Laptop Recommendations

[JJHA04]

For our upcoming 4/29/06 TP cruise, I would like to bring along my laptop to upload and store photos from my digital camera and then convert them to CDs. My question to you guys is if there are any recommendations for any "small or mini laptops" that are cheap that I can bring solely for this purpose. I already own a big and powerful laptop that will do all of this, but I really don't prefer to bring the beast along, so I thought about buying a cheap and also fairly good laptop that would have a cd/dvd burner and be able to upload and store photos successfully. I would then convert my photos to CD's. I also have a Sony Camcorder that uses mini-dv tapes that I would like to convert to a DVD and would like to do that on the ship with any laptop that you would recommend. Thanks for all of the replies and happy sailing to all.

 

PS-What software would this laptop need to have???

 

Joe R.

[JPhotoz]

If you want something really small. Dell offers a 700m.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/entnb_700m?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

This is not is cheap laptop but it is worth the money if you want small and good. For the things that you want to do you will not be able to do it on a really cheap laptop since it would need a decent graphics card for the DV movies. It would also need to have some decent ram I would suggest 1GB or better. If I may make a suggestion. Why not wait until you get home to write to dvd? The software that came with your dvd burner should burn the dvd. If you want to actually want to make a movie I have found that Vidoe Explosion is an easy movie creater. It takes some time to get used to using this type of software so I don't feel that it would be worth your time on the boat (vacation you know). As for loading your pictures any laptop would work. I would also just load them to laptop until you get home. Why carry cd's too? The hard drives have pleny of storage . You could also invest in larger cards for your camera and not have to bring laptop at all. It depends how many pictures you plan to take and what MP camera you have. I use a 1GB card for my 7.1 MP camera and I can get 200 pictures at the highest resolution. I will bring my XPS 17" screen laptop with me on my cruise but that is so my girls can watch movies too. I will take about 1000 pictures too.

 

If you are looking for a Dell laptop I may be able to save you a little money.

 

Please feel free to ask any other questions.

Jordan

[JLC@SD]

For our upcoming 4/29/06 TP cruise, I would like to bring along my laptop to upload and store photos from my digital camera and then convert them to CDs. My question to you guys is if there are any recommendations for any "small or mini laptops" that are cheap that I can bring solely for this purpose. I already own a big and powerful laptop that will do all of this, but I really don't prefer to bring the beast along, so I thought about buying a cheap and also fairly good laptop that would have a cd/dvd burner and be able to upload and store photos successfully. I would then convert my photos to CD's. I also have a Sony Camcorder that uses mini-dv tapes that I would like to convert to a DVD and would like to do that on the ship with any laptop that you would recommend. Thanks for all of the replies and happy sailing to all.

 

PS-What software would this laptop need to have???

 

Joe R.

 

I am a "Dell Man", but I bought a small Sony Vaio because it was thin,light and relatively inexpensive.

 

It depends on what "cheap" is to you. It sounds like you will add to the cost because small and mini is more expensive, and the DVD burner and software will add to the cost. Do you want to spend time on your vacation to burn DVDs when you have a computer at home that will do it.

[Nyiles]

There are so many. Really depends by what you mean by cheap. I got a Compaq at Best Buy 2 years ago and am very happy with it. It is a model that was discontinued and has all the features I was looking for.

[jimcat]

There are so many. Really depends by what you mean by cheap. I got a Compaq at Best Buy 2 years ago and am very happy with it. It is a model that was discontinued and has all the features I was looking for.

 

Careful with compaqs.. they are now owned by HP who has turned out to be a HUGE dissapointment of late.

 

I have a HP laptop.. just 4 years old.. heatsink fan is out.. HP does not have the part for sale.. but I could ship the machine in for 298.00 US they will put in a fan..

 

 

I found a refurbished one, but that lasted about 4 days. Looks like a new laptop will be in order.. Only one I would consider again at this time is a toshiba.. my old one is still working its only a 300mghz processor, so you can imagine how old that is.

 

I have seen to many HP desktops go sour before the first week is up.. Granted they have to be repaired as they are under warrenty.. but what a pain this is, if you transferred a lot of files to this new machine.

[Cracker Ken]

Dittos what JPhotoz said ref memory cards. On a 14 day cruise, with several ports of call, I can easily end up with 800-900 pics. I use several 256MB Compact Flash Cards. I like to spread the photos among several cards, just in case one of them fizzles out on me (it has happened to me already). I use a Nikon using 1600x1200 in Fine mode, and they usually run 750KB to 1MB, depending on color saturation. I've never filled up all my cards yet. A handful of these things can fit in your shirt pocket, and it sure beat lugging around a laptop, which I have to do for work from time to time.

 

Ken

[mountainhouse]

If you want to do is burn them to DVD, a laptop is not the cheap solution...

 

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/addonics_mfr.html

[Lurkyloo]

I have the small Sony Vaio VGN S360 and I love it! Small, easy to take along everywhere I go - everything I wanted! Wasn't cheap, but good things seldom are! ;) My first laptop was a Toshiba and it was a great little laptop too! My son has had it since I upgraded, and it is still humming right along!

[Glaciers]

Although there are several who do not like HP on this thread, I purchased a small one, 14 in widescreen last summer and really like it. DV1000 It was rated a top one in it's class by Consumer Reports at the time. I purchased it for watching DVD movies in flight as well as downloading my photos. It's certainly nice to be able to download to the laptop and burn them to cd/dvd if you like, although I didn't get the burner. I use a 1G flash drive to transfer them to my other computer when I get home. I like that you can begin sorting out the photos on the laptop, bad from the good. I didn't buy one with all the bells and whistels but it works great for me.

[chasetf]

I bought a used Dell LS400 with 12 gig drive on the Dell auction site. It is super thin with a 12" screen making it very light to haul around the world. I like having the laptop to view my pictures and start "processing" them. I usually have enough camera memory (1+gig) and do not have to recycle. But this last trip I did... so it was nice to have the pictures stored on my computer's local disk and not worry about running out of memory. I guess I could of had the ship cut a CD... but they seem real pricey.

[Lsimon]

Like Lurkyloo, I too have a Sony Vaio "S" series laptop which I love to travel with. There are lots of different ones in this series, the common part being the size and the 13" monitor. It is a great laptop, and I've used it to both work with photo's and movies. Sony has an even smaller one, the "T" series which I was originally going to buy, but decided the keyboard and screen were too small for me.

[Scottish Cruiser]

I too have a Sony Vaio that I travelled around Europe, including a Med Cruise last year. I downloaded my videos to it, but did not edit them or burn the DVD till I got home. My wife took 2000+ still images and we downloded these to teh Sony also. We backed those up on thumb drives. Easier to carry than CDs. We also used them to update a website we had for our friends and grandkids - we were gone 10 weeks. It waorked great.

[skirrellyjones]

Why does the "cheap" laptop need to burn dvd's? Are you planning on taking that many pictures and video that you would fill up a 2-60GB drive? Personally I don't think the laptop is the answer at all. I was worried about the same thing but I bought a $30 accessory for my ipod that will connect my camera to my ipod and upload everything. I have 13GB left on my ipod so I figure that should be enough for a week cruise. :)

[cubdaddy]

Sams Club has a really small laptop that I thought about a few time. I think it is about $800 to $900. I do not remember the brand. I have a new laptop that I love but it is a little big (widescreen). I always take it with me for the same reasons.

[jenischmeni]

Why does the "cheap" laptop need to burn dvd's? Are you planning on taking that many pictures and video that you would fill up a 2-60GB drive? Personally I don't think the laptop is the answer at all. I was worried about the same thing but I bought a $30 accessory for my ipod that will connect my camera to my ipod and upload everything. I have 13GB left on my ipod so I figure that should be enough for a week cruise. :)

 

I agree w/ Skirrelly...an iPod is a great way to store. It's small, can fit in a safe and you can transfer the pictures when you get back home. Personally speaking, my laptop is like a 3rd arm to me. I'd be absolutely lost without it. I'm too afraid of it getting stolen from the ship, or having to lug it around to and from the ship. An iPod could fit nicely in a safe, am I right? You can also view the pics right on the iPod (to see what you have). And if you're short on space on the iPod (my son's 40gig is practically full - mine is practically empty!), you can toss off some unneeded music (you know those songs you always skip?! LOL), and reload the music when you get back home. IMO, an iPod is overlooked as a portable hard drive. I think skirrelly is on target for this!

[pierces]

Take a look at the Epson P-2000 Photo Viewer. It's only slightly larger than a compact camera with CF and SD card slots built in, has a sharp 3½" viewing screen that zoom 1500% (except with RAW images), allows you to organize photos into folders for transfer to PC later and has a 40gb hard drive. Wonderful Wife surprised me with one just before or Anniversary cruise on the Mercury last December (she's tired of me lugging the laptop around) and I really enjoyed it's convenience.

 

Look HERE to see more info.

 

There's also a 80gb model that just came out if you need the extra storage.

 

Dave

[S&M in Pgh]

If that is all you want the laptop for, there are several cheaper and lighter alternatives. There are CD burners that plug right into the camera as well as portable harddrives. However, I prefer the iPod. We used my wife's 20gig photo iPod last cruise and it worked very well. I downloaded the photos at the end of every day and uploaded them to the PC when we returned home.

 

Mike

[jenischmeni]

If that is all you want the laptop for, there are several cheaper and lighter alternatives. There are CD burners that plug right into the camera as well as portable harddrives. However, I prefer the iPod. We used my wife's 20gig photo iPod last cruise and it worked very well. I downloaded the photos at the end of every day and uploaded them to the PC when we returned home.

 

Mike

 

Mike,

 

Did you use Apple's camera adapter? I was at the Apple site yesterday checking into it. (Because it's a wonderful option.) The site's link is out of date, or misdirected, about the software to transfer the photos onto the pc later. Since the iPod stores the photo as a thumbnail, I'm wondering how it handles this transfer. As I said, Apple's site doesn't contain enough information at the moment. But, in reading user review at Apple's site, I noted that many said that the adapter drained the iPod battery VERY quickly (and heaven knows they drain fast enough as it is! LOL). Despite problems, aggravation and whatnot....I adore my iPod! And I've tried other mp3 players, but they just don't compare, imo.

[kingclick]

I also have read that the Ipod does NOT get any video's transferred from the camera. I haven't confirmed this because I just took my laptop along with my Ipod. Laptops have much more usefulness while on vacation than a huge storage place. They can carry scanned documents as back up. They can be used to journal. They can be used to watch movies on the plane. They can be used to connect to free wifi spots.

 

I'm surprised that no one has suggested an Apple iBook. It pretty much will do everything the OP has said...and is not very big and with the new release of the Dual Core you can get the PowerPC version at a pretty decent price. It's no $499 special but it will do all you want with no problem.

[bruce-r]

I'm surprised that no one has suggested an Apple iBook. It pretty much will do everything the OP has said...and is not very big and with the new release of the Dual Core you can get the PowerPC version at a pretty decent price. It's no $499 special but it will do all you want with no problem.

I sure will recommend one. I have a 12 inch iBook. It is fantastic for traveling. Actually, it is a great all around machine for home use too. I has been very durable and reliable. The size is perfect for fitting on an airline tray table. I can easily watch a whole DVD from the hard drive on one battery charge. I don't have a problem with spyware or virus. I use a card reader to get the images from the compact flash cards to the hard drive which is way faster than using the cable to the camera and it doesn't use the camera's batteries.

[tulman]

For those that take their notebook....where is it stored when not in cabin? Under the bed in a suitcase? Has anyone had one jacked?

 

I plan on taking my notebook, it's a Compaq V2000, has worked great since purchase 2 months ago.

 

Thought about the iPod, but with a laptop, we can also email home, check on banking, along with playing music and downloading from digital.

 

Thanks for all the great info on this thread!

[bruce-r]

For those that take their notebook....where is it stored when not in cabin? Under the bed in a suitcase? Has anyone had one jacked?

I've usually just left my iBook out on the desk, especially when it was charging. DW would be more comfortable with hiding it in a drawer, out of sight, out of mind.

 

I think that if anyone was going to take it, it would be one of the other passengers.

[IPingUPing]

When I was on the Inspiration, I used a cable lock and just hid it in the top drawer of the table. This way I had a moderate level of security and it was out of sight unless you followed the cable.

 

BTW, FWIW I love the suggestion of a used Mac for the trip. IPhoto is my favorite.

[taminator]

When I was on the Inspiration, I used a cable lock and just hid it in the top drawer of the table. This way I had a moderate level of security and it was out of sight unless you followed the cable.

 

BTW, FWIW I love the suggestion of a used Mac for the trip. IPhoto is my favorite.

 

I second the recommendation for a used iBook or PowerBook if someone is just looking for a secondary laptop. Used iBooks can easily be found for less than $1,000 on eBay. Just make sure you get one that can run the iLife suite of applications that include iPhoto and includes a decent-sized hard drive.

 

On my last cruise, I brought my 12-inch PowerBook and it worked like a charm. I typically don't use iPhoto as I prefer Adobe Photoshop, but I used it this time for my Canon point-and-shoot and it worked flawlessly.

 

If you have more room in your budget, consider one of the new Mac Book notebooks from Apple, which start at $1,099, that also lets you run Microsoft Windows if necessary:

 

Apple MacBook

[bruce-r]

...If you have more room in your budget, consider one of the new Mac Book notebooks from Apple, which start at $1,099, that also lets you run Microsoft Windows if necessary:

I have to agree since I'm typing this on my new Macbook. So far, I'm thrilled with the purchase. When I bought it, I also bought a new iPod because Apple is currently offering either a free (after rebate) iPod Nano or $179 off of one of the other iPods if you buy a new Mac. There is also an available $99 rebate on selected printers with the purchase of a new Mac. To take advantage of these promotions you need to buy thru their Apple store for Education and be either a teacher or college student. Of course, just about everyone can qualify as an "incoming student" at their local community college. Finally, there is a $100 education discount on the Macbook.