Desktop or Laptop?

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Originally Posted by Marko

I hate to say it....but processing photos on a desktop is MUCH easier. I too have dual monitors on my desktop.

If it were me...I'd spend the money on a desktop and great monitor.... and save a few hundred and get a mini laptop a few months later.

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For me in actually processing photos the only time I notice a difference between desktop and notebook is when I don't have a real mouse and don't have a 2nd monitor.

Yeah, I know I can run dual monitor on a desktop, but I have a PC setup in our living room and two monitors is a bit too much to put away when we have guests. I guess that is another reason for a laptop for me.

Ultimately it comes down to portability. If you want to travel with it you need a notebook. Even if a netbook is up to the job the screen is too small for anything other that minor edits.

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Originally Posted by AntZ

For me in actually processing photos the only time I notice a difference between desktop and notebook is when I don't have a real mouse and don't have a 2nd monitor.

Yeah, I know I can run dual monitor on a desktop, but I have a PC setup in our living room and two monitors is a bit too much to put away when we have guests. I guess that is another reason for a laptop for me.

Ultimately it comes down to portability. If you want to travel with it you need a notebook. Even if a netbook is up to the job the screen is too small for anything other that minor edits.

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Jumpin Jackfish!....If I had to put my PC away every time I had guests, guest would be banned :laughing: Of course I'm lucky enough to have a large second bedroom that is my living space and studio but I went for a few years in a single bedroom apartment and the PC like the TV was part of the scene. Laptops for me are all about mobility,,,I see them as frail, compromised necessities that I begrudgingly use when I'm on the road. I'm trying to think of the last time I had guests, it seems the older I get the more recluse I become :)

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Originally Posted by Michaelaw

Jumpin Jackfish!....If I had to put my PC away every time I had guests, guest would be banned :laughing: Of course I'm lucky enough to have a large second bedroom that is my living space and studio but I went for a few years in a single bedroom apartment and the PC like the TV was part of the scene. Laptops for me are all about mobility,,,I see them as frail, compromised necessities that I begrudgingly use when I'm on the road. I'm trying to think of the last time I had guests, it seems the older I get the more recluse I become :)

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:laughing:

Truth be known most guests are used to talking to me over my monitor(think Wilson from Home Improvement :) ) PC is in the living room so I can watch the TV(another of my vices). I did have a look at Dell's today online and I know that I will not be able to constrain myself to one of the entry level notebooks and a at a glance a notebook is going to cost me 2 x what a desktop will...and if I go a clone even cheaper.

Ultimately I think the portability of a notebook is going to be the deciding factor.

Also for me the thought of a notebook for the road and desktop for home is not that convenient. I use lightroom and although I have a fair grip on catalogues etc, managing edits across multiple PCs is not easy. Using a portable drive helps, but you give up some speed.

JJ I hope I haven't hijacked your thread too much. I'm guessing some or all of these pros and cons are applicable to you.

could you get the best of both worlds: a laptop and a monitor to plug in for photo editing?

I love my asus laptop so far

So the route I have decided to go is to get a desktop for real editing work, and a netbook for travel.

Clearly a laptop/netbook is not the way to edit pictures(unless you have a plug in mouse which is not hard to do). However, in my experience laptops are much less durable and do not last as long as desktops due to their convienience and portability.

A netbook does not have the power or screen to edit pictures, but it does allow the ability to transfer images off of a camera for a little better view and with the few plug in drives I have, hard drive space is not an issue.

The desktop will remain offline so any internet usage can be done with the netbook. This also allows the computer to remain virus free and will not get bogged down by any memory intensive virus software.

Desktops are usually WAY more powerful than laptops and cost quite a bit less. Not only that, they last longer.

There is no sense in buying a laptop when I know it is only going to last a handful of years. The only plus to them is convenience, and I can get that with a netbook, which costs hundreds less.

In either case, I have a spare monitor so I will have a dual monitor set up. With the desktop, both monitors will remain plugged in. If I buy a laptop, to use the dual monitors, I will constantly have to plug and unplug, a definite NO!

Why buy one, when I can buy two?

For the price of a comparable laptop, you can have both.
If you want the power of a desktop in a laptop, you will be shelling out some serious cash. For that amount of cash, and usually less, you can get a quality desktop, and a netbook. This isolates any problems you might have. If you get one laptop and a problem occurs, your laptop may be rendered useless. Where is your backup?

Although I have many backup drives, loss of files will never be a concern, but the loss of a computer is a concern in any case. I would much rather isolate a problem to one device(hopefully the cheap netbook), than to have my ONLY device go down. At least this way I can be confident that I will not have all my eggs in one basket.

Maybe this thinking/logic may help some of you out in the same situation.

Don't worry, this thread was not hi-jacked. All of the posts were relevent. Figured this would be a good discussion to have.

I also pondered going with a Mac, but to convert would cost too much.

Tempted by this option too. Certainly my wife's netbook seems capable at most stuff. Whether it can actually run lightroom is another question.
The 2 PC thing is a pain too. I've scared myselt a couple of times where I thought I lost images.

So I guess the next question is which netbook?

To be completely honest, the netbook will only be used for browsing the internet and posting images. The images will be kept on an alternative plugin harddrive so Im not worried about space. Anything with 1gb of RAM will probably be enough for me. I dont believe this site really takes too much to run, or flickr for that matter. Playing music shouldnt be too bad either. Again, any picture editing will be reserved for the desktop. If Im in the "field" and need to get pictures off the camera, Im sure the netbook will do just fine in that regard. However, having an 8gb card in one camera and a 4gb card in the other, I will rarely come across this situation.

As far as saving images, all files will be kept on the desktop, and also on an external hard drive or two. This should account for any mishap that may occur.