What laptop (if any) do people use?

ElDude

ElDude

ElDude

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In a couple of months I'm looking to get a laptop, purely for checking photos whilst out and about. I was wondering what people are using that has a decent screen for accurate viewing/editing.

I realise your more expensive home monitor is the common sense approach, but as I'm also planning on getting a backpack that may or may not have a compartment for them, I was wondering if it's even worth getting a laptop for this. I did have a decent one but it's gone to live on the farm :(

Are there any reasonably priced laptops with a good screen for this? I know there are a lot of reviews out there on search engines, but as per usual you'll get one person saying one thing is good and another saying they're rubbish, which never helps. So has anyone got experience with a decent screen on a laptop? My last laptop cost a fortune and the screen was only reasonable, not as good as my home monitor.
 
unfortunately laptop screens are notoriously poor at calibrating and reproducing good colours. the type of screen you need is IPS which last time i looked was non existant in laptops.
 
As above (though I do wish people would stop thinking an IPS panel is the only prerequisite for a suitable editing monitor :p), almost no laptops have a good screen unfortunately. 6bit and dithering is the norm. I'm not even sure you can get hold of the HP Dreamcolor thing that was about eleventy billion pounds any more (had a 10bit panel in it IIRC). You'll probably get a few owners of certain laptops tell you how great their screen is, but making it bright and shiny isn't much use as a reference monitor.

The best thing you can use a laptop for on location is checking the histogram and the focus. Also to see how things like the shadows are holding up for noise, and highlight clipping (but *only* using something that can show you highlight clipping based on the RGB values of the picture, do not just use the screen). If you're intending on using it for any semi-serious editing it's just no good.
 
This is what I thought. I had two laptops, and both cost nearly £2000. They were great and powerful little things, but as I mentioned, the screens were only average. Obviously I could process a shot for cropping, etc, but the colour varied, especially in reds.

My problem is that my eyesight is getting a bit rubbish, and occasionally from the camera screen I can't tell if there's any camera shake. I have a slight shaking in my hands sometimes, which obviously causes problems. Unless I ramp up the shutter speeds, I occasionally miss a shot which annoys me immensely! Having the option of viewing on a larger screen whilst out and about would be ideal. Ho hum :(

Also my mum is pestering me to go halves on an Ipad2, but I don't want to until they solve the networking problems :D
 
ElDude said:
This is what I thought. I had two laptops, and both cost nearly £2000. They were great and powerful little things, but as I mentioned, the screens were only average. Obviously I could process a shot for cropping, etc, but the colour varied, especially in reds.

My problem is that my eyesight is getting a bit rubbish, and occasionally from the camera screen I can't tell if there's any camera shake. I have a slight shaking in my hands sometimes, which obviously causes problems. Unless I ramp up the shutter speeds, I occasionally miss a shot which annoys me immensely! Having the option of viewing on a larger screen whilst out and about would be ideal. Ho hum :(

Also my mum is pestering me to go halves on an Ipad2, but I don't want to until they solve the networking problems :D
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Checking focus and composition are the two best reasons for using a laptop on location - That's before you get to other benefits like added backup, mid-shoot labelling and sorting, etc. Another problem regarding colour etc is even if you put the best screen in it, you're still often dealing with ever changing environmental lighting. You cant check colour in direct sunlight unless you have a blackout tent handy.

Just if you ever come to do more serious editing, have an external monitor handy to hook it up to (Easier said than done granted).
 
neil_g said:
hmm maybe, but its a good start :)

you mean the HP EliteBook 8740w? yeah not cheap..
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Yeah that's the ticker. Can you still buy them? Any idea what they're retailing for now? I remember reading something about Dreamworks, I think, saying they needed a laptop workstation with a good screen, so HP made that!

Edit: I've seen the prices, but I'm sure the 10bit model was an optional very expensive 'Dreamcolor' upgrade. I don't think they come with them as standard? Could be wrong!
 
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Colour reproduction on my old Amilo Xi1546 is horrible, even though it's good at artificial stuff like games. I only realised how bad it looked once I put it on the laptop and then on a proper pc+monitor.
 
ElDude said:
This is what I thought. I had two laptops, and both cost nearly £2000. They were great and powerful little things, but as I mentioned, the screens were only average. Obviously I could process a shot for cropping, etc, but the colour varied, especially in reds.

My problem is that my eyesight is getting a bit rubbish, and occasionally from the camera screen I can't tell if there's any camera shake. I have a slight shaking in my hands sometimes, which obviously causes problems. Unless I ramp up the shutter speeds, I occasionally miss a shot which annoys me immensely! Having the option of viewing on a larger screen whilst out and about would be ideal. Ho hum :(

Also my mum is pestering me to go halves on an Ipad2, but I don't want to until they solve the networking problems :D
Click to expand...


Do you use a tripod much? If you do have shaky hands (my hands aren't great either) then the bets thing you can do is use a tripod wherever possible. You then remove the big unknown! from the equation.
 
I recently bought a Dell XPS 17 with HD screen. Got a good deal and I'm very happy with it, also has great speakers and a built in subwoofer which is nice for music too.

@Raymond Lin - I love your signature pic :)
 
Im currently using a sony VAIO Z Series laptop.

Core I5 2.53GHz
8GB Ram
500GB Hard Disk
13.3" LED Screen

Very very happy with the power and capabilities of it, although i wish i had got a laptop with a bigger screen, on saying that i normally HDMI out to my Dell 27" screen which is fantastic.

Nick
 
D.P. said:
Do you use a tripod much? If you do have shaky hands (my hands aren't great either) then the bets thing you can do is use a tripod wherever possible. You then remove the big unknown! from the equation.
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I have an icky Sherpa tripod. I just never get out enough to justify buying a decent one. Normally I use the tripod indoors for macro, etc. As I don't have transport, lugging a tripod around is a bit much most of the time. I'm currently buying faster lenses instead :D
 
I've got a Dell m6400 which definitely isn't for taking out on shoots! Screen is ok, big but the standard tech drawbacks. It's all I use though for processing, it responded quite well to calibration.
 
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