Laptop for sports photography

CarlukeDave

CarlukeDave

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I'm thinking about investing in a new laptop, I have recently purchased an iMac and was thinking of a second hand mac book, as I hope to be doing sports photography in the future, are there any recommendations on what laptop would be best? Battery life etc would be an issue, is there anything else I should be thinking about?

My initial thought on going with a mac are so that I can have the same software on desktop and laptop, having made the jump from pc to mac, I have no regrets.

Cheers

Dave
 
i have the standard macbook, and the battery life is ok, it will last a good 3-4 hours editing photos from a full charge, but the new macbook pro is 8 hour battery life i think? all the macbooks are fast enough for photoshop and things, my laptop doesnt lack and is definatly fast enought in my opinion.
 
I use the old black macbook, does the job great. Bought it for £400, swapped the HD for a bigger one. No problems so far :) Very lightweight, relatively small.. no need to spend over the odds!
 
I use a plastic MacBook, but if it is to take out on the road with you a lot I would suggest one of the MacBook Pros or at least the Metal 13" Macbook they made for a while for the more solid build.
 
purpleclouds said:
I use the old black macbook, does the job great. Bought it for £400, swapped the HD for a bigger one. No problems so far :) Very lightweight, relatively small.. no need to spend over the odds!
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:agree:

then pick up Photomechanic and a wireless dongle, job done ;)
 
I have a DELL XPS Studio 1340 for my pitchside wiring. Its really to nice a machine to have out in the field. I think I have a duff one as I've had 7 visits by DELL engineers in 1 year! Cheap and cheerful next time, one that you don't mind bumping and the odd bit of rain.
 
get somehting robust is my only advice... had mine trampled on at blackpool v pne game... had it knocked and banged about at many sports events and still going strong ...
 
manc said:
I have a DELL XPS Studio 1340 for my pitchside wiring. Its really to nice a machine to have out in the field. I think I have a duff one as I've had 7 visits by DELL engineers in 1 year! Cheap and cheerful next time, one that you don't mind bumping and the odd bit of rain.
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thats simply because the XPS is purley a home based gaming rig, the dell latitudes are built like tanks and worth every penny, see KIPAX post above
 
I use a once white now thrice muddy/grey/scuffed macbook from 2007...it's the bottom of the range model (I think 1.8Gig Intel, I upgraded the RAM to 2gig myself) and it works just fine with Photomechanic, Photoshop CS and Transmit all working at the same time...

Support for 3G dongles is fine...I had to change out the battery in November as it wasn't holding charge, but with the new one it's over 3 hrs battery life when used without sound, with a slightly dimmed screen, and without airport (ie. using a 3G dongle).

With airport (ie. on wi-fi) i still get just under 3hrs life and it picks up some really dodgy signals, which is nice :D Stuff that PC users can only dream of picking up...no idea what the science behind that either.

As others have said, the Dell Latitudes are killer too...both Getty and PA use them (PA also use an IBM for their shootlive guys).
 
jamesb84 said:
As others have said, the Dell Latitudes are killer too...both Getty and PA use them (PA also use an IBM for their shootlive guys).
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I got an extra battery for mine (dell lattitude) .. bit bigger than original sticks out back by half an inch... 45 quid and shows 9 hrs :)
 
KIPAX said:
I got an extra battery for mine (dell lattitude) .. bit bigger than original sticks out back by half an inch... 45 quid and shows 9 hrs :)
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Yeah, couple of Getty guys have those lumps! Think if I was doing it again, I'd be tempted by them...however, I do love my mac :love:
 
I'm personally tempted by a Panasonic Toughbook. Takes the knocks and is waterproof so you can keep going even when it's lashing down which is always a drawback of other laptops.

Currently I use a dual-core HP laptop which I put in a freezer bag if it's raining, and operate the keyboard and trackpad through the bag. Nice.
 
Tobers said:
I'm personally tempted by a Panasonic Toughbook. Takes the knocks and is waterproof so you can keep going even when it's lashing down which is always a drawback of other laptops.


I've just looked at the 'toughbook',looks like a great piece of kit ,but the price:'(:'(:'(

Which dell latitude are you guys talking about?,it seems to me there are three different categories.My Toshiba is now 5 years old and starting to cough and splutter abit and soon i'm looking to change.
Essential E5400
Mainstream E6400
Ultra Resistent E6400 ATG
All at 14.1"
:help::help:
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I use a Dell Insperon. Its about 4 yrs old now but still going strong. I've dropped it, been knock over used it in the rain, snow and wind (not recommended for the dust!). Screen is still perfect althogh cover showing signs of use. Just had to order a new keyboard as number 7 fell of and number 8 keeps repeating itself when pressed. I bought a second higher powered battery for it off ebay but should have got one of those usb thingies about the size of a mousemat. Only other tip would be to get a smaller screen (about 13") and not the larger. Reason for this is I use one of these when the weather is wet or sun shining on the screen.

http://www.seaportdigital.com/index.php

With smaller screens dongles and usb devices fit better. I knacked one port when moving locations without unplugging it.
 
I currentl;y use a dual core Asus w7j
13" screen, 2.5Gb RAM, 250GB HDD, Runs lovely when at the footie using LR and FTP/email/WiFi direct with the 1D on WFT. etc, only current issue is battery....

I got a 9 cell battery that lasted about 6 hours, but 6 months later (and an upgrade to windows 7) it's now lasting anythign from 30 minutes to 4 hours. Thats using WiFi.

(I'm aware of all the discussions with MS around win7 and battery life)
If I could resolve the battery issues it's a great little unit.

Paid £350 on ebay for it last year.

I've thought about a Mac, but it just seems waay too expensive for a 'tool' that can be done by something 1/2 the price.
 
Depends how serious you are about it, and what you want to do with it I suppose - the smaller MacBooks are ok, but I found that their glossy screens don't hold up well for serious work due to reflections etc (especially if outside) and because of the fact that hardware calibration can't give a perfect result with such screens. They're a bit pedestrian in terms of performance as well - perfect usable, until you happen to use something better and then realise that you're generally waiting for the machine to catch up with you.

If you just need something small for quick tasks I think they're ideal. If you don't mind glossy (and are a bit flush), MacBook Air is the way to go (with SSD) imo - we have one of those, and it's actually very quick, and ridiculously lightweight (but very strong).
 
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