By Bill
Once in a while I run across equipment that offers me more flexibility when traveling. I am always looking for smaller and lighter. Less weight and less space are important.
For a photographer, having a means to view and save digital photographs while in the field is important. I have used a Vosonic VP8360 unit for viewing and saving photographs on it’s 120GB hard drive, but I have been disappointed with the resolution on it’s tiny screen, although Vosonic has not let me down ever; it’s a great company with wonderful personalized support.
Recently, while visiting CompUSA, I saw an Acer Aspire One laptop. I was attracted to the device because of it’s size. It measures 9.8 X 6.7 X 1.14 inches and weighs 2.19 pounds.
It has a terrific LCD high resolution screen with 1024 X 600 pixel resolution.
Moreover, I was impressed with it’s price. I paid $380 for the 160GB model.
I was amazed at what the little device can do. First there is WIFI built in, meaning that I can connect to the Internet wirelessly. Second, it has three USB ports, and more importantly two card slots that read SD card media including SDHC. So, with no adapter, I can offload photos taken on SD cards directly to the hard drive. And, with my external 120GB drive I have more than enough space to keep two copies of all my shots over a month long period or more.
Important too is how well it is made, it must be reasonably rugged. I have found the Aspire One to be a quality product, equal in all respects to machines costing hundreds of dollars more.
It took me about two hours to set up the machine the way I like. I have loaded Firefox and Thunderbird, added software to sync with my Nokia E71 Cellphone, installed a bluetooth adapter so I can use a bluetooth mouse, and then installed Irfanview, wonderful free software that will allow me to review shots I have made, including RAW files. I don’t expect to be doing any major Photoshop work while traveling so I have not loaded the software. What I have is a great device for storing my photos while on the go, a device with a high resolution screen for viewing photos, a device that will allow me to tether to my E71 when I am not near a wifi connection, and connectivity to a hotspot for surfing the web or reading email on the go.
It has a lot more stuff, but the items I have mentioned are the ones I will use constantly.
Including from time to time adding entries to my blog while on the road.
But what I like most is it’s size. Less is better.
Setup was painless for a Windows machine. I’m a Mac user and I expected lots of difficulties configuring the PC Home software, but I have to admit, it went smoothly.
So, now I have a small and easy-to-tote laptop that will help me out on the road. And all for less than $400! And the good news is that it will fit quite nicely in my LowePro Mini Trekker AW camera backpack!
