Recommend a Laptop Computer

I'm doing a location job for 2 weeks. Will be shooting about 300 D1x shots a day. I want to take a laptop with a cdrw (external OK) drive and burn the files to a cd and fedex them to the client. Edditing will not be done on location so the machine just needs to have a great monitor so I can look at the files before I send them. Any suggestions? I was looking on ebay for a used one but know nothing about laptops. Oh, PC not Mac. Thanks for your help.

Anthony

there are tons of laptops out there that will do the job. The biggest problem will be the screen as LCD screens (even the best) are not good at all in color matching.

I only use Toshiba laptops because of my experience with their quality, support and warranty which is the best.

I have a Toshiba Tecra which is a nice machine very good quality and comes with 3 years no questions asked warranty (and they do really mean it as i discovered after sendin a cup of coffee through the machine and got completely free repair including replacement of keyboard). The tecra series is a bit more expensive though.

I also have a Satellite which is very nice because it has a combination DVD/CD-RW drive as well as built in network card, modem, wireless network and even a built in SM card reader and 3 USB ports and a 30G drive. Also has a NVIDIA Geforce graphic card with dual monitor support. Is also available with either 1024 or 1280 resolution.

Mike

I will look at the Sony VAIO series:

SR series (2.9lbs) with external CDRW
http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/sr/index.html

FX All-in-one (7.0lbs) with internal CDRW
http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/fx/index.html

Both comes with firewire interface for your D1X. Display quality is always one of the Sony's strengths.

Damond

Sorry, did not remember the model number.

Anthony Loew said:

I'm doing a location job for 2 weeks. Will be shooting about 300
D1x shots a day. I want to take a laptop with a cdrw (external OK)
drive and burn the files to a cd and fedex them to the client.
Edditing will not be done on location so the machine just needs to
have a great monitor so I can look at the files before I send them.
Any suggestions? I was looking on ebay for a used one but know
nothing about laptops. Oh, PC not Mac. Thanks for your help.

Click to expand...

Greetings from England.

I have just decided on either a Toshiba Satalite or a Dell Inspiron.

the Inspiron also has firewire compatibility, although I cant use it on my D30

it also has a 15.1" screen so this is my ideal choice.

When I actually pick one up (whichever funds allow) - I'll post a mini log as to my first impressions and with use of the D30 for image viewing/editting although this wont be as good as a desktop because of the colour correction in the LCD Screen.

Kind regards

Neil

Neil Wallis-Tennant said:

Greetings from England.

I have just decided on either a Toshiba Satalite or a Dell Inspiron.

Click to expand...

I have an Inspiron 8000 with the 15" Super UXGA screen & I LOVE it

John M. said:

Neil Wallis-Tennant said:

Greetings from England.

I have just decided on either a Toshiba Satalite or a Dell Inspiron.

Click to expand...

I have an Inspiron 8000 with the 15" Super UXGA screen & I LOVE it

Click to expand...

Similarly I have an Inspiron and it truly is a desktop replacement with its Win 2000 850 Mhz and 196 Ram allied to a 20 Gb hard drive CD burner and DVD drive. There are alway caveats and the major one with PC is that I have found grave difficulty reading CDs the Dell produced with my Mac, wereas CD burned with the Mac work in both PC and Mac - despite the Mac being fairly long in the tooth 1997...

I would therefore at least think about an iBook, remember even if you've got all your favourite image editiors in PC format - for most of them a cross upgrade to Mac is possible.

regards Michael http://www.360sphere.com

Michael

this is not the PC's fault but the Mac's inability to read joliet format discs. All you need to do if you want them compatible between Mac and PC is write them in ISO 9660 format. Mac's dont support things like long filenames the way windows does and therfor windows uses the joliet format by default which allows you to store things like that. If you do write a 9660 disc make sure you dont have any long file names.

Mike

Mike Salzlechner said:

Michael

this is not the PC's fault but the Mac's inability to read joliet
format discs. All you need to do if you want them compatible
between Mac and PC is write them in ISO 9660 format. Mac's dont
support things like long filenames the way windows does and therfor
windows uses the joliet format by default which allows you to store
things like that. If you do write a 9660 disc make sure you dont
have any long file names.

Click to expand...

I hate to seem pedantic gratuitously argumentative or whatever, but, Macs actually do support long file names without any bother. Later when I've got time I may take a few screenshot just to prove this small point.

cheers Michael

Member said:

Mike

Click to expand...

Just a thought.

Whatever laptop you buy, why not tag along a real computer monitor. Most laptops have a port to connect an external monitor.

If you have your original monitor shipping carton, it may survive the airplane trip, or you could purchase one near your shooting site and then ship it home via parcel delivery.

Good luck on your shoot.

Anthony Loew said:

I'm doing a location job for 2 weeks. Will be shooting about 300
D1x shots a day. I want to take a laptop with a cdrw (external OK)
drive and burn the files to a cd and fedex them to the client.
Edditing will not be done on location so the machine just needs to
have a great monitor so I can look at the files before I send them.
Any suggestions? I was looking on ebay for a used one but know
nothing about laptops. Oh, PC not Mac. Thanks for your help.

Click to expand...

I have had a number of laptops, including a Sony VViao. I now have a Dell Inspirion 8000. It is hands dowm the best laptop I have everhad. You have get it with a CD-RW internal, and it is possoble to have both a DVD ad CD-RW in the computer at tyhe same time. This can be very hanmdy. I hardily suggest the Dell Inspirion.

Randy McMillan

I had an Inspiron and just didn't care for it. It wasn't bad but I thought it was too hefty for the features. I got a Compaq Armada M700. I think it's a much nicer package than the Inspiron.

Just thought I'd add a little balance to all the Dell-loving posts.

Dan

Randolph McMillan said:

I have had a number of laptops, including a Sony VViao. I now have
a Dell Inspirion 8000. It is hands dowm the best laptop I have
everhad. You have get it with a CD-RW internal, and it is possoble
to have both a DVD ad CD-RW in the computer at tyhe same time.
This can be very hanmdy. I hardily suggest the Dell Inspirion.

Randy McMillan

Click to expand...