Lightest, smallest computer that runs lightroom

[DiverPam 13]

My laptop is 6 1/2 years old and heavy. Traveling with it is not easy - along with all the other camera equipment we all have on us.

 

Wanting to know what is the smallest and lightest PC that will run lightroom to travel with. I know that I will have to have a slim portable hard drive with me, not a problem. Will one of those net books ("thigh tops") work? This is an area I am not good at and need help.

 

Thanks for the help - DiverPam

[operam 1]

I have a Lenovo T420s, it has a 14" monitor, so it might not be the smallest, still at slightly less than 4lbs, I consider it light enough to travel with. You might also want to look into the ultrabooks (MacBook Air and its PC equivalents). They are even lighter, but usually don't come with optical (DVD) drives. You might not need it anyway.

[ATJ 1]

I have an Acer Aspire One D257 netbook which I used for weekend trips. It weighs around 1kg (2.2lbs). It is not blindingly fast, but is adequate to run Lightroom. The screen is small (10.1" and 1024x600) but it is OK for reviewing images and starting the cataloging process.

[Scubysnaps 9]

If an Apple is of consideration then an 11" MacBook air or 13" if you want an SD card slot built in.

[jander4454 15]

I have an Asus Eee PC Seashell series - 10" screen it cost £225 twelve months ago at Comet. Added a 2 gb RAM chip (east peasy) £10 from Amazon - It runs Lightroom well.

I am very pleased with this wee machine for trips

[DiverPam 13]

Thanks for the info. All of my programs are for PC/windows based computers. So I am committed to a PC model. Will keep this info for when I get to this.

 

Sorry for the delay in responding - in Cayman doing some diving and my computer (old one) has not been vrey responsive at times this week.

 

Thanks again - Pam

[davephdv 0]

11" macbook air, then use bootcamp to load windows.

 

According to the Wall Street Journal, the best laptop for running windozs.

[Steve Douglas 16]

Rather than the Macbook Air, I think I would go for the 13" Macbook Pro as it would be more convenient and capable of other things.

Steve

[davephdv 0]

Rather than the Macbook Air, I think I would go for the 13" Macbook Pro as it would be more convenient and capable of other things.

Steve

 

 

Smallest and lightest.

[DiverPam 13]

11" macbook air, then use bootcamp to load windows.

 

According to the Wall Street Journal, the best laptop for running windozs.

 

 

Thanks for the input. What is bootcamp and is it free? And I consider myself tech challenged when it comes "easy" to load things and changing out chips. Why would I buy a MAC product to load windows on it? I am sure that seems like a stupid question to some - but humor me please.

 

Thanks - DiverPam

[andy_deitsch 17]

Thanks for the input. What is bootcamp and is it free? And I consider myself tech challenged when it comes "easy" to load things and changing out chips. Why would I buy a MAC product to load windows on it? I am sure that seems like a stupid question to some - but humor me please.

 

Thanks - DiverPam

 

Hi Pam,

 

Bootcamp allows you to choose which operating system you want to load when you boot your computer. I was a diehard PC guy since the beginning of the PC but switched last year to a Mac Book Pro and LOVE IT! I use a program called VirtualBox which is free. Essentially, instead of choosing at start up which operating system to run, VirtualBox allows you to run a Windows OS within your Mac OS. The cool thing about it is that there's a mode that allows you to have the Windows apps run seamlessly so you can be running Mac and Windows apps side by side on the same computer.

 

Why would you want to do this? Well if you've invested in Windows apps, this gives you the opportunity to migrate apps to the Mac over time. As new versions of software come out, you buy the Mac version and slowly transition away from the PC. There are of course apps that are only available for Windows and in that case you can run those on your Mac through VirtualBox too. When I first had my Mac, I was running Lightroom and Photoshop CS4 on Windows within the Mac until I got Lightroom and Photoshop CS5 for the Mac.

 

VirtualBox is what's known as a virtual machine. You could actually run any operating system you want inside it. I happen to have Windows 7 64-bit running. You will need to install Windows inside VirtualBox which means you need the Windows DVD and license key which you hopefully have from your existing machine.

 

Andy

[johnspierce 25]

The lightest, smallest computer than does Lightroom *really well*. It would be 11" Macbook Air with the i5 and 4gb RAM, hands down. Fantastic machine, really quick, super light. Load it up with Lightroom 4, CS6 and Parallels with Windows 7 instead of Bootcamp.

 

Parallels has a feature called "coherence" mode with allows you to mingle Windows and OSX apps without switching OS's or rebooting. It works fantastic. I use MS Office under Windows 7 and I can double click on a .docx file and OSX will automatically launch Word under Windows without leaving OSX. I don't know if I'm explaining it very well, but it works really awesome. For file comparisons I still believe the Windows version of Beyond Compare works better than anything OSX has, so I just use it through Parallels. In Coherence mode, Windows can "see and write to" the OSX folders and OSX can "see and write to" Windows directories.

 

The Macbook Air is just an awesome device. There's a reason every Windows laptop manufacturer is trying to copy the concept -- it really is a game changer. Barely larger than an iPad and more powerful than any laptop more than 1 year old. The SSD in the Macbook Air makes everything launch almost instantly.

 

Do this -- go to the Apple store with a flash drive full of photos and pop it into a Macbook Air. It will shock you how fast it will load your photos in iPhoto.

 

take care,

JP

[andy_deitsch 17]

The lightest, smallest computer than does Lightroom *really well*. It would be 11" Macbook Air with the i5 and 4gb RAM, hands down. Fantastic machine, really quick, super light. Load it up with Lightroom 4, CS6 and Parallels with Windows 7 instead of Bootcamp.

 

Parallels has a feature called "coherence" mode with allows you to mingle Windows and OSX apps without switching OS's or rebooting. It works fantastic. I use MS Office under Windows 7 and I can double click on a .docx file and OSX will automatically launch Word under Windows without leaving OSX. I don't know if I'm explaining it very well, but it works really awesome. For file comparisons I still believe the Windows version of Beyond Compare works better than anything OSX has, so I just use it through Parallels. In Coherence mode, Windows can "see and write to" the OSX folders and OSX can "see and write to" Windows directories.

 

The Macbook Air is just an awesome device. There's a reason every Windows laptop manufacturer is trying to copy the concept -- it really is a game changer. Barely larger than an iPad and more powerful than any laptop more than 1 year old. The SSD in the Macbook Air makes everything launch almost instantly.

 

Do this -- go to the Apple store with a flash drive full of photos and pop it into a Macbook Air. It will shock you how fast it will load your photos in iPhoto.

 

take care,

JP

 

Yep, Parallels is another virtual machine similar to VirtualBox. What Parallels calls "coherence mode", VirtualBox calls "seamless windows". They're both virtual machines so either solution will do a similar job. Parallels is about $80, VirtualBox is free but if you feel that you need the tech support Pam, you may want to pay the $80 for Parallels.

[DiverPam 13]

Thanks for all of the info guys. The Best Buy here has an Mac display with a specialist to help wtih questions, etc. I also think we have an Apple store in a local mall that I could check out. Will try this as soon as I can.

 

Thanks again - Pam

[Drew 0]

The new macbooks with Retina display will be out in the next few months. I'd wait if you can.

[acuevas 4]

Mac is not the only solution.

I have an ASUS Zenbook UX31E-DH72 Ultrabook 13.3" and is a rocket.

Weight 2.87 lb

 

1.80GHz Intel Core i7-2677M

4GB DDR3 RAM

256GB SATA III Solid State Drive

USB 3

[johnspierce 25]

Mac is not the only solution.

I have an ASUS Zenbook UX31E-DH72 Ultrabook 13.3" and is a rocket.

Weight 2.87 lb

 

1.80GHz Intel Core i7-2677M

4GB DDR3 RAM

256GB SATA III Solid State Drive

USB 3

 

The ASUS Zenbook is an impressive Windows ultrabook. Quite competitive with the 13" Macbook Air. However, if the intent is to get the "smallest" computer for traveling, the 11" Macbook Air is both smaller and lighter.

 

Also, a Zenbook with the spec you have listed above is $1500 vs. an 11" Macbook Air with 4gb/128gb/i5 at $1200. It's more machine to be sure, so it depends on how much a person wants to spend. It's certainly another good choice for a travel machine.

 

I think if a person wants a Windows machine, the ASUS is the best one out, but I personally would rather have the Macbook Air if nothing else because the trackpad and keyboard are better than any Windows machine I have owned or tried.

 

Just stirrin' the pot

 

JP

[acuevas 4]

The ASUS Zenbook is an impressive Windows ultrabook. Quite competitive with the 13" Macbook Air. However, if the intent is to get the "smallest" computer for traveling, the 11" Macbook Air is both smaller and lighter.

 

Also, a Zenbook with the spec you have listed above is $1500 vs. an 11" Macbook Air with 4gb/128gb/i5 at $1200. It's more machine to be sure, so it depends on how much a person wants to spend. It's certainly another good choice for a travel machine.

 

I think if a person wants a Windows machine, the ASUS is the best one out, but I personally would rather have the Macbook Air if nothing else because the trackpad and keyboard are better than any Windows machine I have owned or tried.

 

Just stirrin' the pot

 

JP

 

In that case we can consider the ASUS Zenbook UX21E-DH71 Ultrabook 11.6"

 

1.80GHz Intel Core i7-2677M Dual-Core

4GB of RAM

128GB Solid State Drive

USB 3

2.43 lb

 

Right now offered by BHphoto at $999.00

[johnspierce 25]

In that case we can consider the ASUS Zenbook UX21E-DH71 Ultrabook 11.6"

 

1.80GHz Intel Core i7-2677M Dual-Core

4GB of RAM

128GB Solid State Drive

USB 3

2.43 lb

 

Right now offered by BHphoto at $999.00

 

Nice. A worthy competitor if one wishes to have a Windows box. ASUS makes nice stuff.

[davephdv 0]

Thanks for the input. What is bootcamp and is it free? And I consider myself tech challenged when it comes "easy" to load things and changing out chips. Why would I buy a MAC product to load windows on it? I am sure that seems like a stupid question to some - but humor me please.

 

Thanks - DiverPam

 

 

Boot amp is free with Mac.

 

Unlike the others mentioned it runs Windows as your root operating system. So it maybe faster.

 

 

Either way you would have to buy windows OS to installl.

[davehicks 123]

The ZenBook 11" & 13" ultrabook PC's are great recommendations. The Samsung Series 9 11" & 13" are also excellent. I would really recommend a 13" system however if you want to do some lightweight photo editing. The size and weight of an 11" vs 13" in PC is really, really small. In the case of both the ZenBook and Series 9 systems above the difference between 13" (2.6 lbs) and 11" (2.4 lbs) is just a few ounces. The extra screen size will make working with photos a lot easier. I know the 13" units are both 1600x900 screen size, which is definitely the minimum you should accept. These are all screaming fast pc's with core i5 cpus and fast SSD drives. The Samsung has the sharpest and brightest screen I have ever seen on a laptop.

 

Samsung Series 9:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstor...87200/list.true

 

Please don't pay any mind to suggestions to use VirtualBox or Parallels. This is crazy talk and should be reserved for hard core nerds. And running 2 operating systems on a computer with a 128 GB SSD drive is a HUGE waste of space. The storage is small enough on these systems already. You need more room for photos!!!

[johnspierce 25]

This is crazy talk and should be reserved for hard core nerds. And running 2 operating systems on a computer with a 128 GB SSD drive is a HUGE waste of space. The storage is small enough on these systems already. You need more room for photos!!!

 

Yes, this is crazy talk and yes, I'm a hard core nerd

 

It's really only necessary to run a VM of some sort if you absolutely must run a Windows program. I agree it's unnecessary - I do so only because I like to use the Windows version of Microsoft Office. Also, I have this stupid program called iGolf to manage my golf GPS unit which refuses to work well in OSX, so I just use the Windows version of the program

 

On the 128gb drive thing, I will tell you what I'm running on my 15" Macbook Pro:

 

- 8gb RAM

- 128gb SSD

- 500gb regular hard drive where the CD drive used to be.

- OSX

- Windows 7

- Parallels v.7

- Lightroom 4.0

- Adobe CS5

- Photomatix

- Nik's filters

- Tiffen filters

- Microsoft Office for Windows

- Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc.

 

I use the 500gb drive for data only, programs and both OS's on the SSD. I have close to 60gb free on the SSD.

 

I would recommend with any laptop keeping your photos backed up on an external drive, say 500gb or more. In addition to that, I carry a bunch of SD cards with me and don't delete any photos when on a trip. That way, I have my photos in two different places in case of catastrophe.

 

A 11" or 13" laptop with a 128gb SSD is more than sufficient using this methodology.

 

JP

Edited May 31, 2012 by johnspierce

[acuevas 4]

I would recommend with any laptop keeping your photos backed up on an external drive, say 500gb or more. In addition to that, I carry a bunch of SD cards with me and don't delete any photos when on a trip. That way, I have my photos in two different places in case of catastrophe.

 

I use an external 2Tb usb 3 drive for my photos. When I'm out of home my photos are in the SD cards, the laptop drive and in the external drive. I'm a little paranoid.

I have now all my photos in Bluray disks for backup, that way I can delete the photos from the SD cards and the laptop drive.

[JKrumsick 3]

Hey Diver Pam -

 

I think you should guesstimate how many photos you will be taking on the trip. Last year I dove Taiwan, Komodo, Lembeh and Palau with one comp. I dove for 5 weeks with a Toshiba netbook with 250 gigs of hard drive space and I filled it up (also had an extra 100 gigs of extra compact flash cards and filled all of those up too). So I would take into account how much storage you will need.

 

Also - having a larger monitor is helpful for viewing your photos. I really wish I would have had a larger monitor to critique my photos and help my technique.

 

Just some thoughts!

 

Cheers,

Jeremy

[holloways 2]

Below are the "official" Adobe Lightroom system requirements (which I got from the B&H site).

 

What are your thoughts about these requirements given Pam (and my) need for a fast and super light weight traveling computer (or MAC) that can run Lightroom. Do these requirements need to be enhanced to make the SW run efficiently? What do these systems REALLY need? (ie: what processor, how much RAM, etc.. I'm not sure about PAM but I'll be taking 16+/- mp RAW photos and I will be on a liveaboard.

 

 

 

Windows:Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 processor

Microsoft Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 or Windows 7 with Service Pack 1

2.0 GB of RAM

1.0 GB of available hard-disk space

1024 x 768 display

DVD-ROM drive

Internet connection required for Internet-based services

 

Mac OS:

Multicore Intel processor with 64-bit support

Mac OS X v10.6.8 or v10.7

2.0 GB of RAM

1.0 GB of available hard-disk space

1024 x 768 display

DVD-ROM drive

Internet connection required for Internet-based services