4 replies to this topic

[uwfan]

Having as small of a laptop when we're on our dive trips to download photos is really helpful, but what features are absolutely necessary and what are really nice to have? How big does the laptop need to be? What software do you need?

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

For my birthday in 2011, I bought myself a Dell mini at Sams Club for $250. I bought it mainly to take on trips to protect my images, but I ended up setting up wi-fi at my house and now I use the mini in the evening, from the comfort of my couch, with the fireplace and either TV or music, instead of being back in my home office on my PC.

The Dell mini came with Windows 7 Starter edition, and I have had ZERO problems with it. It also came with Microsoft Office 2010 Starter edition....enough for my needs at home & for the work I do for SD. It also came with Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Movie Maker, Skype and a few other things.

The only software I have downloaded is Mozilla Firefox web browser, a good anti-virus software, Picasa (photo editing software) and Primo PDF (which allows me to create PDF files out of any document or photo). All of those were free to download.

The Dell mini has an SD card port, 2 USB ports, a headphone jack, a Cat 5 cable port (in case you don't have wi-fi), and a serial port. It does NOT have a CD or DVD player, but you could get an external one & plug it into the serial port if you needed to install software from a disk.

It has a 10" screen (measured diagonally). I use a 21" screen at work, so it took me a bit of time to get used to the smaller screen. But, since it's so close to you, the small screen works OK. It has 225Gb hard drive, and 1Gb of RAM. Works fast enough for me & what I use it for. LOTS of hard drive space for photo storage. It weighs next to nothing, and fits into either my purse or my carry-on very easily.

I use a USB thumb drive to transfer photos I want to keep over to my PC so I can burn them to a CD for permanent safekeeping.

All in all, I'm very happy with the Dell mini, and it was cheap as chips relatively speaking!

Hope this helps.

[Parrotman]

Although I do not use a mini I have had experience with them and I agree with Tammy. They do not have a built in CD or DVD you can use a thumb drive. Easy to use and very efficient... Actually in reality, the thumb drive is way more practical when you are traveling.


J

[Greg@ihpil]

Heidi,
I bought a HP Netbook a couple of yrs ago for the same reason & to show customers some of my jobs ( remodeling) port folio.I also would agree with Tammy & Parrot.1st I would say Picasa works great. From the Editing & mailing features & it's FREE:twist: .Even for a "non" tech person I was very pleased.It's basic and simple.The only thing I did end up doing for photo storage was I bought a portable hard drive in lieu of the Thumb, for my photos & Video's. I know it's another gadget ,but they are so small now it doesn't add a whole lot of required space,but adds a lot of storage..
Good luck in your quest..

[scubaski]

Check "Targets" Sunday sale flyers. I bought this 11.1 inch Acer netbook for $250.00 with a $30 rebate card for something else. The extra 1.1 inch makes a big difference in viewing pics and surfing. I travel with a sm portable DVD player/writer and a sm hard drive. Thumb drives come with more storage nowadays, invest as much as you can afford. I also recommend for about $10 you pick up a multi sd card reader, it plug into a usb port and is more durably than the sd card ports built into any netbook.
HNY
Ss

http://www.target.co...ua/-/A-13822918