Netbook for Photo Backup

[Colorado Kat]

After extensive reading here, I decided to order an ASUS Netbook (10" screen, 160 gig drive) to back up my photos.

 

It's basically an excuse for me to get a new toy, something I don't do too often. In theory, I'll be able to use it to journal happenings on ship, and have all my photos labelled and tweaked before we get off-ship. (In theory ;)...........)

 

I've spent hours reading posts here on the Photo Discussion area, and I want to thank all the camera experts who share their knowledge. Years ago, before kids, I indulged in lots of great cameras, but that was before the digital revolution. I still have a couple of Canon AE-1 bodies, some nice lenses, and 2 Nikonses with lenses (Underwater setup) Ouch - the money I have invested.....

 

Anyway, thanks for beig so willing to share......

 

Kathy

[pierces]

I hope you get good utility from your alternate digital image storage device.

 

 

Ok, I'll be honest....

 

Enjoy the new toy!

 

 

Happy shooting!

 

Dave

[gsrunyan]

Believe it or not, your old film cameras have value, depending on the model and condition. Lenses have separate values. One place on line to check is KEH and there are others. At worst, do what I did when I moved to Colorado and had too much camera stuff to save: toted it all over to the local high school that had a photography club. Such contributions are tax deductible-have someone at the school give you a receipt and use the values at KEH or Adorama or ....:D

 

Glenn:cool:

http://www.pbase.com/gsrunyan

[Colorado Kat]

Dave - Thanks for the good wishes!

 

Glenn - Thanks - I'll have to check out KEH. I had in the back of my mind that one of my girls might be taking photography in high school, and needing to hold onto one of the AE-1 bodies. But I've got a few bodies & lenses.

 

Just too spoiled with digital these days to ever want to go back to film.

 

And the developing! Used to develope my own black and white, as well as color prints. Luckily I could rent equipment, and didn't need to buy all my own developing stuff. I used to not end up being very pleased with how my color prints came out. OK in the inside light, but unhappy in household lighting afterwards. It took another 15 years for me to be diagnosed as partially color-blind, and that explained a lot of things. ;)

 

Kathy

[Jade13]

After extensive reading here, I decided to order an ASUS Netbook (10" screen, 160 gig drive) to back up my photos.

 

It's basically an excuse for me to get a new toy, something I don't do too often. In theory, I'll be able to use it to journal happenings on ship, and have all my photos labelled and tweaked before we get off-ship. (In theory ;)...........)

 

I've spent hours reading posts here on the Photo Discussion area, and I want to thank all the camera experts who share their knowledge. Years ago, before kids, I indulged in lots of great cameras, but that was before the digital revolution. I still have a couple of Canon AE-1 bodies, some nice lenses, and 2 Nikonses with lenses (Underwater setup) Ouch - the money I have invested.....

 

Anyway, thanks for beig so willing to share......

 

Kathy

 

I was thinking of a digital Netbook for the same use. I believe I saw this one on some airline magazine recently. Why did you choose the ASUS over the one from Dell,etc? Does this one come with any software or just Windows XP, etc.? Is there room for Picasa or even a full version of photoshop?

[pierces]

I was thinking of a digital Netbook for the same use. I believe I saw this one on some airline magazine recently. Why did you choose the ASUS over the one from Dell,etc? Does this one come with any software or just Windows XP, etc.? Is there room for Picasa or even a full version of photoshop?

 

The Asus eeePC 1000HE has a 160 GB hard drive and comes with XP installed. I doesn't come with a lot of software installed, but there's plenty of room for Picasa or even a full MS Office suite. Since it's not well suited for duty as a workstation, downloading something like Open Office woild suffice for minor editing or document creation.

 

Another good choice might be the Acer Aspire One 10.1" with the 160 GB drive.

 

Both run about $100 cheaper than the dell and give a bit more bang for the buck.

 

Dave

[Marguerite-a-Ville]

I bought the Acer Aspire One for this purpose. I download all my photos to the netbook, then backup to my 500 GB Passport.

[Jade13]

The Asus eeePC 1000HE has a 160 GB hard drive and comes with XP installed. I doesn't come with a lot of software installed, but there's plenty of room for Picasa or even a full MS Office suite. Since it's not well suited for duty as a workstation, downloading something like Open Office woild suffice for minor editing or document creation.

 

Another good choice might be the Acer Aspire One 10.1" with the 160 GB drive.

 

Both run about $100 cheaper than the dell and give a bit more bang for the buck.

 

Dave

 

Thanks! Where do you find the Asus and Acer?

[Marguerite-a-Ville]

I got my Acer through Amazon, but Costco has a good deal on their website right now...netbook, mouse and soft case for $350.

[Jade13]

The Asus eeePC 1000HE has a 160 GB hard drive and comes with XP installed. I doesn't come with a lot of software installed, but there's plenty of room for Picasa or even a full MS Office suite. Since it's not well suited for duty as a workstation, downloading something like Open Office woild suffice for minor editing or document creation.

 

Another good choice might be the Acer Aspire One 10.1" with the 160 GB drive.

 

Both run about $100 cheaper than the dell and give a bit more bang for the buck.

 

Dave

 

I the difference between the Asus eeePC 1000HE vs 1000HA that the HE has a 6 cell battery and 9.5 hour of life?

[pierces]

I the difference between the Asus eeePC 1000HE vs 1000HA that the HE has a 6 cell battery and 9.5 hour of life?

 

 

The HA and HE are pretty much the same except for Bluetooth, which the HA lacks.

 

Here's the eeePC comparison page:

http://event.asus.com/eeepc/comparison/eeepc_comparison.htm

 

Lots of options!

 

BTW, Costco and Amazon have great deals on them!

 

Dave

[SheilaNC]

I got my HA from Amazon - free shipping and good price at the time - of course lower now! Suggest buying an external DVD drive if you plan to load softward or play DVDs. I use Office on mine since I bought it to use when traveling for work as well as for play...not good for 'lots' of typing but useful and much lighter for record keeping, notes and drafts. AND, of course, loading and viewing pictures. I use Picasa ver. 3 and have plenty of space.

[chipmaster]

After extensive reading here, I decided to order an ASUS Netbook (10" screen, 160 gig drive) to back up my photos.

 

It's basically an excuse for me to get a new toy, something I don't do too often. In theory, I'll be able to use it to journal happenings on ship, and have all my photos labelled and tweaked before we get off-ship. (In theory ;)...........)

 

I've spent hours reading posts here on the Photo Discussion area, and I want to thank all the camera experts who share their knowledge. Years ago, before kids, I indulged in lots of great cameras, but that was before the digital revolution. I still have a couple of Canon AE-1 bodies, some nice lenses, and 2 Nikonses with lenses (Underwater setup) Ouch - the money I have invested.....

 

Anyway, thanks for beig so willing to share......

 

Kathy

 

Netbooks are a great value: Small, light, cheap, and with enough CPU power to do simple things.

 

Couple things to note: Netbooks general have limited HDD < 200 GB, are single core CPUs, limited memory < 1GB, small screens and very small keyboards, NO DVDs.

 

Unless you plan to download software from web and or have a USB/external DVD you'll have limited options to add software.

 

Another thing to consider if you are running XP with single core running even photoshop elements will push the cpu. If you got virus scan running in the background forget it, it will be dreadfully slow.

 

For surfing the web, email, picasa and simple powerpoint, excel, word its more then adequate.

 

If you do a lot of typing you'll also quickly find that the keyboard can be less then ideal. Perfect for kids hands, but not at all erogonomic for adult hands.

 

Expect all the big players ( Dell, HP, Tosiba, Lenova ) to enter the market this fall and or offer ultra compact fullfeature notebooks that start at a hundred or more bucks too.

[Jade13]

Netbooks are a great value: Small, light, cheap, and with enough CPU power to do simple things.

 

Couple things to note: Netbooks general have limited HDD < 200 GB, are single core CPUs, limited memory < 1GB, small screens and very small keyboards, NO DVDs.

 

Unless you plan to download software from web and or have a USB/external DVD you'll have limited options to add software.

 

Another thing to consider if you are running XP with single core running even photoshop elements will push the cpu. If you got virus scan running in the background forget it, it will be dreadfully slow.

 

For surfing the web, email, picasa and simple powerpoint, excel, word its more then adequate.

 

If you do a lot of typing you'll also quickly find that the keyboard can be less then ideal. Perfect for kids hands, but not at all erogonomic for adult hands.

 

Expect all the big players ( Dell, HP, Tosiba, Lenova ) to enter the market this fall and or offer ultra compact fullfeature notebooks that start at a hundred or more bucks too.

 

So if you want to bring some DVD's to eliminate taking a DVD player, you should purchase an external DVD drive? That adds about $70.00. Also, my DH wanted to know if he could add/use his Rosetta Stone program for his language studies? Right now we just put the Rosetta Stone DVD in the player. That program has audio and voice recognition and I'm unclear if a Netbook would have that capability?

[Marguerite-a-Ville]

I agree that it is very slow. However, my netbook is not my main computer, so I've been able to do quite well with it without a dvd drive.

 

Software I have loaded:

• Irfanview (great picture viewer with the ability to do simple edits - free download)
  
• Open Office
  
• Internet Explorer
  
• McAfee
  
• A few games
  

All of these were either downloaded directly from websites, or I have transfered from my other computer via thumbdrive.

 

Since this is my travel toy, I can't think of anything else I might need on it...at least I haven't missed anything. All my serious photo editing tools are on my desktop.

[Jade13]

I agree that it is very slow. However, my netbook is not my main computer, so I've been able to do quite well with it without a dvd drive.

 

Software I have loaded:

• Irfanview (great picture viewer with the ability to do simple edits - free download)
  
• Open Office
  
• Internet Explorer
  
• McAfee
  
• A few games
  

All of these were either downloaded directly from websites, or I have transfered from my other computer via thumbdrive.

 

Since this is my travel toy, I can't think of anything else I might need on it...at least I haven't missed anything. All my serious photo editing tools are on my desktop.

 

Would thee be enough room for a full version of photoshop (which I have not purchased yet)?

[pierces]

Would thee be enough room for a full version of photoshop (which I have not purchased yet)?

 

Elements would be a better choice. Tremendous utility with a fraction of the CPU and memory requirement. I find Elements is capable of nearly everything I need to do on a regular basis.

 

Dave

[chipmaster]

So if you want to bring some DVD's to eliminate taking a DVD player, you should purchase an external DVD drive? That adds about $70.00. Also, my DH wanted to know if he could add/use his Rosetta Stone program for his language studies? Right now we just put the Rosetta Stone DVD in the player. That program has audio and voice recognition and I'm unclear if a Netbook would have that capability?

 

Netbooks have speakers, you'll need an external DVD to load and possibly run the software, that could be more hassle then its worth. The voice recognition is part of the software, it may run slower on a less powerful computer but should still run.

 

You might want to look at some full featured ultracompact laptops that come with more powerfuly CPUs, seperate graphics cards, more memory and more HDD space, and most importantly a built in DVD player. My son picked up a 13" laptop, netbooks, still nice and compact. Netbooks I think run ~ 10" screens and most larger laptops start at ~ 15 - 17"

 

It runs all aps well, has seperate nvidia graphics, it runs a lot more at 2x price ~ 899. But do some research, nothing would be more frustating then buying something for 499 then finding you still need to buy another computer for 699 or 899. But if you get two you will help the economy ;)

[Colorado Kat]

Just got my netbook today - It's plugged in and charging. Looks nice. I got the ASUS Netbook (10" screen, 160 gig drive) - Amazon

 

One thing to watch out for: Get the largest keyboard you can. I believe mine is 92%. There are a few I tried out in stores, and they drove me crazy - just too small.

 

Another thing - If you buy an ASUS from BestBuy, there is something made especially for them to sell - not the typical. A slightly different letter designation at the end. Read the reviews - many folks were fooled, and they were unhappy with the variation they got.

 

I got the 6 cell battery with 9.5 hours of life - haven't tested it out yet - I view it as miles per gallon estimates for cars. In a perfect world......

 

Any suggestions for putting a couple of my already owned DVD movies on the netbook? I don't want to do anything illegal, but it is nice to have a movie you like when you fly. I understand there are "issues" because everyone is concerned about piracy.

 

Kathy

[chipmaster]

Just got my netbook today - It's plugged in and charging. Looks nice. I got the ASUS Netbook (10" screen, 160 gig drive) - Amazon

 

One thing to watch out for: Get the largest keyboard you can. I believe mine is 92%. There are a few I tried out in stores, and they drove me crazy - just too small.

 

Another thing - If you buy an ASUS from BestBuy, there is something made especially for them to sell - not the typical. A slightly different letter designation at the end. Read the reviews - many folks were fooled, and they were unhappy with the variation they got.

 

I got the 6 cell battery with 9.5 hours of life - haven't tested it out yet - I view it as miles per gallon estimates for cars. In a perfect world......

 

Any suggestions for putting a couple of my already owned DVD movies on the netbook? I don't want to do anything illegal, but it is nice to have a movie you like when you fly. I understand there are "issues" because everyone is concerned about piracy.

 

Kathy

 

You might read up here: http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/iPod/

 

For our trip last summer I put a bunch of movies on our itouch and ipod video for the long road trips. Resolution is less then good, but fine for a small screens and netbook too. My kids watch them thru itunes on our pc occasionally too, but mostly they just watch things on youtube now, how the world has changed :rolleyes: I can't comment on legality but these were all for personal use ;)

[nmg222]

Here's an Asus that will only be available today, 5/23. The site has one product per day.

 

http://www.woot.com/

[nmg222]

Here's an Asus that will only be available today, 5/23. The site has one product per day.

 

http://www.woot.com/

 

Make that, today 5/24 and why can't I edit my post?

[Jade13]

Elements would be a better choice. Tremendous utility with a fraction of the CPU and memory requirement. I find Elements is capable of nearly everything I need to do on a regular basis.

 

Dave

 

Ok Dave thanks. I was going to look into Elements when a photo instructor from my old university said the full version was the only way to go. The issue is that I really do not want to alter my photos that much with the exception of color and light etc.

[Jade13]

Just got my netbook today - It's plugged in and charging. Looks nice. I got the ASUS Netbook (10" screen, 160 gig drive) - Amazon

 

One thing to watch out for: Get the largest keyboard you can. I believe mine is 92%. There are a few I tried out in stores, and they drove me crazy - just too small.

 

Another thing - If you buy an ASUS from BestBuy, there is something made especially for them to sell - not the typical. A slightly different letter designation at the end. Read the reviews - many folks were fooled, and they were unhappy with the variation they got.

 

I got the 6 cell battery with 9.5 hours of life - haven't tested it out yet - I view it as miles per gallon estimates for cars. In a perfect world......

 

Any suggestions for putting a couple of my already owned DVD movies on the netbook? I don't want to do anything illegal, but it is nice to have a movie you like when you fly. I understand there are "issues" because everyone is concerned about piracy.

 

Kathy

 

So, you can download your movie to your home computer and transfer to the Netbook with a 2.0 UBS? Does the Netbook have a place for two headphones?

 

Where is the link to the issue with Best Buy's version?

[chipmaster]

Office depot has full featured laptops on sale this weekend for $379 for AMD and $489 for INTEL cpu. Both have lots of memory and HDD but probably 2x the weight but with nice fullsize keyboard and a screen you can actual see things.

 

Personally I'd buy the slightly more expensive one of course ;)