Thanks Steve - this is the kind of information that I was hoping to hear. I do *want* a laptop over a PC because I like to be able to move around the house, more so than take the computer out and about with me. I often sit in bed with my kids next to me working, or at the dining room table next to them whilst they are doing their homework. It would also give me the opportunity when I need it to take it with me on a shoot etc. I totally agree with the battery life thing -the Asus G73 only has 1-2 hours, which is crappity crap crap, however, as I am mostly using it at home, I always have it plugged in anyways (my current HP has always had terrible battery life and from Day 1, I've never even been able to watch a full length movie on it without it dying).
The reason I want such a high spec'd system is because it will be a long time before I can afford to upgrade again and I really need this to be able to work well for at least the next 3-4 years without the risk of becoming outdated. I totally agree with you all about the size and weight but don't need it to be *that* portable, but fast and able to handle anything that I can throw at it for as long as possible is a priority. I actually *really* don't want a screen any bigger than my current 15.9" but if I have to live with a bigger one to be able to get (and afford!) the specs that I need, then I will. To those who have suggested less spec'd laptops, I currently have a HP Pavillion dv6500 - it is a 2Core Duo T7100 @ 1.80 GHz. I upgraded it last week from 2 to 4gb, and also upgraded the HDD from 160gb (it was CONSTANTLY full) 7200rpm to a 500gb 5400rpm. It is running Vista Home Premium, 32bit. Even since doing the upgrades last week, it is still struggling, especially now that I have the much higher resolution images to work on from the K-7. So, the plan is that my husband will inherit this one, and I will be set up with the new one. I am sooooo sick of twiddling my thumbs waiting for my computer to do what I ask it to, and I haven't even really "gotten back into" my photography work properly yet. I am determined to kick off properly this time and to be set up for a good, efficient work flow. Well, as much as I can afford anyways. We already have a beautiful Samsung 22" monitor that will be used as my second monitor and my main editing screen, however I *do* still need the monitor to be decent. Storage is also a very high priority, I hated dropping back to a 5400rpm HDD when I upgraded last week, but soooo badly needed the extra space and couldn't afford the 7200 equivalent, plus I knew that this computer would be my hubby's and speed/performance is not an issue for him, all he ever uses it for is to surf the net! However, the Asus has two HDD bays and that is important for me. I really want a dual drive set up as I have lost two HDDs and two memory cards in the past year and this has not been fun to live through. I did a beautiful shoot the other week with 4 cute little models and pettiskirts, and I had a gorgeous scene set up in the rainforest complete with an antique cast iron bed that we carted out there and the whole lot disappeared when my 4gb Hitachi Microdrive finally gave up on me (remember the surgery we all did many moons ago on those Creative Labs mp3 players?!? Lol). I received 2 quotes to recover the shots, both amounting to about $2400 and suffice to say, I will never get to see those shots again! :( Anyways, can you Steve, or somebody else, explain to me what a "TN display" is? I know what I *need* my display to be capable of (I want it to be as high res as possible, and to be able to be calibrated accurately and to render highlights and shadows properly (ie. to properly show hotspots and/or blacks as well as a histogram can), but the technical side and specs of what I need to achieve this is beyond my limited knowledge. I was actually going to post specifically to ask about the pros/cons of a gaming machine for the kind of work that I am doing but read some geeky type forum threads of others who were trying to decide between the Asus G73 and the Dell 6400 and as I know that the Dell is catered specifically towards photographers, I assumed that the Asus would suit too. I also did some research and found that the graphics card on the Asus is better than the top spec'd Geoforce card so thought that I would surely be fine with it. But if that's not the case and anyone could explain to me why, in language that I can comprehend, I would be very grateful! :) Tan. -----Original Message----- From: pdml-boun...@pdml.net [mailto:pdml-boun...@pdml.net] On Behalf Of steve harley Sent: Tuesday, 9 February 2010 5:06 AM To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List Subject: Re: laptops again... On 2010-02-08 01:03 , Tanya Love wrote: > Asus G73 just an impression, i'm no connoisseur of Windows laptops: i looked this up and saw that it's aimed at the gaming market; note that gamers like their displays to have very fast response, which is generally an indicator it is a TN display which has modest color fidelity; so you'd have a very powerful, very heavy, giant-screened machine that may not be all that great for editing photos; is that what you want? gamers don't usually value battery life either; 14 year old gamers may think they look cool lugging around a giant laptop, but i suspect you might get tired of it; and if you're not taking it anywhere why not get a more powerful desktop machine with a better quality display for less money? or a more portable, reasonably powered laptop plus an external display? -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4848 (20100208) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
