Notebooks for Road Workflow

[Dale]

I need to replace my notebook computer. Normally I edit photos on the desktop, but at times when I'm overseas for several months I must edit on the notebook computer. That caused me to ask what are the most important criteria for a laptop that you may incorporate into a road workflow. Here are my thoughts in order of importance.

• A non-glossy screen may be the most important (though hard to find).
• Size and weight are important for airline travel.
• Larger hard drives are a plus, though portable drives can substitute.
• A good graphics card for when an external monitor is available.

Thoughts on these criteria? On machines that best fit the criteria?

Dale

[stevod]

Dale,

You may well have been out shopping by now, but if not......

I've just taken delivery of a ThinkPad x220.  Really nice.  Very fast (i7), and small.

- Screen is matt IPS.
- Weight is 1.3-1.7kg depending on battery.
- If you want max disk storage AND disk speed then you can fit an mSATA SSD in the mini PCI slot (although there's only one so it's that or WWAN) and keep a larger spinning HDD.
- Build quality seems solid although I haven't put it to the test yet.
- It will drive a 2560x1600 external monitor over displayport.

Other alternatives are the new Vaio Z, although it can't drive large external displays, and the HP2560p if you need to have an optical drive on-board, although it's a little heavier.

Hope this helps.

S

[Dale]

Thanks. I already got a laptop about 3 weeks ago that unfortunately has a glossy screen. I have found a 15" screen about right. It's hard to edit photos on a screen smaller, and 17" is too large to travel with if you fly much--otherwise it would be the choice. However the 15.6" widescreen that I got is not nearly as good as the old 15" closer-to-square format because it gives us valuable height.

[stevod]

Great - what did you go for?

The shift from 16:10 to 16:9 screens is such a shame for PC use, losing the vertical space is a real pain.

S