Christian Photographers Community

My husband is going to give me a laptop for my birthday and because I'm quickly becoming more interested in photography, I need opinions on what type of computer to get.   I have a Dell desktop now that OLD, but I do own Lightroom 2, which I would have to convert if I went to the I-MAC.   The Toshiba Sattelite T135-S1330. It has 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard disk.   I feel like this is a good option, at a good price because of the huge memory we need when shooting lots of photos in RAW.

What do you all have?  Especially those of you who might sell your work  (or use it in multimedia settings for church gatherings)

Thanks!
gardnerlakegirl

This is the one I would go with. iPhoto makes it really easy to manage photos, and you don't have to worry about getting a virus on a Mac.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook?mco=OTY2ODEwOQ

thanks scottyboy - I'll check it out!

anyone else want to chime in?

I was waiting for Scotty's assessment.  He is a very knowledgeable young man.  Thank you Scotty.

HP, eMachine, Gateway.  All are capable of running Linux.  Mac's run a form of Unix.  Linux is a free version of Unix.  There are a lot of different versions of Linux.  The most popular to date are Ubuntu, Mint Linux, and a few others.  Most software for Linux is free and is included with the OS.  It's also very capable.  You can make it looks like any OS you want... Mac, Windows, or design your own.  Linux is more secure and much more stable than Windows.  You can check out different versions at http://www.distrowatch.com  I use Ubuntu on one machine and Linux Mint on another.  I have been running a distribution of Linux for over 6 years now.  The ONLY time I use a Windows box is to update the firmware on my cameras.  It seems they don't make their software Linux-friendly.  FWIW, I just retired from the IT industry after over 25 years.  Macs are very good.  Macs are also quite expensive.  Most folks are afraid to make any sort of change from a Windows machine, though.  You'll probably go with a Windows box. 

If you don't go with Mac, I agree that Linux is the next best thing. You won't have to worry about getting a virus on one of those either.

I think one of the main reasons I like Mac so much, is that the file hierarchy is SO simple. My sisters have a laptop with Windows 7, and I can't find files on that machine to save my life. Applications and documents (like pictures) just seem to get lost somewhere deep inside the computer. I think that's the one of the main reasons people clutter their desktop so much. They save everything to the desktop for fear of dropping their file down the wormhole and never seeing it again. 

Wow, I'm learning a lot here.  Thanks for the links to research - rest assured, I'll do my research.  In the amount of information I've poured over in the past few days, I have to say I'm learning more (and faster) towards a MAC than I thought I would.    One question on the MAC that I've not researched out yet is the need for an external hard drive?   What's your recommendation on storage and back-up sources related to a MAC.

Is the transfer of pictures from your camera to the computer as easy on a MAC as a regular PC?


and while we're on technology - what's your favorite lens and why?

Quote from: gardnerlakegirl on May 14, 2010, 10:30:42 PM
Wow, I'm learning a lot here.  Thanks for the links to research - rest assured, I'll do my research.  In the amount of information I've poured over in the past few days, I have to say I'm learning more (and faster) towards a MAC than I thought I would.    One question on the MAC that I've not researched out yet is the need for an external hard drive?   What's your recommendation on storage and back-up sources related to a MAC.

Is the transfer of pictures from your camera to the computer as easy on a MAC as a regular PC?


and while we're on technology - what's your favorite lens and why?

I personally don't use a backup HD, but it wouldn't hurt to have one.

It's probably even easier to download pics on a Mac! just plug the camera in, and iPhoto fires up and asks if you want to download your images.

What I use for presentation is Proshow Producer from Photodex. It is great in handling and editing photos, text, audio and video files. Anybody who is dead-serious in multi-media would most likely prefer this program mainly because of its flexibility to cater to one's imagination and its ease of use. Well, that is the good news. The bad news is, it is only available for PC users and currently the envy of Mac users. What ever laptop you buy, keep in mind to get the one with the most powerful dedicated video card you could afford.

I don't know if you've already pressed the shutter and purchased a computer yet, if not, I'll chime in and add my two cents worth.

Buy a Mac.  Buy an iMac because of the display.  iPhoto works pretty well for light editing. I purchased Aperture and also know a few using Photoshop, and Photoshop Elements.  The big thing about editing photos is being able to see what they really look like, and the iMac's display is what really sets it apart.  Yes they are expensive, but well worth it if you spend any time at all with your photos.  Mac OS just works it's easy to use, and very intuitive. 

I work in I.T. for a living.  I've used both PC (Microsoft), Mac, and Linux.  The newer Windows 7 isn't too bad as far as MS goes, but being the big guy on the block, it's a big target for hackers and viruses and will continue to be for quite some time.

If you go the Linux route, which is a very stable and secure OS, you can get GIMP as a photo editor for free.  GIMP is a very powerful editor and takes some time to get comfortable using.  There are also some other photo editing programs in the open source world that are free that work very well.  If you do go the Linux route, which again, is very good, don't scrimp on the monitor.  Probably the only downside to Linux is the fact that it really isn't for those who aren't real comfortable with an OS that you'll have to work with a bit to get it where you want it.

Dell has some very good monitors, and so does Samsung but they aren't cheap either.  You can't see a photo properly on a cheap monitor.  Dell has good LED backlit monitors starting at $400.  Samsung LED backlit monitors start at $329 for a 23" model.

I'm sure you have long since picked up a new computer but just in case, if you go the Linux route don't go into it blindly.  It's come a long way since I started using it a decade ago but it's still not something I would recommend the non-computer savvy person to use.  There is still a steeper than most learning curve so download a live CD and try it out on your computer (you don't need to install it, just pop in the CD, restart, and it will start into Linux).  My recommendation would be Ubuntu, I have a triple boot system here (Windows 7, OSX, and Ubuntu): I rarely use Windows, I use OSX for work and photo/video editing, and I play in Ubuntu.  It is gorgeous.

I have a MacPro with plenty under the hood and a 30" cinema display.  Even batch editing in Camera Raw and Photoshop I still don't see it ever get bogged down, I can usually do batch editing in Camera Raw in Bridge and then go into Photoshop and do other edits in there so a similar system might be ideal for you.  But macs tend not to be cheap, this computer cost more then a lot of cars.  Across from this computer sits a 21" iMac.  Beautiful picture but not a lot of horsepower under the hood and it is fairly pricey for what you get, though again it's a beautiful display.

One other thing I will mention...don't pay too much attention to RAM, 32 bit operating systems only recognize 2GB and anything after that will not get utilized.  It's a limitation of 32bit which I learned after purchasing Windows 7.  My mac pro has 12GB of RAM and my Apple operating system (OSX) flys along.  I installed Windows 7 and noticed a definite lag.  So if you want to utilize 4GB of RAM you will need to be running 64bit otherwise if you're sticking with 32bit then don't bother with the excess RAM.