Netbook vs Macbook??

My vote would be for the Macbook, with a netbook you would have to buy new software (or at least exchange your licenses), installing OS X onto a netbook is illegal (and I though discussing that sort of thing falls into the prohibited content in the forum rules anyway).

The 13" Macbooks aren't too big and are more than capable of being used a main machine for 2 years.
 
Craikeybaby said:
installing OS X onto a netbook is illegal (and I though discussing that sort of thing falls into the prohibited content in the forum rules anyway).
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to be honest i dont see why apple rewrite the EULA and provide it on a non supported basis. itll make them money at the end of the day.

becides, no ones describing how to do it. just discussing the merits. thats not against the rules is it?
 
I must have not read in to it enough then.

When she said..."would prefer the aluminium body but these are even more expensive and not sure I can justify it"....there seemed little even less chance spending another £350 on an Air was going to be justified.
 
Funny how you choose to miss out the next 19 words from that quote. If you read them you'll know why I suggested the solid state drive.
Anyway, it's bed time for baby bear, night :wave:
 
Funny? Not sure I understand what you're getting out.

I don't need to read the rest of the words again - once is enough.The words were left out because they were irrelevant to the point I was making.

From my understanding, the realistic amount of money Helen intends to spend is between £200-500 and not £1300 irrespective of whether that laptop last the trip.

Not quite sure what alternative agenda you have here, but surely this thread isn't the right place. Perhaps try chilling out a bit.
 
cyclone said:
Only 1 person has mentioned a macbook air, I think that'd be the perfect solution to this.
I'd be very tempted to go for one with a solid state hard drive (I don't know if that's an option for a netbook).
Still, I think the air was made for this job.
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The Air is essentially Apples version of a netbook with a bigger screen (in fact as a lot of netbooks now have 1280x800 screens it literally is just bigger, it has the same resolution which is the most important part). The latter is also the main argument against FranchiseJuan's opinion, he uses a macbook pro, with a bigger screen (+resolution) than the macbook (which also uses 1280x800). It's also 6-8 times more expensive than a netbook.

Craikeybaby said:
installing OS X onto a netbook is illegal
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Not illegal, just against their EULA, that does not make it illegal, the worst they could do to you (and the worst film companies/other software companies can do) is sue you for damages, which in the UK cnsists of the number of copies you "deprived" them of selling, in this case one. It would not involve the police.

To the OP, I would still suggest the netbook, like most people in here. I guess you are trying to shave off weight everywhere (I do) so absentmindedly sticking an extra kg or two in for a macbook, with no real benefit is a bit silly IMO.
 
cyclone said:
Funny how you choose to miss out the next 19 words from that quote. If you read them you'll know why I suggested the solid state drive.
Anyway, it's bed time for baby bear, night :wave:
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All very well, but a lo of netbooks come with SSD's anyway, and she wants 160GB+ of space, which neither provide with SSD's. And in fact the standard air doesn't come with an SSD, which from memory costs an extra few hundred on top of the already pricey air. EDIT: Yes, £1800 worth of laptop with the SSD...

Also a mechanical laptod drive isn't going to have too many issues with a bumpy ride, unless she uses it while she is cycling along...

EDIT 2: In fact she could get the MSI wind and upgrade it to a 250GB SSD for only £700...
 
Assuming for one moment that for arguments sake, installing OS X on a netbook WAS kosher, which is the best netbook for the task *cheapest would be good too!*

Cheers,
James
 
Oh dear... being a typical woman - I've changed my mind as many times as there are posts on this thread and still haven't decided! Post 11pm thought is to get a macbook!

Of course, in an ideal world where money was completely irrelevant I'd get a SSD macbook air. But it's not! Although I'm not convinced how robust the air is.

You can get netbooks with SSD but they have very little storage space which is not ideal as I'll have lots of photos.

If I went for a netbook, I doubt I'd load osx - time being one reason. I want something I can get on and use. I have so many other things to sort out before I leave without adding another! Since I would need to sort out software then, I'd have to learn that anyway. So perhaps I'm better off getting a macbook, which is ready to go and will do everything I want and put up with the weight.

£500 isn't fixed, but really can't justify spending much more than that. It's not just damage due to bumpy roads that I'm concerned about... I might accidentally drop it or get robbed - quite possible. If I insure it (about 10% of value/year) then that's effectively adding 20% onto the cost of the laptop...

This time tomorrow, I'll have swung the other way no doubt!
 
You can just stick an SSD into either the macbook or the netbook very quickly (netbook should be 5 minutes, and I guess the macbook the same), and you can get a 120GB SSD for as little as £170 and a 250GB drive for around £450.

As for being robbed, I thought about that when I was replying about the Macbook Air, you really want something as cheap and inconspicuous as possible, which again goes for the netbook.

However the choice (and money) are yours, so if you want OSX without having to install it yourself then a macbook it is.
 
FranchiseJuan said:
If you only processing a few photos a night then the difference between 2 seconds and 6 might seem like not a lot, but multiply that out to a few hundred photos then it becomes a big deal.
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editing 100 images per day adds about 6 minutes to processing time. It's just not an issue.

I've just tried using curves etc on a 36mb file from a 5D and the changes are instant. The same with dodging and burning. I think there is something wrong with the configuration of your netbook but i'm guessing you're just making mountains.
 
Just out of interest, what are you going to do with your macbook pro? If you going to leave it at home, would it not be better to sell that and put that money towards a unibody macbook, or macbook air? Leaving it home depreciating and unused seems like such a waste.
 
walls said:
editing 100 images per day adds about 6 minutes to processing time. It's just not an issue.

I've just tried using curves etc on a 36mb file from a 5D and the changes are instant. The same with dodging and burning. I think there is something wrong with the configuration of your netbook but i'm guessing you're just making mountains.
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It seems obvious to me that you are just not willing to concede that a netbook for photo editing is just not powerful enough, and that a few seconds here and a few seconds here does add up. Or maybe you have never used a more powerful editing machine on the road and seen how much more productive you actually are when you can get back from a trip hitting the road running.

So with that I must concede that I am obviously wrong about everything, I don't know what the heck I am doing, my MCSA counts for nothing, my years of building and maintaining many computers count for nothing, and you are right. After all one can only bang ones head against a wall for so long before it gets boaring.
 
FranchiseJuan said:
So with that I must concede that I am obviously wrong about everything, I don't know what the heck I am doing, my MCSA counts for nothing, my years of building and maintaining many computers count for nothing, and you are right. After all one can only bang ones head against a wall for so long before it gets boaring.
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I have a 20m swimming certificate which means I can swim the Channel...go me \o/

yep, you're wrong, the 1.6 atom and a couple of gb ram runs cs4 and dpp well enough...I know because I tried it.

gets boering don't it
 
FranchiseJuan said:
It seems obvious to me that you are just not willing to concede that a netbook for photo editing is just not powerful enough, and that a few seconds here and a few seconds here does add up. Or maybe you have never used a more powerful editing machine on the road and seen how much more productive you actually are when you can get back from a trip hitting the road running.

So with that I must concede that I am obviously wrong about everything, I don't know what the heck I am doing, my MCSA counts for nothing, my years of building and maintaining many computers count for nothing, and you are right. After all one can only bang ones head against a wall for so long before it gets boaring.
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I have to ask, but on these trips abroad do you travel in a car (ie after the areoplane)? I'd hazard a guess at yes, because people who have to travel places by foot and by bike have to take care of every pound of weight, especially on long trips, whereas car folk just have to worry about going over 20kg for hold luggage... An extra kg or two makes a big difference, especially when multiplied over multiple objects.
 
Amp34 said:
I have to ask, but on these trips abroad do you travel in a car (ie after the areoplane)? I'd hazard a guess at yes, because people who have to travel places by foot and by bike have to take care of every pound of weight, especially on long trips, whereas car folk just have to worry about going over 20kg for hold luggage... An extra kg or two makes a big difference, especially when multiplied over multiple objects.
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I travel by plane, then public transportation to the hotel (so i have to carry on my back or wheel everything I am carrying. I spend about 8-10 hours on foot every day where I have to carry all the gear I am shooting with, but I usually carry enough CF to last me for the day, and leave the notebook in the hotel for processing and downloading at the end of the day.
 
The reason I mention having a solid state drive is that my Dad's work laptop was dead when he got to America last year, the hard drive didn't survive the journey.
If a netbook has that option then obviously that would be a much cheaper way to do it.

Maybe a netbook with SSD and some external storage, you can get 200GB for £50 ish, but that does introduce a spinning drive again. Can these things write to DVD?
 
Erm, good question I don't know the answer to without asking. It's made him very cautious though!
 
cyclone said:
The reason I mention having a solid state drive is that my Dad's work laptop was dead when he got to America last year, the hard drive didn't survive the journey.
If a netbook has that option then obviously that would be a much cheaper way to do it.

Maybe a netbook with SSD and some external storage, you can get 200GB for £50 ish, but that does introduce a spinning drive again. Can these things write to DVD?
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Ah ok, yes there is benefit for having an SSD, but it's not as clear cut as all that, generally you have to be pretty rough with your stuff (most laptop drives are usually protected from being dropped on the floor whilst being used nowadays. However there is always the chance there. As an SSD is just a standard sized hard drive any machine with space for a 2.5" or even 1.8" HDD will fit it, the one in the macbook air is nothing special (other than being hugely overpriced like most apple upgrades).

No I don't think they can, they are essentally the macbook air in a smaller body (although generally a bit less powerful) so specifications (other than screen size) are almost identical.:)

FranchiseJuan said:
I travel by plane, then public transportation to the hotel (so i have to carry on my back or wheel everything I am carrying. I spend about 8-10 hours on foot every day where I have to carry all the gear I am shooting with, but I usually carry enough CF to last me for the day, and leave the notebook in the hotel for processing and downloading at the end of the day.
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That's the thing, when you are based at a certain location and don't have to lug all of your gear around with you all the time it is obviously beneficial to have a bigger machine, which most of the time is not going to be on your person (if that was the case with the OP I would have suggested the macbook as well). When you are lugging it round loosing some speed benefits is far outweighed by the reduction in weight overall.:)

EDIT: God I can't spell today...
 
From the requirements you've outlined, I'd choose a polycarbonate (white) macbook (they've just been updated too). they're quite rugged, have a good screen, easily upgraded for the RAM & HDD (4GB RAM and a 500GB drive drops straight in) and DIY upgrades don't invalidate the warranty. DVD writer (superdrive) is already built in, perfect for burning discs to mail home. The PSU is pretty compact, and the plug piece is interchangeable for different countries too. Dual boot to windows is fully supported by Apple and MS too

You also get the benefit of getting excellent support in the Apple stores & franchises worldwide. I've taken advantage of this in the US and the far east. You simply don't get this with any other supplier.

Warranties are global, and can be extended for a reasonable price, as long as you buy away from the apple store. Have a look in Cowasaki's thread for details. This adds phone support too.

If you can get an educational discount, student or teacher, you'll save a chunk on a new Mac too (may get you a new one for 2nd hand prices)

Also, keep an eye on the refurb store. Same kit, full warranty, just no fancy box ;)

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?mco=MTE2ODI




Netbooks are great, and ideal as a second machine, but I wouldn't want one to be my main device for 2 years whilst hacking around the globe. I'd want something that I know I can get global support on, and is fairly rugged (since you don't list a ToughBook I'd opt for the MacBook).

I'd also be less inclined to go for the aluminium bodied macbook as the screen is glass, and may not stand up to the rigours of cycling.
 
You really can't compare a toughbook to a macbook... Totally different...
 
I have a Samsung NC10 netbook and have been majorly impressed with it. Lightroom and Photoshop run great. I have been designing my website with it and so far haven't really noticed a discernible difference in performance compared with my PC. I now use this little gem 99% of the time unless I have to encode video. I definitely recommend it.
 
JasonRS said:
Why not?

It's just a laptop, running an x86 or x64 OS, that's been ruggedized :bonk:
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Exactly, they are totally different with respect to ruggedness, a macbook is just anormal laptop, whereas the toughbooks (admittedly depending on which you go for) are waterproof, shockproof, and almost indistructable, normal laptops aren't.
 
Thought you may be interested to know - I finally made a decision and have gone with a netbook - I decided the weight and size (and cost) were just too appealing!
So I'm now the happy owner of a Samsung NC10.

Just getting started on it, but initial impressions are good.
I've downloaded openoffice which looks great documents/spreadsheets and it comes with outlook express for email. These and web-browsing it handles great - which is what it's made for.

So now all I have to do is sort out the image editing software.... this looks to be a bit of a minefield.

Any suggestions as to the best free software to use for raw image management and processing?
I may consider buying lightroom/elements, but for now, I just want a free one to see how it goes and whether I can manage with the lower resolution screen and slower processor.

Thanks for all the advice so far! much appreciated
 
If it is just to see how you get one with it you can download the Lightroom 30 day trial...
 
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