Photo editing on Ultraportable Laptops

Hey Everyone,

I've seen threads about ultraportables on this forum but none regarding exactly HOW WELL Photoshop or Lightroom run on them. I'm on the market for something to take travelling with me. Basically I need something light enough to carry all day but powerful enough to do photoediting with when I the day is over.

If you're an ultraportable user, I'd just like to know what the general, user experience is like in these two programs. Does it take a year for PHotoshop to load? Does lightroom still maintain a bit of snappiness? If you apply an unsharp mask in photoshop do you time to get a banana pancake before it's done? I guess bottom line: IS IT BEARABLE?

I'm interested in perforamnce that would be similar to any of the following machines:

1) Sony TX
2) Panasonic W5
3) Fujitsu P7230

That would be a Core Solo or Pentium M with about 1GB of memory. Core Duo experience also quite welcome!

Hope someone can offer advice - I'm about ready to bring my Photoshop CD and some RAW photos to the Sony store just to try this out.

Thanks!
Carlo

I would say for that sort of usage, if you are already concerned you will never be happy. G go for the Panasonic Y5 instead of W5. It is Core Duo (1.6 or 1.83ghz) instead of 1.2ghz Solo - and still only 3.4lbs.
http://www.dynamism.com/y5/main.shtml

That way you have no lingering concerns and you can get on with it. From the way you are talking I can tell that you would never be happy with Core Solo or Pentiim M at the speeds in question. Not that the are not usalble - far from it - but you are already clearly not gonna be happy.

BTW for the Y5, get the base model - you can upgrade the RAM and HDD yourself cheaper than via the retailer upgrades. Each (HDD and memory) is a simple screw hatch underneath the Y5.

Well, perhaps I was a bit misleading in my original post. : ) On the contrary, I'm quite happy with 'bearable' and more concerned about weight (which is why I had originally thought about the W5 over the Y5). I am quite used to putting up with slow computers and a computer to bring travelling need only reach the minimum standards for me.

Do you happen to own a W5 or Y5 (or something comparable in speed)? Really all I want is something that will load lightroom and photoshop and do some minor editing. In fact, with Lightroom I only use Photoshop to do some distortion corrections now and then. Any thoughts on those tasks?

I guess to state my priorities more clearly:

1) Portability (the lighter the better - this machine will be on my back 12 hours a day)
2) Battery Life (long periods away from outlets)

3) Lightroom database will load (albeit a bit slowly) and I can move the Develop sliders (they move slowly, but they move : ) )
4) On-board DVD backup

If the Pentium M can do this type of work (have used several M's but just not a 1GHz Ultra-Low Voltage) it opens up a lot of doors for me as models go out of production and their prices drop.

Tips about upgrading drives/ram are duly noted - thanks!

C

You probably realize laptops get more advanced year after year, and one could keep delaying purchases because something better has just been announced for release in the near future...

With that said, if battery life is your second-most important laptop feature then perhaps you should wait until the laptops based on Intel's Santa Rosa platform will start being announced next quarter (Q2 2007) -- Of course product reviews and widespread availablity of those laptops may take several more months. One of the battery-life enhancing features of the Santa Rosa platform is the Robson technology which uses flash-based cache. Flash cache is faster than hard drive cache and uses less power. Reduced hard drive usage --> increased battery life.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2715&p=4

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2841&p=3

Just a few years ago people were running PS on Pentiums/Celerons/Athlons/etc. that were 500mhz and with 256-512mb of memory. Actually even slower and less memory. They were working with 10-12mp slide scans. It was bearable.

A few years from now people will be asking if it is bearable to run PS on a PC with a Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600 with 4gb of RAM. What would you answer?

--
Henry Richardson
http://www.bakubo.com

Slower processors just means longer time to do your work.
A bad screen can make it impossible to get the correct color.

--
Joe

My craptacular photos: http://www.pbase.com/pyogenes/favorites

Any perceived rudeness, condescending tone, or insults are not intended, but rather the result of my inability to properly express myself with the written word.

many programs require a minimum screen res, such as 800x600. Be sure the small screens will give at least this

Good call. Well, I need this thing about mid-summer so I definitely won't be waiting too long. The models I've seen that are slated to release this year look pretty good already so I'll probably go for one of them, although the next gen does look great tech-wise. If anything I'd hope the SR's came out before I purchased something so they would drive down the prices of the older models. Now THAT would definitely be worth waiting for!

While I agree with your argument in principal, I still believe my questions are valid. These machines are quite difficult to get a hold of for any form of testing and, as such, one has to rely on the input of others. Obviously without some metrics and standards there is no 'good' way to do this on a forum, but if someone came on here and said "it takes me 4 minutes to load a 12MB RAW file in CS2 on this particular machine's config" that would tip me away from that machine.

End of the day, I'm 99% sure I'll be fine with whatever speed I can get (I'll just be happy I have a laptop with me) but I'd still like to hear from those that have tried it.

I think the min num of vert lines for any of the widescreen ones is 700-ish. Should be good.

Photo editing, like doing what? If you are doing anything close to color work, you have missed the most important thing. The screen LCD technology, TN or IPS or PVA, etc. Which type do you want? And how then do you know what type the laptop has?
regards -tom

scoob_e_doo said:

I think the min num of vert lines for any of the widescreen ones is
700-ish. Should be good.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't think, I'd be sure. 700verticle lines indicates to me that it's less than 800 wide.
There are many programs that will not install on the Sony.

I have had the W5 and in fact I just sold it. Weight was fantastic as is batterylife, but the Core Solo processor does struggle with some multitasking. for example, I could run BitComet and web browse together, but if I wanted to keep MS office 2007 open at the same time, rather than open-close each time I used it, then we had a speed issue.

I think you owuld be fine if you did not multitask on the programs you mentioned and you keep something like MS Office - or even OpenOffice - closed. They all have persky background processes open that DO impact your performance. And as I said I had 1GB or RAM and a 5400rpm drive, so I wasnt skimping either.

Now since I posted the previous comments a few weeks ago, there is a new Pansonic W5 out, now the W5M model, which now runs a Core DUO processor, but still on 1.06GHz and ULTRA low voltage. In the meantime the Y5 has now moved to Y5M model. 1.83 Ghz Low voltage (not ultra) Core Duo instead of 1.66. But the key thing is the Intel shared graphics processor on the new model can use up to 244MB of RAM instead of 128. In other words you can get a lot more graphics performance out of adding RAM.

That alone for me makes that new Y5M the best lightweight move for graphics processing. As equipped it can be a full time permanent PC, without need for any other laptop. Not to mention a bigger screen at 14" - and still only 3.3 lbs.

But if your absoulte priority is the size/weight issue, and you dont mind singe-tasking and 12" screen then yes you can survive with the W5, IMO. It will do what you want, no question, just one thing at a time and dont expect rocket speed. But it is a very good laptop. The only consolation I had when I let mine go (sold it) was that I am going to use the money on another Panasonic (the Y5 this time). Those guys are doing a fantastic job over there in Japan. They arent hell bent on selling to the whole world, but what they do sell is simply fantastic in build quality.

B&H (www.bhphotovideo.com) is a good reliable source. Newegg.com is another, as is portableone.com. Dynamism.com is great but their prices are nose-bleed.

The Y5 looks sound really nice -- a reasonable sized screen in a lightweight package, exactly what I'd like to get. However, I'm put off by the lack of distributors and the weak support on Panasonic's site. Panasonic recommends just one or two distributors, and there seems to be a no-return-for-any-reason policy. It's hard to get excited about buying an expensive laptop sight-unseen with no chance of returning it if it doesn't work out.

Is there any reputable company that sells these laptops and is willing to take it back if it doesn't work for me (i.e., if I don't like it)?

If not, then I'll probably go with a Thinkpad T60, which has a sound reputation and looks like a bargain compared to the Y5 -- but it's a pound or two heavier.

-- jeff

If you are in the USA, I would say your best bet is:

• http://www.dynamism.com for the import versions ie higher specs other than the WWAN. Dynamism is more expensive but for that you get the Japan specs and US-based support from their Chicago office.
• Someone on another thread mentioned USAT as a good source (for the US models, not japanese)

http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.ACCT79482/sc.30/category.1817/.f

Newegg has a few but is not all and wouldnt give you reat support. Portableone.com has a few models, not complete line, but their support is fantastic.

BTW I have only owned the Japanese models of Toughbook, but everyone I have spoken to who has the US models says that website or no website Panasonic USA gives great support for these laptops. And bear in mind that these things are built pretty tough, so you wont have ticky tacky problems to begin with.

Carlo:

I'm starting down the path of making the same decision you are talking of here.

Did you make a choice yet?

I see the last entry in February saying that some software won't load on the Sony... Yikes!!!

I like the Sony TX series for their tiny size. But have the same issues as you, concern on screen quality and speed.

Have you gotten to play with any of these systems for those two items in conjunction with CS2/3?

Screen quality and speed?

Russ

I'd be interested in something that bridges the gap between a on-the-go storage device like the Epson P-5000. That would do basic file management, and do basic PS work. I'd save more involved PS work for home. Anything here?
http://www.dynamism.com/Notebooks/Subnotebooks/categorygroup.shtml

--

http://www.ascent-design.com

I meant to write "bridges the gap between an on-the-go like Epson P-5000 and a full laptop".
--

http://www.ascent-design.com

Just updating on the prior posts. I've had the Y5 for a couple of months now and it is fantastic. 14" screen at 1400 x 1500 pixels and good horepower on the CPU for a 3.3lb ultraportable. The screen is not super-bright, but is very clear and very good colour-wise.

Highly recommended for anyone looking for a ligthweigth laptop to do photo work with.