Cheap apple laptop for saving images when traveling

ndwgolf

ndwgolf

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Neil Williams
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Guys,
I am currently using a iPad Pro when traveling to save hundreds of bird images onto a external hard drive and its a PITA (save to iPad first, then export to the external hard drive) This only works if the location you are staying at has WIFI. So Im thinking of buying either a new or good secondhand SMALL apple laptop...........any recommendations ??

Neil
 
ndwgolf said:
Guys,
I am currently using a iPad Pro when traveling to save hundreds of bird images onto a external hard drive and its a PITA (save to iPad first, then export to the external hard drive) This only works if the location you are staying at has WIFI. So Im thinking of buying either a new or good secondhand SMALL apple laptop...........any recommendations ??

Neil
Click to expand...
I’m now thinking taking enough CF express cards instead………. Cheaper and lighter
 
I assume the iPad is not a USB C version where you can attach a hard drive by cable?
 
sphexx said:
I assume the iPad is not a USB C version where you can attach a hard drive by cable?
Click to expand...
Yes the iPad has USBc but you have to use the card reader first to download the files to the iPad then transfer from the iPad to the external hard drive…….PITA
 
ndwgolf said:
Yes the iPad has USBc but you have to use the card reader first to download the files to the iPad then transfer from the iPad to the external hard drive…….PITA
Click to expand...
Yes I considered using an iPad Pro instead of a laptop while travelling
I connected an external drive and card reader to iPad then tried to transfer from card to external drive via the iPad , gave up it was painfully slow
I now either carry enough cards or take my Macbook pro
 
ndwgolf said:
Yes the iPad has USBc but you have to use the card reader first to download the files to the iPad then transfer from the iPad to the external hard drive…….PITA
Click to expand...
Ah, too true. I think there are hard drives/ssd with card reader?
 
Assuming it’s feasible, carrying lots of sd cards would have the benefit of avoiding a “single point failure” and losing all.
 
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You can get hubs which plug into the iPad and allow you to use multiple peripherals at the same time. I got this one for making music on my iPad Air. You could then use a standard USBA card reader and a portable HD or SSD and just drag the image files between two tiled Files windows. I don't know how fast it would be, but obviously faster than two copy operations. Might be best if you get one that can take USBC power in for use where there's a wall socket, to save battery.

 
garryknight said:
You can get hubs which plug into the iPad and allow you to use multiple peripherals at the same time. I got this one for making music on my iPad Air. You could then use a standard USBA card reader and a portable HD or SSD and just drag the image files between two tiled Files windows. I don't know how fast it would be, but obviously faster than two copy operations. Might be best if you get one that can take USBC power in for use where there's a wall socket, to save battery.

Click to expand...

I did try that , using a hub it worked but was painfully slow, maybe it was the hub I had but I wondered if apple had done something to make copying using the iPad slower for some reason, I can’t think why it would be so slow
 
sphexx said:
Ah, too true. I think there are hard drives/ssd with card reader?
Click to expand...

yes there are , I do have one think it’s made by WD if I remember correctly but they don’t seem to be available anymore
the one I have has a sd card reader slot built in
 
LCPete said:
yes there are , I do have one think it’s made by WD if I remember correctly but they don’t seem to be available anymore
the one I have has a sd card reader slot built in
Click to expand...
Yes I also had one but my camera is a Z9 so CF express cards
 
ndwgolf said:
Yes I also had one but my camera is a Z9 so CF express cards
Click to expand...

yes that’s the issue I have now too, I’m now using an R5 which uses CF express cards its a shame that there’s not an easy portable solution to backing up while travelling
last time I went away I bought a lot of SD cards and also used the WD drive that has an SD card slot so I had backups , now I’m using CF express cards it would be expensive to do that , when I go away again I’ll probably save Raws to both camera card slots and take lots of SD cards with me , the amount of shots I take (wildlife mainly) it would be expensive to take enough CF express cards
 
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I currently have 3 x CF express cards
256 GB
160 GB
128 SQD card
I’m going to buy another 512GB CF express card and that should give me enough space for 8500 RAW lossless images
 
You need a high speed, at least USB 3.1 Gen 1, USB C hub. It should work fine then, both the SD card and external drive should show up in the files app and you can copy from one to another. You don't need WiFi to do this
 
LCPete said:
I did try that , using a hub it worked but was painfully slow, maybe it was the hub I had but I wondered if apple had done something to make copying using the iPad slower for some reason, I can’t think why it would be so slow
Click to expand...

It will be uploading into the IPad and back down, speed will be limited to the slowest part which may be a cable, the IPad memory, the hub or the memory card reader.


Have you considered something like a Western Digital wireless My Passport which is a portable harddisk with built in SD card reader, so you insert the card and press a button to download the card?
 
I use an iPad Air 3 for maybe 90% of web activity, but barely use it for photography. If I had a need for a portable photography solution, I’d find a MacBook and a USB SSD.
 
Mozthecat said:
It will be uploading into the IPad and back down, speed will be limited to the slowest part which may be a cable, the IPad memory, the hub or the memory card reader.


Have you considered something like a Western Digital wireless My Passport which is a portable harddisk with built in SD card reader, so you insert the card and press a button to download the card?
Click to expand...

Thanks yes that’s what I ended up getting a WD my passport with built in card reader
I’m now using a camera with CF express card though unfortunately but the second slot uses SD card so can still use the WD drive with SD cards
 
GeeJay57 said:
I use an iPad Air 3 for maybe 90% of web activity, but barely use it for photography. If I had a need for a portable photography solution, I’d find a MacBook and a USB SSD.
Click to expand...
That’s exactly what I’m doing at the moment unless I’m travelling really light and can’t take a laptop
 
Mozthecat said:
Have you considered something like a Western Digital wireless My Passport which is a portable harddisk with built in SD card reader, so you insert the card and press a button to download the card?
Click to expand...
I don't use SD cards, my camera is the Nikon Z9 that uses CF Express cards
 
How cheap is cheap ?

I just got the base MB air m1 8gb / 256gb for 890 odd from JL. My old 15 inch i7 MBPros getting far too slow with AI stuff.

Finding it fine for me as a light user: I use a hub hung off one usb c port and attach card/ xqd etc readers to that. I have moved some apps onto a 2TB ssd Samsung drive which also has a Time Machine partition and a win 11 ARM VM. Photos are on another ssd drive - working copy and the usual backup scheme.

Wonderfully fast - 20 second not 10+ min to process a biggish AI Topaz job.

With more money, could have gone for 16 inch MBPro + 32 GB etc ( Costco had some good pricing ) but I honestly don’t need that but I said I am just a light user.

The Air + the cats cradle of things hung off it go everywhere with me.
 
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So the Belkin hub arrived. I tried to transfer 4 Nikon Raw images from the card reader to the Sandisk hard drive and it was slooooow. I connected the Belkin hob to my Mac Studio and tried the same thing……., it was pretty much instant. I then transferred all the RAW images from the card reader to the SanDisk hard drive all 1450 of them and it took maybe 3 minutes max. I’m now trying to move the same amount of images to the SanDisk using the iPad Pro after 5 minutes it’s still not transferred any images………. What am I doing wrong
 

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ndwgolf said:
So the Belkin hub arrived. I tried to transfer 4 Nikon Raw images from the card reader to the Sandisk hard drive and it was slooooow. I connected the Belkin hob to my Mac Studio and tried the same thing……., it was pretty much instant. I then transferred all the RAW images from the card reader to the SanDisk hard drive all 1450 of them and it took maybe 3 minutes max. I’m now trying to move the same amount of images to the SanDisk using the iPad Pro after 5 minutes it’s still not transferred any images………. What am I doing wrong
Click to expand...
Q. Is the hub powered?

Don’t know if this helps

www.theverge.com

iPad Pro USB-C hubs: the best, worst, and weirdest options

Do more with the iPad Pro’s one and only port.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
 
piper said:
How cheap is cheap ?

I just got the base MB air m1 8gb / 256gb for 890 odd from JL. My old 15 inch i7 MBPros getting far too slow with AI stuff.

Finding it fine for me as a light user: I use a hub hung off one usb c port and attach card/ xqd etc readers to that. I have moved some apps onto a 2TB ssd Samsung drive which also has a Time Machine partition and a win 11 ARM VM. Photos are on another ssd drive - working copy and the usual backup scheme.

Wonderfully fast - 20 second not 10+ min to process a biggish AI Topaz job.

With more money, could have gone for 16 inch MBPro + 32 GB etc ( Costco had some good pricing ) but I honestly don’t need that but I said I am just a light user.

The Air + the cats cradle of things hung off it go everywhere with me.
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I will go and buy a new base model MB Air..........
 
ndwgolf said:
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I will go and buy a new base model MB Air..........
Click to expand...
I should have said that I use DX0 PL6, Affinity and the AI Topaz suite on mine.
I don’t use or have LR/PS.

I see you have posted about editing - I did emphasise that I am just a light user so one image at a time on the 8 GB. It was also my concern - I would have gone for 16GB min had I had the cash. Having said that, it seems to work for me.
On storage - not too bothered - I keep no photos on the air- except a few folders I am working on but generally all are out on the external SSD. I have about 160 GB left but PL6, affinity, Topaz, Office are on the Air - Games and stuff are out on another SSD
Hope that helps.
 
piper said:
I should have said that I use DX0 PL6, Affinity and the AI Topaz suite on mine.
I don’t use or have LR/PS.

I see you have posted about editing - I did emphasise that I am just a light user so one image at a time on the 8 GB. It was also my concern - I would have gone for 16GB min had I had the cash. Having said that, it seems to work for me.
On storage - not too bothered - I keep no photos on the air- except a few folders I am working on but generally all are out on the external SSD. I have about 160 GB left but PL6, affinity, Topaz, Office are on the Air - Games and stuff are out on another SSD
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Fantastic thanks
 
ndwgolf said:
Fantastic thanks
Click to expand...
Another thing then I will shut up …

I am only using 24 mpx cameras and transferring maybe 32GB max at a time - dunno now things would go unloading huge CF cards fron a 45/60 Mpx body…
 
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