quarth Posted April 19, 2007 Share #1 Â Posted April 19, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) All - Â I'm wondering if anyone has been in the same predicament and can share some of their research. I have no choice but to travel with a laptop (for reasons I won't get into here), and the only option is to do it with something highly portable (< 5lbs). Â I've got a pretty good feel for my options for lightweight laptops (Dell XPS MX1210, Thinkpad X60, Sony Vaio SZ Series, some Fujitsu and Panasonic options as well), but am predominantly concerned about the screen as it pertains to photo editing (faithful color reproduction, lack of color shift, etc). Â Sony uses a technology they refer to as "Xbrite", which essentially is a backlit-LED screen (instead of a traditional LCD). What I know as fact is that the screen is brighter and more contrasty, and in theory, LED technology allows more faithful color reproduction. What I can't gleen from any of my research is how accurate the color profiling and shift is on one of these Xbrite (or other backlit-LED) screens. Â Also from my research, one of the most "talked about" screens for photo editing was the Flexview from Lenovo (former IBM) for the Thinkpads. This almost eliminates color shift (when I say color shift, I'm referring to the tendency of laptop LCD's to shift color as you pan your eyes horizontally and vertically across the screen). But, this is only available on the widescreen Thinkpad T60 (15"), which puts it in the non-ultraportable category. Â (You can read/see some good information on the Flexview screen at Lenovo ThinkPad T60 Review (pics, specs) -- just scroll down to the "Screen" header.) Â I'm happy to work with a screen of lower brightness, and accept the fact that there is no laptop comparable to a high-end calibrated CRT. But, I'd like to get the "best possible", so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear! Â Thoughts? Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Mondello Posted April 19, 2007 Share #2  Posted April 19, 2007 I always suggest that folks don't rule out Apple as literally ALL of my friends who have bought new computers lately have migrated over from PCs to new Intel Macs and are very happy they did. Plus they can run Windows if you need to.  I know I know another Apple schill. All I'm saying is take another look. The current MacBook Pro 15.4" widescreen is 5.6 lbs and the MacBooks are 13.3" widescreen at 5.2 lbs  There is -- and has always been -- a good reason that photo and graphics pros use Macs.  OK I've got my flame suit on now . . . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted April 19, 2007 Share #3 Â Posted April 19, 2007 No flames Joe, but the MacBook suffers from the usual problem of contrast and colours changing with viewing angle. Move the screen a little and everything changes. After saying that the MacBook glossy screen does have a hight initial "Wow!" factor. Â And I had a total lock up on my MacBook last night - had to reboot. I thought things like that weren't supposed to happen <grin> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wparsonsgisnet Posted April 19, 2007 Share #4 Â Posted April 19, 2007 Mark, I second the recommendation for a MacBook Pro. Â Currently I use windoze and am waiting for the next hardware death to move to one of these. I plan to use Base Camp to run my windoze apps and will goose the laptop with all the memory it will take. Â BTW, in another post here somewhere, someone recommended installing generic memory chips rather than buy the high-priced alternative from Apple. Â My wife had a PowerBook G4 and is now using a baby MacBook. As a long-time DOS (and windoze) user, I had an allergy to macs until the G4/G4 versions appears running on OS X. Gimme unix anytime. Â I would have a hard time right now deciding between the 15 and 17 inch versions. If you're looking for small size, I would guess the 15 inch. Go for the kitchen sink. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonoslack Posted April 19, 2007 Share #5 Â Posted April 19, 2007 Hi Mark I'm afraid I'm going to say the same thing as the others. Â I have to travel quite extensively with a notebook as well - I've had hp/compaq/sony/grid!/apple. Â Currently I have a macbook pro 17" (I don't mind the small extra weight for the big screen) but we also have a 15.4" macbook pro here. I don't find the colours vary much with angle. Â I must use Windows for much of my work - and parallels isn't good enough, so I use Boot Camp to dual boot. It keeps my work nicely away from my other work. Â Added to which you can run Aperture and keep warm on cold winter days! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted April 19, 2007 Share #6 Â Posted April 19, 2007 I've teetered on the brink of buying a MacBook Pro a couple of times recently but when it came right down to it, I Just Couldn't Do It. Â I like the look of the Sony SZ series though inevitably, the price is ridiculous, especially if you like the cool carbon-fibre look. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonoslack Posted April 19, 2007 Share #7  Posted April 19, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) No flames Joe, but the MacBook suffers from the usual problem of contrast and colours changing with viewing angle. Move the screen a little and everything changes. After saying that the MacBook glossy screen does have a hight initial "Wow!" factor. And I had a total lock up on my MacBook last night - had to reboot. I thought things like that weren't supposed to happen <grin>  Hi Steve - is the colour change a function of the macbook screen? it doesn't seem to happen with my boring old matte macbook pro screen (the colours stay remarkably similar right until past 45 deg). it has been known to lock-up though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wparsonsgisnet Posted April 19, 2007 Share #8 Â Posted April 19, 2007 Hi MarkI'm afraid I'm going to say the same thing as the others. Â I have to travel quite extensively with a notebook as well - I've had hp/compaq/sony/grid!/apple. Â Currently I have a macbook pro 17" (I don't mind the small extra weight for the big screen) but we also have a 15.4" macbook pro here. I don't find the colours vary much with angle. Â I must use Windows for much of my work - and parallels isn't good enough, so I use Boot Camp to dual boot. It keeps my work nicely away from my other work. Â Added to which you can run Aperture and keep warm on cold winter days! Â Jono, are all your Pro's glossy screen versions? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonoslack Posted April 19, 2007 Share #9 Â Posted April 19, 2007 Jono, are all your Pro's glossy screen versions? Â Â HI Bill - NO they're matte screens - I like 'looking' at the glossy screens, but I find it much harder to match prints with them. Actually - I didn't realise you could get glossy screens with the pros - thought it was just the macbooks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted April 19, 2007 Share #10 Â Posted April 19, 2007 Hi Steve - is the colour change a function of the macbook screen? it doesn't seem to happen with my boring old matte macbook pro screen (the colours stay remarkably similar right until past 45 deg). it has been known to lock-up though. Â Jonathan, I guess it's more a question of changing contrast and brightness than just colour. I don't have any other Mac portable to compare it too though I'm afraid. I bought the MacBook because I already had a 15" XP laptop and wanted something smaller for travel purposes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
quarth Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share #11 Â Posted April 19, 2007 Thanks to everyone for their comments. The only thing that would shy me away from Apple is the fact that I'm fairly vested in PC software -- CS2, C1 Pro, etc. But, if someone can give me good reason to believe a Macbook will provide "the best" screen over a PC counterpart, I would be willing to consider the switch. Â I wish there was a review comparing screens somewhere! Â Also, I agree with what was mentioned, in that my experience (never having owned, just having seen others) the "glossy" screens, while packing a nice punch and "Wow!" factor, seem like they might be too much. My gut feeling has always been I'd end up with a lot of low contrast, unsaturated pictures after printing, if I was to edit on a "glossy" screen. Â Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, and surely not all "glossy" screens are created equal.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sirvine Posted April 19, 2007 Share #12 Â Posted April 19, 2007 Well, you can run windows on a MacBook, if you need to keep your licenses running. Aren't Adobe licenses cross-platform anyway? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
quarth Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share #13 Â Posted April 19, 2007 Well, you can run windows on a MacBook, if you need to keep your licenses running. Aren't Adobe licenses cross-platform anyway? Â Hmm, no idea. But, I believe at a minimum I'd need to purchase XP or Vista, in addition to Bootcamp. Anyway.. I can figure this stuff out if it turns out the screen is superior to those in the PC laptops I've been looking at. Â Maybe someone can get Sean Reid to do his next review on laptop screens... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted April 19, 2007 Share #14 Â Posted April 19, 2007 The other killer for me with the Apple is no docking station and fiddly right mouse click functionality - correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you need to press the control key and then click to get up a context menu. Â Plus of course, the Apple is hardly an open system compared to the PC. A closed system to this community is apparently OK when it comes to PCs but not allowed when it comes to cameras and lenses... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack MacDonough Posted April 19, 2007 Share #15 Â Posted April 19, 2007 If you can upgrade cs2 pc to cs3 mac then I would make the switch to mac. If you can't, I'd stay with PC. I stayed with mac during the hard times because I had so much mac software. now with X unix I'm glad I did. But the software investment is a big deal. I have a Mac G4 12 inch I used to love traveling with and is still available used, but it's not intel. I now have a 15 intel pro mac that is so nice, I travel with it even though it's bigger and heavier. The screen color has none of the problems you are seeing. An IT person once told me that unless you have an IT department, you can't easily keep a PC running. He recommended that anyone who worked solo and has no IT department should be using a Mac. Then when you have troubles just go to the Apple store and the genius bar will fix em on the spot. I have found that excellent advice. But I have an Apple store 20 minutes from my house, if I didn't it's a different story. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanyr Posted April 19, 2007 Share #16 Â Posted April 19, 2007 I have a Sony laptop with a dual-lamp screen and the screen is really fantastic. Very sharp and contrasty. Its the best screen I've ever seen in all my years of computing. The model number is FE45G under the VAIO FE series. Its not an ultraportable, but the screen is fantastic. The other laptop I was impressed with was the VAIO C25, the only reason I didn't get it was because I wanted a 15" screen and the C25 only has a 13.3" screen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwfreund Posted April 19, 2007 Share #17 Â Posted April 19, 2007 I am using a Toshiba Portege Tablet which I like. The tablet works about as well as the wacom I use at home. With all portables, the monitor profile you create is useful for only one level of screen brightness, so unless you are careful, operating plugged in or on batteries produces different results. -bob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonoslack Posted April 19, 2007 Share #18  Posted April 19, 2007 The other killer for me with the Apple is no docking station and fiddly right mouse click functionality - correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you need to press the control key and then click to get up a context menu. Plus of course, the Apple is hardly an open system compared to the PC. A closed system to this community is apparently OK when it comes to PCs but not allowed when it comes to cameras and lenses...  HI Mark One of the (several) stupid things about Apples is their persistence with a single mouse button - and you're right, if you stick with it, then you end up having to use the control/click. BUT - you can plug in any 2 or more button mouse, and they work. Plus the latest mac bluetooth mouse works well without actually having to plug anything into the computer.  As for the docking station - why would you want one? It's got all the ports you're likely to need, and if you want more, then simply plug in a USB/firewire hub.  As for open systems - well, if you want to run PC software as well - or even use it as a perfectly respectable PC, then there isn't a problem.  Basically, for the cost of a copy of vista or XP you get the best of both worlds, and in a nice case which won't look out of date in 3 months. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Mondello Posted April 19, 2007 Share #19 Â Posted April 19, 2007 WoW! I didn't get flamed! Â Generally speaking I *believe* that Adobe permits a swap of license from PC to mac or vice Versa for about $25 USD, but check with Adobe for the particulars. Â Same *may* be possible for C1 don' know. Â This is a great forum! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankg Posted April 19, 2007 Share #20 Â Posted April 19, 2007 C1 license is cross platform. For Adobe you will have to pay to transfer. I have a MAC desktop and PC laptop. C1 allows one license for both machines. Adobe will allow you to load your software on 2 machines but only the with the same OS. So I have to have 2 licenses for Adobe one Mac and one PC. Â Whatever laptop you get Mac or PC I suggest eye-one for monitor calibration. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.