153 · 06-23-2009, 02:41 PM

I have a trip to Japan coming up really soon and recently I’ve been thinking about getting a Netbook for when I’m travelling and, later on, when I’m doing photography projects (weddings, events, portraits).

I like the idea of having an (optical… won’t go for solid state) hard drive for backup, a useable computer for photo organizing and editing and viewing, and I could use the Netbook for other things too (journal/blogging, etc). Plus, if I can hold off for a while, it’s cheaper than upgrading my current comp (AMD Athlon XP 2200, 1 gig ram – usually run at 1024 x 768). And all the while, it weighs next to nothing.

My concerns are:
- Are Netbooks too slow to run programs like Adobe Photoshop Elements 6? (the program I use). My current computer is pretty slow when I load up a couple of jpegs, so I’m thinking this Netbook would be a bit of an upgrade.
- Are the screens too bland to get good colors? Are the displays pretty poor? Would I have to connect a large monitor to do proper color editing?

I’m currently eyeing the MSI Wind at the moment. Most of the other computers had pretty poor LCD displays, but this one was pretty good (even though just 1024 x 600). And the price point was just right.

Any thoughts?

K McCall · 06-23-2009, 03:28 PM

Hi, I just finished a trip to the US where the friend I was staying with loaned me his Acer Aspire One netbook while I was there. He basically let me do anything I wanted, so I installed Adobe Lightroom (the system requirements are roughly equivalent for Lightroom and Elements 7). The machine wasn't a blazing fast solution, but it got the job done quickly enough to make it worthwhile. As for the screen...it's been a long time since I used Elements, but Lightroom has a toolbar across the top, along both sides, and along the bottom (all are collapsible). With any of these side-menus open, the screen was no longer large enough to make meaningful edits. I just kind of developed a workflow around that issue.

Regarding the colors of the screen, the Acer was on par color-wise with most consumer LCD monitors. It was nothing special and too bright, but so long as you know its limitations, it should be good enough not to make any major gaffes.

I only had 2 weeks to use it, but I used it heavily during that time and was impressed. I don't think it would be a viable everyday option, but it was more than enough for a storage/quick edit machine.

J.Scott · 06-23-2009, 04:45 PM

I am currently playing with my new MSI Wind Notebook. It comes with a 160 GB HDD and was bundled with an additional 80 GB external drive. Lots of storage space for such a tiny notebook (10" screen). The screen resolution and colour is quite good, even compared to the 15" HP Compaq notebook I sold to buy this one. Photoshop 6 runs well but not blistering fast. Considering I paid under $400 (plus taxes) it is more than adequate for my purpose. It will fit into 2 of my camera bags without sacrificing valuable camera equipment space. A much more useful tool than the old Lappy. And it only weighs 2 pounds!

WheresWaldo · 06-23-2009, 04:48 PM

Many netbooks do have some features built into them to adjust the colors. if you have any kind of color calibration device it might just work on your netbook. I still wouldn't use my wife's netbook for critical work but for a quick level adjust or visual white balance check it might be good enough.

**rparmar** · 06-23-2009, 05:21 PM

Originally posted by K McCall

I only had 2 weeks to use it, but I used it heavily during that time and was impressed. I don't think it would be a viable everyday option, but it was more than enough for a storage/quick edit machine.

The Acer Aspire One is an oddity in today's world: a computer that is well made and does exactly what it says on the tin. There are two card slots for massive upgradability -- the only computer in the world that has this? The LINUX can be updated to a full desktop easily. The keyboard is easy to use and nicely built. The screen is good though one must get used to the size. The wireless works flawlessly.

I bought mine for study purposes but my wife and daughter use it incessantly. Great for internet, word processing and watching films.

Of course it is underpowered relative to a full P4 processor. Running LINUX that hardly matters. Not sure what it's like running Windows though.

Achilles heel: battery life is low.

wlachan · 06-23-2009, 05:23 PM

I had the chance of using the Acer 10" model with 2G ram. My impression is that it was very slow, very slow for web browsing, very slow for office, and I cannot see it would not be even slower for Photoshop or similar softwares. But the real issue is that the vertical resolution is 600 only, while my i1D2 software requires at least 768. That means there is no way to calibrate the monitor. My experience with notebook LCDs is that they can be calibrated pretty well if not perfect, but default colour is often too much blue. Personally I consider netbooks are expensive toys. If you want something really useful, look for 12" notebooks with non-Atom CPU.

Damn Brit · 06-23-2009, 06:10 PM

It's about time Apple brought out a Mac Netbook with Aperture pre loaded.

palmor · 06-23-2009, 06:46 PM

I have an Acer Aspire (8.9" screen) with Windows XP and 120gig hard drive. I find that doing basic things in Lightroom are fine.. not blazing but not awful either. It is pretty good for a light travel PC IMO.

The only thing with the screen resolution of 600 on the short side is that the Import screen can't fit completely on the page. This isn't a huge deal and I just setup all the options I want on an external monitor and just hit "enter".

Other things I did to tweek it for the smaller screen was to add an apple like app dock across the top (start dock) that I autohide, I also autohide the windows bask bar on the botton. I run my browser (Chrome is my new browser of choice for how fast it loads we pages) in full screen mode to give me some extra real estate.

The one thing I really wish is that it supported screen scaling.. so that you could choose a higher screen resolution and just have the screen scroll if you moved the mouse outside the visible area. This would go a long way to making things much more usable IMO.

John

Dale · 06-24-2009, 02:02 AM

Originally posted by Damn Brit

It's about time Apple brought out a Mac Netbook with Aperture pre loaded.

Could this be the much rumored (fabled?) tablet? I've been eyeing off netbooks, but for now the 13" MBP is the closest Apple has come I guess.

Damn Brit · 06-24-2009, 02:26 AM

Originally posted by Dale

Could this be the much rumored (fabled?) tablet? I've been eyeing off netbooks, but for now the 13" MBP is the closest Apple has come I guess.

Maybe they'll come out with a fold up screen so you don't have to lose out on the vertical and horizontal.

Dale · 06-24-2009, 03:58 AM

Originally posted by Damn Brit

Maybe they'll come out with a fold up screen so you don't have to lose out on the vertical and horizontal.

Perhaps Steve has taken up screen origami while on sick leave...

Seriously though, an Apple Netbook preloaded would seem to be a killer combo?

Pentaxor · 06-24-2009, 10:07 AM

OMG, your cpu is pretty prehistoric ! you can't be seriously using an XP2200 with a 1 gig ram til now expecting it to run the recent PS programs smoothly, don't you?

anyway, I heard a lot of good things about the HP dv2 Neo64 coupled with 4 gigs of ram and an ATI 3410 graphics unit with a dedicated memory of 512mb. they said that it runs way ahead better than anything with an Atom processor (performance-wise). it can have the job done at a very fast rate but since it's only a single core processor, be careful not to load it up with a lot of applications running in your background or multitasking as performance would suffer. just one or a few programs at a time and not too many.

anyway, if there is a god thing about this 12" hybrid netbook/notebook, it would blow your current pc out of the water.

dugrant153 · 06-24-2009, 01:31 PM

Quote:

OMG, your cpu is pretty prehistoric ! you can't be seriously using an XP2200 with a 1 gig ram til now expecting it to run the recent PS programs smoothly, don't you?

...

anyway, if there is a god thing about this 12" hybrid netbook/notebook, it would blow your current pc out of the water.

haha... ya know, I'm starting to realize just how old my computer is...when I run Live Messenger and Photoshop Elements at the same time... well, it's pretty slow. I guess I'm so used to it I don't even realize how slow it is. It's been a while since I've used a faster computer.

it sounds like the netbook is decent for what it is, but not fantastic for what I really want now.

I didn't know they made such small laptops (12"). This sounds like a very viable alternative and possibly what I may be looking for. And I'm thinking they're not going to be that heavy either, eh?

ve2vfd · 06-24-2009, 02:10 PM

Originally posted by palmor

I have an Acer Aspire (8.9" screen) with Windows XP and 120gig hard drive.

I have the same machine (upgraded my ram to 1.5gb), and absolutely LOVE it! I bring it at work all the time and love that I can just throw it in my bag without a second thought.

One has to understand that at this point we do trade power for portability. The small screen is sometimes a pain, but the size and weight of the computer more than make up for it for me. It is a secondary computer (my main machine at home being my primary).

It's not the greatest to process pics because of it's screen size but it works (hey it does run photoshop CS2 without a hiccup!) It is awesome to dump all your SD cards onto while travelling, connecting to hotel WIFI and keeping in touch with the family with the integrated webcam.

The main thing to keep in mind when getting a netbook is that you are trading screen size for portability. If you can live with that, then you'll be fine.

Pat

jmdeegan · 06-24-2009, 07:49 PM

Originally posted by rparmar

The Acer Aspire One is an oddity in today's world: a computer that is well made and does exactly what it says on the tin. There are two card slots for massive upgradability -- the only computer in the world that has this? The LINUX can be updated to a full desktop easily. The keyboard is easy to use and nicely built. The screen is good though one must get used to the size. The wireless works flawlessly.

I bought mine for study purposes but my wife and daughter use it incessantly. Great for internet, word processing and watching films.

Of course it is underpowered relative to a full P4 processor. Running LINUX that hardly matters. Not sure what it's like running Windows though.

Achilles heel: battery life is low.

you have to be speaking about the older Aspire One.

I bought the more recent release, February 2009, 160gb hard drive, now only one card slot (reader) and 8 hours battery life.

i have had people use many netbooks, all loved the aspire one more than theirs. buddy of mine had a Wind, loved it until he played with my Aspire One.

as for software, i never used adobe LR or PSE on it. i stuck with picasa for the "field work", its basic, but thats all i needed at that time.

06-23-2009, 02:41 PM	#1
dugrant153 Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Vancouver, BC Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,059	Netbooks for the traveling/working photographer? I have a trip to Japan coming up really soon and recently I’ve been thinking about getting a Netbook for when I’m travelling and, later on, when I’m doing photography projects (weddings, events, portraits). I like the idea of having an (optical… won’t go for solid state) hard drive for backup, a useable computer for photo organizing and editing and viewing, and I could use the Netbook for other things too (journal/blogging, etc). Plus, if I can hold off for a while, it’s cheaper than upgrading my current comp (AMD Athlon XP 2200, 1 gig ram – usually run at 1024 x 768). And all the while, it weighs next to nothing. My concerns are: - Are Netbooks too slow to run programs like Adobe Photoshop Elements 6? (the program I use). My current computer is pretty slow when I load up a couple of jpegs, so I’m thinking this Netbook would be a bit of an upgrade. - Are the screens too bland to get good colors? Are the displays pretty poor? Would I have to connect a large monitor to do proper color editing? I’m currently eyeing the MSI Wind at the moment. Most of the other computers had pretty poor LCD displays, but this one was pretty good (even though just 1024 x 600). And the price point was just right. Any thoughts?

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06-23-2009, 03:28 PM	#2
K McCall Veteran Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Dallas, TX Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 808	Hi, I just finished a trip to the US where the friend I was staying with loaned me his Acer Aspire One netbook while I was there. He basically let me do anything I wanted, so I installed Adobe Lightroom (the system requirements are roughly equivalent for Lightroom and Elements 7). The machine wasn't a blazing fast solution, but it got the job done quickly enough to make it worthwhile. As for the screen...it's been a long time since I used Elements, but Lightroom has a toolbar across the top, along both sides, and along the bottom (all are collapsible). With any of these side-menus open, the screen was no longer large enough to make meaningful edits. I just kind of developed a workflow around that issue. Regarding the colors of the screen, the Acer was on par color-wise with most consumer LCD monitors. It was nothing special and too bright, but so long as you know its limitations, it should be good enough not to make any major gaffes. I only had 2 weeks to use it, but I used it heavily during that time and was impressed. I don't think it would be a viable everyday option, but it was more than enough for a storage/quick edit machine.

06-23-2009, 04:45 PM	#3
J.Scott Inactive Account Join Date: Mar 2007 Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,675	I am currently playing with my new MSI Wind Notebook. It comes with a 160 GB HDD and was bundled with an additional 80 GB external drive. Lots of storage space for such a tiny notebook (10" screen). The screen resolution and colour is quite good, even compared to the 15" HP Compaq notebook I sold to buy this one. Photoshop 6 runs well but not blistering fast. Considering I paid under $400 (plus taxes) it is more than adequate for my purpose. It will fit into 2 of my camera bags without sacrificing valuable camera equipment space. A much more useful tool than the old Lappy. And it only weighs 2 pounds!

06-23-2009, 04:48 PM	#4
WheresWaldo Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North Carolina Photos: Gallery Posts: 498	Many netbooks do have some features built into them to adjust the colors. if you have any kind of color calibration device it might just work on your netbook. I still wouldn't use my wife's netbook for critical work but for a quick level adjust or visual white balance check it might be good enough.

06-23-2009, 05:21 PM	#5
rparmar Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2008 Photos: Gallery Posts: 8,823	Originally posted by K McCall I only had 2 weeks to use it, but I used it heavily during that time and was impressed. I don't think it would be a viable everyday option, but it was more than enough for a storage/quick edit machine. The Acer Aspire One is an oddity in today's world: a computer that is well made and does exactly what it says on the tin. There are two card slots for massive upgradability -- the only computer in the world that has this? The LINUX can be updated to a full desktop easily. The keyboard is easy to use and nicely built. The screen is good though one must get used to the size. The wireless works flawlessly. I bought mine for study purposes but my wife and daughter use it incessantly. Great for internet, word processing and watching films. Of course it is underpowered relative to a full P4 processor. Running LINUX that hardly matters. Not sure what it's like running Windows though. Achilles heel: battery life is low.

06-23-2009, 05:23 PM	#6
wlachan Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Canada Photos: Albums Posts: 2,625	I had the chance of using the Acer 10" model with 2G ram. My impression is that it was very slow, very slow for web browsing, very slow for office, and I cannot see it would not be even slower for Photoshop or similar softwares. But the real issue is that the vertical resolution is 600 only, while my i1D2 software requires at least 768. That means there is no way to calibrate the monitor. My experience with notebook LCDs is that they can be calibrated pretty well if not perfect, but default colour is often too much blue. Personally I consider netbooks are expensive toys. If you want something really useful, look for 12" notebooks with non-Atom CPU.

06-23-2009, 06:10 PM	#7
Damn Brit Guest	It's about time Apple brought out a Mac Netbook with Aperture pre loaded.

06-23-2009, 06:46 PM	#8
palmor Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: North of Boston, MA Posts: 798	I have an Acer Aspire (8.9" screen) with Windows XP and 120gig hard drive. I find that doing basic things in Lightroom are fine.. not blazing but not awful either. It is pretty good for a light travel PC IMO. The only thing with the screen resolution of 600 on the short side is that the Import screen can't fit completely on the page. This isn't a huge deal and I just setup all the options I want on an external monitor and just hit "enter". Other things I did to tweek it for the smaller screen was to add an apple like app dock across the top (start dock) that I autohide, I also autohide the windows bask bar on the botton. I run my browser (Chrome is my new browser of choice for how fast it loads we pages) in full screen mode to give me some extra real estate. The one thing I really wish is that it supported screen scaling.. so that you could choose a higher screen resolution and just have the screen scroll if you moved the mouse outside the visible area. This would go a long way to making things much more usable IMO. John

06-24-2009, 02:02 AM	#9
Dale Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Surfcoast Victoria Australia Posts: 560	Originally posted by Damn Brit It's about time Apple brought out a Mac Netbook with Aperture pre loaded. Could this be the much rumored (fabled?) tablet? I've been eyeing off netbooks, but for now the 13" MBP is the closest Apple has come I guess.

06-24-2009, 02:26 AM	#10
Damn Brit Guest	Originally posted by Dale Could this be the much rumored (fabled?) tablet? I've been eyeing off netbooks, but for now the 13" MBP is the closest Apple has come I guess. Maybe they'll come out with a fold up screen so you don't have to lose out on the vertical and horizontal.

06-24-2009, 03:58 AM	#11
Dale Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Surfcoast Victoria Australia Posts: 560	Originally posted by Damn Brit Maybe they'll come out with a fold up screen so you don't have to lose out on the vertical and horizontal. Perhaps Steve has taken up screen origami while on sick leave... Seriously though, an Apple Netbook preloaded would seem to be a killer combo?

06-24-2009, 10:07 AM	#12
Pentaxor Veteran Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,513	OMG, your cpu is pretty prehistoric ! you can't be seriously using an XP2200 with a 1 gig ram til now expecting it to run the recent PS programs smoothly, don't you? anyway, I heard a lot of good things about the HP dv2 Neo64 coupled with 4 gigs of ram and an ATI 3410 graphics unit with a dedicated memory of 512mb. they said that it runs way ahead better than anything with an Atom processor (performance-wise). it can have the job done at a very fast rate but since it's only a single core processor, be careful not to load it up with a lot of applications running in your background or multitasking as performance would suffer. just one or a few programs at a time and not too many. anyway, if there is a god thing about this 12" hybrid netbook/notebook, it would blow your current pc out of the water.

06-24-2009, 01:31 PM	#13
dugrant153 Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Vancouver, BC Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,059 Original Poster	Quote: OMG, your cpu is pretty prehistoric ! you can't be seriously using an XP2200 with a 1 gig ram til now expecting it to run the recent PS programs smoothly, don't you? ... anyway, if there is a god thing about this 12" hybrid netbook/notebook, it would blow your current pc out of the water. haha... ya know, I'm starting to realize just how old my computer is...when I run Live Messenger and Photoshop Elements at the same time... well, it's pretty slow. I guess I'm so used to it I don't even realize how slow it is. It's been a while since I've used a faster computer. it sounds like the netbook is decent for what it is, but not fantastic for what I really want now. I didn't know they made such small laptops (12"). This sounds like a very viable alternative and possibly what I may be looking for. And I'm thinking they're not going to be that heavy either, eh?

06-24-2009, 02:10 PM	#14
ve2vfd Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Montreal, Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,433	Originally posted by palmor I have an Acer Aspire (8.9" screen) with Windows XP and 120gig hard drive. I have the same machine (upgraded my ram to 1.5gb), and absolutely LOVE it! I bring it at work all the time and love that I can just throw it in my bag without a second thought. One has to understand that at this point we do trade power for portability. The small screen is sometimes a pain, but the size and weight of the computer more than make up for it for me. It is a secondary computer (my main machine at home being my primary). It's not the greatest to process pics because of it's screen size but it works (hey it does run photoshop CS2 without a hiccup!) It is awesome to dump all your SD cards onto while travelling, connecting to hotel WIFI and keeping in touch with the family with the integrated webcam. The main thing to keep in mind when getting a netbook is that you are trading screen size for portability. If you can live with that, then you'll be fine. Pat

06-24-2009, 07:49 PM	#15
jmdeegan Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: nyc Photos: Gallery Posts: 564	Originally posted by rparmar The Acer Aspire One is an oddity in today's world: a computer that is well made and does exactly what it says on the tin. There are two card slots for massive upgradability -- the only computer in the world that has this? The LINUX can be updated to a full desktop easily. The keyboard is easy to use and nicely built. The screen is good though one must get used to the size. The wireless works flawlessly. I bought mine for study purposes but my wife and daughter use it incessantly. Great for internet, word processing and watching films. Of course it is underpowered relative to a full P4 processor. Running LINUX that hardly matters. Not sure what it's like running Windows though. Achilles heel: battery life is low. you have to be speaking about the older Aspire One. I bought the more recent release, February 2009, 160gb hard drive, now only one card slot (reader) and 8 hours battery life. i have had people use many netbooks, all loved the aspire one more than theirs. buddy of mine had a Wind, loved it until he played with my Aspire One. as for software, i never used adobe LR or PSE on it. i stuck with picasa for the "field work", its basic, but thats all i needed at that time.