New laptop or iPad ?

[Jelster]

It's my Birthday on Christmas day But that does mean it's time for a little bit of self indulgence.

So, I've been thinking about a 3G iPad, 32Gb model. However, my 3 year old Windows laptop is on it's last legs; it gives me just 20 minutes on the battery and the WiFi card has failed.

I also have an iMac, so I'm already a Mac user, so my dilema is: Do I replace the laptop with a MBP or maybe a MB Air. Looking at my use of a laptop, it's mainly for use when not at home and to support my photography. I doubt if I will do any serious editing on it, as I have my iMac for that, but it would be nice to have a copy of a portfolio on a laptop. As the MB Air runs on a flash drive, I assume that it boots quite quickly, but obviously, main storage is limited.

If I went with the iPad, can anybody suggest a good deal on a PAYG mini-sim for it ? And what accessories should I definitely opt for ?

Decisions decisions.... :shrug:

Steve

 

[big pimp]

I'd save the money on the 3G version and just buy yourself a wifi model and buy a 3mifi if you really need Internet access from it.

Re your portfolio.

What I am intending to get round to doing with my iPad is to create a folder which I'll sync with the iPad of my favourite photos so I can then show them if I wish.

I think you've answered your own question where you say any of your editing is done via iMac and you probably only use your laptop for web browsing etc. Like I do with mine.

Since I got my iPad a few weeks ago, I have barely used my windows laptop as the iPad is used for all web browsing etc.

 

[Wail]

I had an iPad for a short while, the 64GB 3G version; and while I was happy with it, it just didn't cut it for my photography needs or my travel needs.

Eventually, I got fed-up with the smallish screen, no ability to hook-up external drives, not running native Mac OS applications, and being an iPod on steroids. Not too long after buying it I passed it on to my daughter and got myself the 11" MBA.

Again, this was just a bit too small, screen-wise, for me; so it went back and I got the 13" MBA and I'm loving it. It's ever so light, and I've just ordered Office 2011 and LightRoom 3 to install. As for Internet access while out in the desert, I will use one of these WiFi / GPRS thingi that gets me connected. I can happily connect two 1TB USB drives to it to back-up my pictures, and battery lasts a good 6 hours. I got the 128GB with 2GB RAM, which is ample enough for a travel machine; they do have a 255GB version and RAM could be upgraded to 4GB.

Personally, the MBA is just what I need for my travels, excursions and long day / 2-day trips out shooting.

 

[Wail]

I had an iPad for a short while, the 64GB 3G version; and while I was happy with it, it just didn't cut it for my photography needs or my travel needs.

Eventually, I got fed-up with the smallish screen, no ability to hook-up external drives, not running native Mac OS applications, and being an iPod on steroids. Not too long after buying it I passed it on to my daughter and got myself the 11" MBA.

Again, this was just a bit too small, screen-wise, for me; so it went back and I got the 13" MBA and I'm loving it. It's ever so light, and I've just ordered Office 2011 and LightRoom 3 to install. As for Internet access while out in the desert, I will use one of these WiFi / GPRS thingi that gets me connected. I can happily connect two 1TB USB drives to it to back-up my pictures, and battery lasts a good 6 hours. I got the 128GB with 2GB RAM, which is ample enough for a travel machine; they do have a 255GB version and RAM could be upgraded to 4GB.

Personally, the MBA is just what I need for my travels, excursions and long day / 2-day trips out shooting.

 

[mrgubby]

A Laptop can do everything an iPad can but not vice versa. I've got both & if I had to choose it would be the laptop.

The iPad is a niche product & very good at what it can do but it just can't compete with the power/feature set of a laptop.

If I went with the iPad, can anybody suggest a good deal on a PAYG mini-sim for it ? And what accessories should I definitely opt for ?

Steve

Get a T-mobile PAYG SIM, £20 will get you 6 months of internet


(you'll have to cut the SIM down in size)

 

[CT]

iPad - best thing I've bought in ages, I scarcely use the laptop since I got it. New apps are adding to the funcionality of the iPad all the time and the new OS is a big improvement. The battery life is just fantastic.

Splashtop Remote enables you to access and run all of the PCs on your network and open and use any programme.

If you're out and about with it though or doing a lot of editing, I suppose it's a more difficult choice.

 

[scuby]

Have a proper think about what you would actually need / want to be able to do away from your iMac. You can then work out if iOS of the iPad is going to allow you to do what you want.

Note that personally i have an iMac and iPad, and thi the combo works perfectly. The thing that decided it for me was that when i was travelling last year i decided a full -size laptop would be too big and heavy, and so got a netbook. Frankly I found the netbook so painfully slow, and such low resolution, that while technically it's got a full operating system and so on paper is much more capable, in practice it was useless for anything other than backing up my memory cards and uploading the odd photo to the internet / email - both things i can now do quickly and easily with my iPad... with the huge advantage of lower weight and much longer battery life.

But most importantly, think about what you want to use it for, check that against the iPad's capabilities, so you're not disappointed if you're expecting something different.

David

 

[Wail]

I don't want to digress this thread; but if I may ask ...

scuby,

You found the netbook only good for the two things, backing up your memory cards and uploading pictures to the Internet. If you don't mind me asking, but, by backing up do you mean just putting them on the iPad or are you able to store them externally onto a remote / external drive?

I'd be very interested to know if that's doable.

Sorry if I've digressed

 

[scuby]

You found the netbook only good for the two things, backing up your memory cards and uploading pictures to the Internet. If you don't mind me asking, but, by backing up do you mean just putting them on the iPad or are you able to store them externally onto a remote / external drive?

Yeah, just to clarify, by that comment on the netbook i meant that, while i'd put Lightroom on it for my travels, the screen is far too small and performance too slow to do anything useful with it. With minimal menus and controls, i was left with a 50x50px image in the middle to try to edit!

On the iPad, i consider the iPad to be the backup of my memory cards. You can't (as far as i'm aware - though it may be possible by hacking it) subsequently copy the photos from the iPad onto a different external drive.

That's all i need though - two copies is plenty until i get home. I have enough memory cards (4x 8GB, so usually each has at most 2 days of photos on it) that i'm never going to fill them before i return home.

David

 

[cambsno]

I have a 64gb iPad as well as a laptop (as well as an imac sitting in my office which I only use if I am working there). The ipad is great - instant startup, easy web browsing, great for photo viewing or movies and email. It could never be a replacement laptop for me as I need my laptop for editing as (pics and movies) and general work. If you could get by with an ipad then get one, if you would miss editing etc... then laptop.

The ipad is a great piece of kit.

 

[Wail]

David,

Thanks for the clarification.

I have to say, I haven't yet tried to use the MBA for any post processing as I've yet to instal LightRoom on it but I'm guessing it shouldn't be a problem as it's got a decent processor and just about enough RAM.

 

[scuby]

I have to say, I haven't yet tried to use the MBA for any post processing as I've yet to instal LightRoom on it but I'm guessing it shouldn't be a problem as it's got a decent processor and just about enough RAM.

Oh yes i'd have thought so - a MacBook Air is essentially a "normal" laptop in a particularly small and thin case, with a decent quality / high resolution display. When i talk about netbooks i'm talking about the more common Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM and low res (~600px high) displays.

 

[Jelster]

OK, thanks for the input all. I think I've decided to give the MBP a miss at this point, as I don't need it and can't justify the cost.

A couple of questions though:

Does the MB Air boot instantly ?
What's the typical battery life ? Apple say the 13" will last up to 7 hours, what's the real world results ?

If I did go for an iPad, what accessories would you recommend ?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[menthel]

I went for an iPad over a new lappy. I never manage to use laptops for anything but internet browsing, emails etc and I do all of my photography stuff on my desktop. Before getting my iPad I had not had a laptop for about 6 months and did not miss one.

Really think if you can do without a laptop (ie are just browsing the internet etc on your current one) then the iPad will be fine. If not, its not for you and get a new lappy. As for accessories for the iPad? A decent case and the camera connection kit are all I have and are all I need. The camera connection kit is great for having a look at the photographs you have taken whilst you have not got back to your main editing system. I don't edit photos whilst on holiday etc (why the hell would you, unless you were going to make immediate money from them!) so being able to view them on something bigger than the back of my 40D is great!

 

[Wail]

OK, thanks for the input all. I think I've decided to give the MBP a miss at this point, as I don't need it and can't justify the cost.

A couple of questions though:

Does the MB Air boot instantly ?
What's the typical battery life ? Apple say the 13" will last up to 7 hours, what's the real world results ?

If I did go for an iPad, what accessories would you recommend ?

Thanks,
Steve

- MBA boots up almost instantly, a lot quicker then my 17" MBP.

- Battery life, real use with WiFi on, surfing the Internet while viewing 64GB of NEF files and running YouTube (by the way, you'd have to download Flash Player as it's no longer installed by default from Apple), you'd get a good 4.5~5 hours of use. Turn off WiFi, don't do a lot of graphics and video and the 7 hours claimed by Apple is very realistic.