As any serious photographer knows (and not so serious ones like myself as well), the hobby tends to accumulate "STUFF".... and I mean a lot of it. It was worse in the "old days", what with film, multiple bodies (holding the different types of film), a BUNCH of lenses (because most zooms pretty much stunk) and it got much worse if you had a darkroom! In today's world, it's actually much better (don't ask my wife though)! The film is gone, replaced by a few small memory cards. The multiple bodies are gone, since you can make the file look like most anything (color, saturated color, black & White, etc.) in the "post-process". And best of all; the dark room is now digital! In fact, I'm typing this in my "darkroom", which is in fact, my desktop PC workstation! Yaaaaa, no more stinky chemicals in the fridge and trays taking over one entire bathroom!
However, that being said; there's still "stuff" and lots of it. The one inescapable reality of the digital age is that those photographs are computer files and have to be handled in a computer eventually. Although, you don't really NEED a computer other than the one you have at home as your digital darkroom, there are a lot of advantages to having another (smaller) computer that you can take with you.... wherever. In our case this last month, we really didn't have much choice but to take a laptop with us to Alaska and BC since we were going to be gone for 2 weeks and expected to take a couple of thousand images. This gave me a place to dump the pictures, look at them (delete the half that were bad) and my wife to check her email and post to her Blog that allowed folks to keep up with what we were doing. Beside, this fed into one of my other hobbies and allowed me to have a good reason to own another computer!
So, what are the needs of this computer and how do you fit something like this into the grand scheme of frugality? Obviously, this machine needs to be relatively small and light with decent storage and enough graphic capability so that you aren't waiting around for images to render just in the viewer! At this point it lets off, most of the "Netbooks" that are so popular. You might be tempted buy them since they are so cheap and popular Walmart even sells them. First of all, let me go on my little netbook rant for just a minute (or 10)and I'll be better....I promise.
They are not $300! Only the really low end (is there such a thing when the entire class is low end?) ones are that price. That means, if you really want to pay that much, you get, the least amount of RAM (absolutely critical for us Windows people) and a small, cheap hard drive or even smaller SSD. And this is not to mention the 85% size that is typical for the class and the "piece" keyboard that is also typical of the class and the invention of Satan, the touchpad.... that is typical of the class. Everything about them screams cheap! It's like buying a new trailer house; it's new, but it's a trailer house.
Now to the real technical issues other than my personal ones. They mostly run on the Atom processor, which is Intel-speak for their stripped-down, low-powered (consumption and ability) mobile-CPU that is basically good for email (which is really what these things are designed for) and some web-surfing, although I really wouldn't stream too much video that's a bigger file than YouTube. Secondly, they typically either have a VERY small SSD or a relatively small and slow HDD and a sub-10" low resolution screen (but it's in that COOL wide-screen aspect ratio so they can put a big "Wide-Screen" sticker on it....like anybody is going to put 2 spreadsheets side-by-side on one of these things). Oh, the really cheap ones usually come with some sort of Linux on it. I did say that they are cheaply built didn't I? Soon they are going to look like the computer version of the AMC Pacer or the Clinton Presidential Library!
So, what to do? We could buy the more expensive (read nicer) ones with better spec and keyboard, like the Dell or HP, loaded with actual Windows and bump up the RAM..... and get the bigger HDD. Don't forget to buy the external optical drive for $80-120 so you can load things that aren't downloadable since most folks who buy them don't know how to share and map a drive from another machine over a network. At this point you will have realized that you are bumping up against the $500 price-point, Walmart doesn't sell this version and it's still...just a netbook!
Now, don't get me wrong; there are people who they will be perfectly happy with them. If you are somebody that just want to use it to keep in touch while out at the local Starbucks and absolutely won't do anything more than email and some light web-surfing; knock yourself out! That's why they are small and fun colored! They will look "stylish" as they ride in your cool-colored bag along with the miniature dog.
So, what about the rest of us who might actually do some work on our travel machine? Well; if we are well-heeled, or childless, or one of the 18% of college grads who got a job last year; then you run down to an actual computer store (read- NOT Best Buy), buy a ThinkPad X301, Sony (impossible to remember combination of letters & numbers) or Apple MacBook Air, and call it a day! You'll have a state-of-the-art, do-everything cool computer that you won't be embarrassed to have next your iPhone!
For the rest of us, there is the vast (relatively) untapped world of corporate hand-me-downs; otherwise know as "off-lease" machines! When I look through these things (usually on eBay), I feel like Captain Kirk among that episodes, interestingly-colored women! (I digress) Anyway....I'll wait till a future Post to talk about that segment of the computer market and get back to what will work for a "travel" machine and why.
Notebook computers are roughly divided up in classes, by weight, function, and size (not always directly correllated to weight). The class we are interested in is the "sub-notebook"- typically meaning that the machine would weight less then 5 pounds (usually closer to 3), have screens less then 14" (usually closer to 12"), and 1 built-in drive (the hard disk drive). There are some exception to this, but these are the general parameters. So, what is so special about these machines that make them the best target?
First of all, we want to look for "corporate" machines; that means computers sold by the "big boys" (IBM/Lenovo-ThinkPads, Dell- Latitudes not Inspirons, HP and some Toshibas) in large numbers directly to large wholesalers that you've never heard of, or directly to the big companies that use them. Typically, they are not actually sold at all, but are leased on a 1 to 3 year cycle, which fits neatly with the warranty life of the machines. The warrantees goes out, the machine goes away. Mostly, these big companies uses "thin-and-lights" (5 pounds, 14-15" screen, 2 drives- HDD & Optical), but they do use the sub-notebooks for specific applications. So every few year, literally thousands of these machines, "hit the streets", they've been replaced by new ones and some company has been PAID to take them away or they've be returned to the leasing arm of the wholesaler. At that point, many of them hit eBay and the rest of the "secondary" market. So, on a regular basis, you can find 2 to 3 year old machines (lots of the same model and spec), selling on eBay for a cheap price (far below what the original price was). Remember, they've already been paid for once, and they didn't cost the company what that same machine would have cost you anyway since they either bought or leased them by the thousands! So, you end up with machine that originally cost somewhere between $2000 to $3000 per unit (retail of course), selling for something between $200-300. That's right: 10% OF THE ORIGINAL PRICE!!! I know this well, I worked in IT for a number of years and one of my jobs was to buy computers by the hundreds....every year.
OK, so let's assume that I've convinced you, from the dollar standpoint anyway of why you should buy one of these "driven only on Sunday by Grandma" computers. What does this have to do with why they are a better deal than a netbook? First of all, pretty much, most any REAL computer 2-3 year old computer will out-perform a new netbook. Secondly, I've shown you that they can quite often be had for less than the price of even the cheapest netbook. So, the only real barrier is if you really can't handle the less than 1 pound different and the inch or two difference in size. Assuming that you are open to carrying the difference....then read on.
Now, down to the crux of why for someone like myself (a photographer), or anyone who might have to do some work on a travel machine. What do you get for the 1 pound and 1 inch penalty. First, there are more choices; there are any number of different models sold by all the big boys in the industry. Want tablet functionality? Fujitsu or IBM Want a eraser-nub instead of a (devil's invention) touchpad? IBM/Lenovo Want both? Dell/HP Want dedicated graphic processor? Sony, some Dells and IBMs .....and it just goes on. Also, virtually all of this class of machines have a "media-base" designed for them. What does that do and why do I want it, you ask? It's like a little slim dock that you snap your machine into that usually holds an optical drive and gives you a bunch of port and stuff. Sometimes they will have even more features on them, but they are usually very cheap, since the computers they were designed to support went out of production. The one I got more my IBM ThinkPad X41 cost $15 on eBay.
The thing to remember on these is that are they cheap, but but not built like a cheap $300 dollar machine, but like a $3000 machine since that's what they sold for 2-3 years ago. And not only that, but they were designed to take every imaginable accessory which are usually easy to find as well. The last thing is, remember that these are supported by the "big boys" and sold to huge corporations that expected the support to be perfect. Just go onto the Lenovo, Dell or HP support site and look around. Compare that to the Asus, Acer and even Dell's support for their consumer line and see the difference.
Next time; the other stuff that I end up carrying around.
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