Comments on: Field guide to buying your perfect laptop

By: Lola Akinmade

Lola Akinmade — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:48:43 +0000

@TimR – Thanks so much for your kind words. It does seem like a crazy time to be taking the plunge, but I’m leaping out in faith.

By: Lola Akinmade

Lola Akinmade — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:46:56 +0000

@David – Thanks. Also, here’s a solar charger we reviewed a while back – http://matadorgoods.com/solio-universal-hybrid-solar-charger/.

By: TimR

TimR — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:06:14 +0000

When I headed straight for the specs and the conclusion, I almost missed the most important part of the whole article: “…transitioning into the role of fulltime freelance photojournalist.” Wow, that is so awesome; I love your blog and your photos, and really look forward to seeing what being at it full time produces. Way to go for it!

By: David Page

David Page — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:26:03 +0000

Thanks Lola! How about something on solar laptop chargers? For those of us who’d like to actually be able to do electronic work from some remote safari camp… Are there any that actually work?

By: Lola Akinmade

Lola Akinmade — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:41:38 +0000

@John – Thanks for chiming in. Solid points.

Sony makes some pretty sweet laptops. Was actually down to either Sony or Lenovo.

Weight is extremely high on the list for many people. For me, those 3 items listed (speed, DVD, many USB ports), etc were important to me. The ThinkPad is certainly not lightweight.

As people develop their own personal lists of features, this would naturally filter out various brands and laptops.

By: John

John — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:15:18 +0000

When lugging around a computer that’s supposed to be used for work, don’t forget about the weight! I know that you did mention a link to a previous post, but that was about netbooks (low performance cheap computers). Those can’t really be used for “real” work.

Something I’d recommend is the Sony Z-series, ~3 pounds and great computers. When it comes to image processing, dual core and quad core is not that important (you might see some difference sure), but what really makes i difference is IF the programs you are using can take advantage of the graphics card and do the calculations there instead. Then you’ll see great speedup (photoshop CS4 has gpu acceleration for example).

By: Lola Akinmade

Lola Akinmade — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:26:31 +0000

@Amir – Excellent point. I’ve added a link to Lenovo’s outlet store as well. Thanks.

By: Amir

Amir — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:11:58 +0000

In case you haven’t checked it out yet, put your order on hold and check out the Lenovo outlet store! http://outlet.lenovo.com/laptops.html