Time to buy... A laptop?

[DuckieLauren]

Hi Everyone,

I am looking into buying a laptop soon, but I can't decide what to get!
I was a good quality laptop but I want it to be easy to travel with because I am spending a year starting fall 2011, in Ireland and New Zealand. I know I am going to take thousands and thousands of pictures, so i need a laptop that can hold a fair amount. I am also wanting one that could support photoshop well and will run it nicely. I'm not sure if there are laptops that have a tendency to crash or not, but if there is, I want to be able to avoid that.
Does anyone have any suggestions of good laptops for your photos? Or is there much of a difference from one to another?

[CheaperKings]

To me, a laptop is a laptop. Dell's are ok, Gateway's are ok. The main thing you want to make sure of is RAM. And you want lots of it. I run CS5 on my laptop and it screams right along. That laptop is just a cheap-o Lenovo but, it has 4GB of RAM. I do a lot of video/audio/photo editing and it doesn't miss a beat.

[DuckieLauren]

Thanks, I don't really know much about computers and I wasnt sure if there was really any difference between them when it comes to your photo storage, picture viewing quality, and editing.

[Jim Poor]

MacBook Pro!

[Jonbar18]

hp pavillion! mac if you can afford it

[Sime]

MacBook Pro +2

Lots of memory like CK said... you can't go wrong with most modern lappies.. just don't get an Acer! (I have a personal vendetta! haha)

Storage space, get an external disk for your photos anyway... most come with something half decent these days... my MacBook Pro has a 320gb 7200rpm main drive (custom) that is lovely..

[DuckieLauren]

Thanks! I was talking to the tech guy at my work and he told me to stay away from Acer too, So I'll keep that in mind thanks.
I've heard a lot of good things about Macs, so I'll definitely take a look at some! I'm on a bit of a tight budget though, so macs might be out of my range, but I'll check them out for sure!
Thanks a lot

[tuxcomputers]

Invest in an external HDD that is powered by the USB port.

Most power supplies (including laptops) are able to accept a range of voltages between 110-260. When you get to the target country visit a hardware store and buy a replacement cord that goes between the wall and the laptop power converter, makes thing much much simpler.

Even my phone charger is able to accept world wide voltages. While I was in Europe all I did was take an Australian 4 outlet power board, cut off the plug end, bought and put a European plug on it. I would then plug in all my devices to the power board.

When I got home I took off the plug and put an Aussie on back on.

[dotorion]

Perhaps this post on Lifehacker might also help, apparently Asus and Toshiba are the most reliable manufacturers according to that particular study.

In any case, if you want smooth photoshop performance you'll need a fair amount of RAM. (if you're going over 3GB be sure to look for a 64-bit operating system ..).

HDD space is less important (since you can always buy an external HDD as said above).

[faeriegodess612]

I vote for an HP Notebook. I love mine. It's got an AMD processor,..I personally try and avoid Intel. Its only got a 14.5 screen so its small enough I can take it anywhere but large enough that Im not squinting at it. It only weighs 5 lbs,.. so its light weight too. It's got 4GB of RAM, and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Graphics card. So it runs smoothly and looks pretty doing it. I'm not sure about now,...but my laptop cost me less than $700 with taxes and everything. It was one of the best investments I've made. As for running PS. I'm not sure, because I have Picasa and Gimp. I hardly even use Gimp because I dont believe in a lot of PP.