Digital BW, The Print

On 4 Oct 2004 at 10:20, Sam McCandless wrote:

> 
> I changed Sanders' subject only because I'm more curious about how 
> well various notebooks (Windows or Mac) work when used at the front 
> end of the process. Especially in combination with a second display 
> at home and with a digital camera when away from home or office.
> 
> As long as my old desktop works ok, I thought I'd use it to drive my 
> printers and scanners. And maybe get a new notebook to use with 
> Photoshop and a digital camera. As far as others have already figured 
> out how this can best be done, I'm curious to know their conclusions 
> about how well it can be done.
> 
> I'm uncertain which would be more valuable, a new desktop for 
> Photoshop (CS/8 I'm assuming) or a new notebook on which I could see 
> what a digital camera had captured before getting back home. It's not 
> a space issue for me: my place is small, but I have room for either 
> configuration on my corner unit because my printers are on a separate 
> cart. I would, however, like to avoid buying both a new desktop and a 
> notebook as well as a digital camera.
> 

It really depends on your workflow.  If you tend to do a lot of image reviewing, and 
manipulation in the field, then a powerful notebook is a good idea.  There are some 
issues though:

1) Thieves, have radar for high-end laptops the chance of your laptop disappearing 
are quite high.  
2) Lighting, you can't control lighting in the field, so colour balancing for field lighting 
conditions, can mean when you get home, the colour balance is off.
3) Fragility, laptops are fragile beasts, dropping a $5,000 laptop and killing it, is as 
bad as dropping a $5,000 camera and killing it.  Tripping over something and 
dropping both at the same time, would make some people go to the nearest cliff, 
and throw themselves over.

However if you want a quick review of the days shooting, to decide what worked and 
what didn't.  A cheap laptop can be a good investment, even if the only image 
program you have is the one that came with your camera.  A used laptop can be 
had for under $300 you want one with CD burning capability, where the burner 
actually works.  Download your cards and review in the field, then leave the images 
alone.

Laptops and  upgrades are expensive, the cost of a 128MB module for a laptop will 
typically buy you 1GB for a desktop.  You can get a big monitor, like a 19 inch, 
much cheaper then trying to get a 18inch LCD panel.  I have tried laptops, the goofy 
keyboards and mice are much harder to work with then on the desktop where you 
can spread out.  With a desktop you can control the lighting direction, type and 
colour, something you can't do in the field.

W