Camera Labs

Thank you all for your comments & advice! Really appreciate it.

At the moment I use an old Intel Pentium M IBM Thinkpad T43 (1.86GHz) upgraded to 1.5GB RAM and a 17' Dell LCD screen for display, since the IBM screen is poor IMO.

Since I've still a relative newbie, I'm still only using Canon's DPP and Zoombrowser. I'm also still working out what photo workflow software package/s are best for me, so that doesn't really help you all in terms of what the best platform is most suitable

I friend of mine is a big Apple fan and suggested a MacBook but isn't probably thinking of my increasing need for photo editing capabilities. He always mentions the stable nature of the hardware & Os which I like the sound of. My patience is severely tested by Windows error messages and crashing software (this may be a symptom of my old machine tho).

I'll also admit that I like their styling and first impressions of the OS interface.

Only considering Apple notebooks, it looks like the 13' MB is not going to be sufficient for my needs and I should increase the budget for a 15' MBP at least. Other than Apple, I'll also investigate the cost of DD_nVidia's suggestions.

Thanks again for the help everyone!

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Canon EOS 400D, Canon EOS 30V, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, EF 70-200mm f/4L USM, Speedlite 430EX, Kenko & Cokin filters

As far as photo workflow goes - while you’re making your mind up about what laptop to upgrade to, you could download the trial version of Adobe Lightroom. I don’t use it myself but Phil Lee (forum moderator here) does and has good things to say about the application. It’s also available on both Windows and Mac OSx. It’s a cataloguing/photo management application with basic editing features (level adjustments, exposure control, RAW support, etc). If you do go the Mac route, there’s another similar application called Aperture (only available on Mac) which does the same sort of thing as Lightroom and I very much recommend it for any Mac user.

Don’t forget the additional learning curve if you do move to a Mac; OSx has its’ own quirks, just like Windows does (although I’ve personally had *far* less problems since moving to OSx). There’s a certain amount of un-learning habits you’re used to in Windows and learning new Mac ones but if you’re up for it, I found the change over quite enjoyable and enlightening personally. If you have a legitimate Windows XP/Vista install disk then you can also set your Mac up to boot from OSx or Windows if you want (the functionality will be built into Apple next major OSx Leopard update).

Good luck with whatever you decide to go for.

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My Flickr

I own one of the new macbooks with 2.20 ghz and santa rosa chips.
I am using it a lot. many hours a day for all kinds of tasks. It works ok but simetimes it's to slow for me. i now decided to upgrade my ram. i guess this will make it faster as a whole. i just don't know yet if i should get 2 GB or 4Gb i do wan't a major test, so 4 wouldn't be so wrong. some help here would be appreciated.
I also habe PS CS1 and it works great. Your right though the screen is to small, so i just plug it in to a monitor when i use photoshop. This works great for me. Also leopard is really good and you just can't do anything wrong.

If you're going to buy this as a secondary computer though id wait 'cause at macworld, a subnotebook kinda like the eee is expected, maybe this would do for your purposes.
Anyway help on the Ram thing would be nice. Thx

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FLICKR: http://tinyurl.com/388cldd
Rebel Xsi + Grip, Tamron 17-55mm 2.8, Sigma 70-200 2.8 (non II), Canon 18-55mm IS, 50mm I.8 II, Sigma 30mm 1.4, Cullmann 4500-c Flash, Canon Speedlite 430 exII, Nikon Speedlight SB-80dx , Lensbaby composer, Studio Strobe and Equipment

I have a Black 2.16ghz 2gb Ram Macbook.

I love it, its fantastic. I use it when i am away from home and at university. It is a lovely sized laptop as it is so easy to carry around with you because of its size and waight. The battery is the best I have had from a laptop (better than the pro) and so keeps going with out a power socket.

The screen is quite small compeard to my duel 19" screens at home but it has a nice resolution and so working on it is fine but this is down to personal prefrance really, it is nicer to have a big screen but I find the macbook screen fine.

Its lightning fast but my macbook as 2gb of ram and I have never tried a macbook with just 1gb. The only main advantages the pro has over the macbook is the screen size and the graphics chip on it but apart from these (and a few smaller things) its pretty much the same when it comes to preformance and I find my macbook copes with anything I throw at it including image editing which I do a lot of. Lots of people always recommend the pro over the macbook because they see the macbook as a basic slow system, but this really is not the case and people underestimate it.

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Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
Gear: Sony a700! || CZ 16-80mm! || Sony 75-300 || bag: Crumpler PB xxxl / Lowepro slingshot 200

Core 2 Quad MBP's soon.

MacWorld?

Be prepared for some price drops in MacBooks and MacBookPro Core 2 Duo's soon.

8800GT Chipset in 17inch MBP?

Either way MBP is the only way to go for pro work, the MacBook is simply a "normal" laptop for doing a bit of normal photo editing on, little home movie, not massive 10MP+ RAW files lol!

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

I own both the blackbook 2ghz and the macbook pro 2.2ghz and they both have one of the fastest computer boot times and processing speeds i have used. OSX operating system is a joy to use, no need for third party protection like anti virus and firewalls and best of all it works!!

This is coming from a man who used pc computers since god knows when....i converted to mac last year.

Once you go Mac there aint no going back!

Hi folks,

It has been widely reported that Steve Jobs will be using his keynote speech to announce some new goodies, including ones relevant to this thread; namely MacBooks. The original post at WikiPedia has been pulled but a number of sites copied the apparent leak and the MacBook details are:

New MacBooks


• Completely redesigned MacBook
• Completely aluminum body like MacBook Pro
• 13" screen at 1440x900
• Two colors: Black and Silver
• 0.8" thin
• New on all notebooks and iMac: iSight HD (720p)
• New backlit keyboard based on recent Apple Keyboard revisions (keys slightly lighter than that of laptop casing, colorwise)
• New matching MagSafe cable (Aluminum ends, cord color matches that of keyboard)
• New matching Apple Remote (slightly smaller with larger overall buttons)
• Intel GMA X3100 graphics
• 3 models
• Completely phasing out the combo drive on all product lines
• BTO models can upgrade all the way to 2.6GHz/4GB Memory/320GB hard drive
• 4.5 hours of battery life
• Starting at $1199
  
  Product Refreshes
  
• Refreshing Mac Pro and Mac mini
• Mac Pro now with Penryn!
• Base model 2x2.8GHz dual-core/1GB/NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB/250GB(1x250GB)/1x16x double-layer SuperDrive
• Upgradeable to 2x3.2GHz quad-core/16GB/NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB/4TB(4x1TB)/2x16x double-layer SuperDrives
• Starting at $2,499
  
• Mac mini gets slight speed bumps and double-layer SuperDrive in all models
• Base model 2.0GHz IC2D/1GB/100GB
• BTO Upgradeable to 2.4GHz IC2D/4GB/320GB
• Starting at $599

Rumour at the moment but that keynote speech is only a few hours away so keep an eye on Google News.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

keynote is at 5.00pm GMT so all will be revealed!

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Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
Gear: Sony a700! || CZ 16-80mm! || Sony 75-300 || bag: Crumpler PB xxxl / Lowepro slingshot 200

The new macbooks sound very cool, but unsure about that 3.2 pro, sounds like it could get very hot!!

Just have to wait an see..

Glad I stumbled upon this topic; I've been considering a MBP for my next machine as well. I've been using Windows since 3.1 and DOS before that, and OS X is very appealing to me for many reasons (which we won't go into here ).

Needless to say, size isn't a problem for me, since I have a 22" monitor I use when at home, so the 13" is appealing for it's portability...but I'm concerned about speed, thus I was looking at a MBP as well (although my budget would be happier with a regular MB).

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John
Canon SX100 IS (hoping to upgrade soon)
My photos

The keynote is rumbling on as I write but no live video feed!

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Live text feed from macworld Here

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Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
Gear: Sony a700! || CZ 16-80mm! || Sony 75-300 || bag: Crumpler PB xxxl / Lowepro slingshot 200

.
Mmmm. Macbook Air. I think I'm in love.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

or Here lol

I want to see video coverage though.

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Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
Gear: Sony a700! || CZ 16-80mm! || Sony 75-300 || bag: Crumpler PB xxxl / Lowepro slingshot 200

.
and the updated Apple site is now up and running at http://www.apple.com/

MacBook Air guided tour here. Mmmm.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.