PhotoWalkPro

I love my MacBook Pro but lately I have been giving some thought to purchasing a new computer strictly for travel purposes.  The issue for me is that my MacBook is big enough that it can pose some problems when I am on the road.  First off, I don’t like leaving my laptop in my room while I am out, especially if there isn’t a room safe for me to secure it.  This means that I usually have to take it with me when I leave my room.  My photo backpack is large enough and has a padded laptop sleeve but that means that I have to have all that added weight on my back while I am hiking around.  It’s not just hiking but anytime I have to be on my feet all day, like at Photoshop World.  I like the convenience of being able to log in and check email and post quick updates to the blog but, once again, this means that I have to take my backpack and all the associated weight.  Enter the Netbook.

Netbooks are all the rage these days and for good reason.  At only 3 pounds, these little laptop computers allow you to stay connected to the world without the hassle of carrying a ton of computing power with you.  The downside to the Netbook is that it is small.  Most of them have screens that are around 10″ measured diagonally.  They also have slightly smaller keyboards so typing can be a bit more challenging.  As for computing power, most of them are a lacking in horsepower.  The majority of them use the Intel Atom processor, which does a great job at basic operating system, web browser, and email operations but really can’t handle the processing needs of a program like Photoshop.  They also lack any usable amount of RAM for image processing with the majority of Netbooks topping out at 1GB of RAM.

This weekend I did find one though that might just suit my needs.  Acer makes a Netbook called the Aspire One that is a little beefier than most of the other Netbook offerings.  First off, it has an 11.6″ screen, which is about an inch larger then most other Netbooks.  It does have an Atom processor but it has 2GB of RAM.  The other cool thing is the 6-cell battery that will power the small notebook for an impressive 8 hours (although I’m sure that it would be closer to 7 hours with normal use).  It also has a built-in card reader (SD, not CF) and a massive 250GB hard drive for storing images on the road.  There’s no optical drive but that is typical for all of the Netbooks.  Finally, the most enticing feature to this Netbook is the price, a stunning $329.99 from Amazon with free shipping.

My idea is that I could use this for all of my mobile email and blogging needs and also load Lightroom to process my shots while I am on the road.  I know it would not be the fastest way to go but it would allow me to shoot, store, and process images without the pitfalls of a big laptop.  And it’s small enough that I could comfortably carry it with me anywhere I went without needing to always take my backpack.

If you have any experience with using a Netbook for something other than email and Twitter, I would love to hear from you.  Especially if you are using it for any sort of imaging.

Please drop me a comment and let me know what your impressions are.

Related posts:

1. On the Road With My Acer Netbook
2. Inside My Camera Backpack
3. Lowepro – Fastpack 250 Review
4. Photoshop Web Links

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 12:12 am and is filed under Laptops, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.