[Johnny Brown]

Hmm, scrub the Samsung, battery life of an hour and a half.

[Tris]

Hmm, scrub the Samsung, battery life of an hour and a half.

Fuck that shit right off - what does it use Aldi AA batteries?

[Jim]

this looks very good for just over £400
Eee PC 1215N

[tomtom]

Still happy with my HP

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,12846.msg235132.html#msg235132

I got mine when they first came out and since then they seem to have had a stream of good reviews...

Though it had to go back and have a new HDD a week ago ~ I guess that just happens from time to time - the first for me on a Laptop - though I tend to cane them (leave them modelling all night/days on end..).. My only gripe so far is that the touchpad is a bit wank - but quite usable. I tend to use a wireless mouse unless I'm on the train etc...

I like Samsungs though - (despite the battery on my NC10 failing after a year...) good keyboards & screen in my experience...

At the end of the day - you do tend to pay for what you get.

If you want something super fast, with loads of HDD and memory - for picture editing etc.. why do you want a laptop with a pokey 12" screen.... you'd be better off with a swanky desktop and a netbook for faffing in front of the telly etc...

[Johnny Brown]

I've got a (fairly) swanky desktop, but I will be using the laptop for running Lightroom whilst on location shoots, so a netbook just won't cut it. Its not for use all the time, and my camerabag is heavy enough already, so it does need to be portable.

The HP looks okay, I just fancied something a bit better.

[tomtom]

I've got a (fairly) swanky desktop, but I will be using the laptop for running Lightroom whilst on location shoots, so a netbook just won't cut it. Its not for use all the time, and my camerabag is heavy enough already, so it does need to be portable.

The HP looks okay, I just fancied something a bit better.

  Its hard to have your cake and eat it - fast any machine, tends to come with low battery life or big £££...

FWIW, the HP is no netbook - its c. twice as fast as my NC10...

PCworld/currys etc.. might be tosspots but they do give you the chance to sit and play/fiddle with 20+ machines side by side...

Oh, forgot - take a pen drive with some HD video on it - thats a good test....

[Johnny Brown]

Fair enough, I just thought the processor looked a bit slow. As I've said, I don't mind spending a four figures if its fast and well-designed.
Have been round a few shops, but not found one yet with more than 2 12-13" laptops. Except for the Apple store of course, although I wouldn't really call it choice.

[Jim]

this looks very good for just over £400
Eee PC 1215N

Infact this looks very good, might sell mine and upgrade to one of these very soon.
good review here
http://www.netbooklive.net/asus-eee-pc-1215n-review-power-in-a-compact-sleek-body-4092/

[Johnny Brown]

Are you talking to yourself Jim?

You're right though, it does look good. And cheap, I could get his and hers and still have change from a Macbook. Steve Jobs should take a long hard look at this picture:

[Tris]

This one looks pretty cool.. decent spec

Click on the blue play button underneath for a 360 tour thingy.

8+ hours battery too

[tomtom]

We should rename this thread laptop fanboi pron or something :-)
J B one feature I wish I had on present laptop is a backlit keypad.. Surprising how many time I've been squinting to see what keys what ...

[Drew]

J B one feature I wish I had on present laptop is a backlit keypad.. Surprising how many time I've been squinting to see what keys what ...

That's one thing which would swing me towards a MacBook. It's light sensitive too.

[slackline]

You could just learn to touch type 

[tomtom]

You could just learn to touch type 

I can  in dark (e.g. on a long flight) your eyes go from bright screen to dark keyboard and its much easier if they are gently lit.. I think some of the newer nebooks/laptops have a backlit keyboard (please dont send me any pictures of plug in USB torch light things - they're gash).

[Johnny Brown]

That's good knowledge - I would have dismissed it as a geeky gimmick. You mean like this yeah?

[Tris]

Lenovo's have a small light on the screen which illuminates the keyboard.

Depends on how much pr0n you need to watch in the dark I guess... don't believe the flight story rubbish. All planes that I have been on have a reading light overhead 

I did think of Alienware, but you would look like a proper gaming gimp with one of their machines 

[Jim]

I must admit a backlit keyboard would be useful on the odd occasion when I'm surfing in bed with the lights out

[tomtom]

Depends on how much pr0n you need to watch in the dark I guess... don't believe the flight story rubbish. All planes that I have been on have a reading light overhead 

Pah! being considerate I dont want to be the only wanker on an overnight flight with the reading light on... AND it would draw attention to the fact I was watching pron silly... 

[Jim]

there is more than enough ambient light on an overnight flight to see the keyboard

[tomtom]

there is more than enough ambient light on an overnight flight to see the keyboard

  this is starting to get like the other channel...

[nathan wind]

Ta Stu, that's helpful. The performance thing was only a perceived bonus really - the main reason for considering a mac is I want something which will be a pleasure just to own. The various cameras I've used over the years have taught me that specs are not that important - creativity and productivity are in fact greatly enhanced by choosing something I really enagage with.

If its creativity and productivity you're after then I'd go for a mac any day, once you get used to the OS and get into the shortcuts its just a much nicer space to work in, plus from a designer's perspective simple issues such as screen brightness and the way text renders on screen is really important, well to me at least.. I've usually got Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Firefox etc open and tab between the two with new problems too.. in terms of usability, ie how you interact with the thing, the whole experience imho is infintely better than anything a pc can offer,  they're are great to own and use generally.. especially if you're on the road a lot..

All that said though.. I think the new glass screen models could be a no go for visual work as they give a depth and sharpness to images that might not be viewable on other screens and tricky to compensate for when working with print.. which means you'd have to shell out for an anti-glare screen.. as I'm gonna have to do.. this sucks.

As for the hash tag its alt+3 

[Johnny Brown]

Cheers, that's useful. The matt screen is only an option on the 15" and 17" unfortunately, and I'm not interested in anything bigger than 13".

What's bothering me at the moment is whether it will be possible to merge Lightroom catalogues from two different OSs. It doesn't appear to be an option when exporting, so I guess not. Could be a deal breaker.

edit: looks like it should work okay.

[Johnny Brown]

Too late motherfucker, I bought a mac!!!

[Jim]

  

[slackline]

Remember to ask Tom where to get it fixed.