Steve Ingraham’s Point and Shoot Landscape

Compact Dell 13in laptop with Aspire One Netbook on top.

(Ed. Note: for more on the Netbooked/Cloud Computing Mobile life, check out Cloudy Days and Netbook Nights.)

Netbook: a term coined by Intel to describe a small, relatively energy efficient, relatively inexpensive, laptop or notebook-like-device primarily intended for email and web-browsing. They not only coined the term, they produced an integrated chip set around the mobile Celeron processor that made building the devices pretty much a problem of assembling the appropriate peripheral components. Since then, Intel has introduced the Atom processors which are even more efficient and several times as powerful.

Asus was the first out the door, just over a year ago,  with a viable commercial version in the EEE PC (there is a logic behind the name…just not good logic). The first Netbook, living up to Intel’s vision, came with a simplified user interface built on the Linux operating system, with email and web applications, along with some basic programs for word processing and light graphics, etc., on a tabbed desktop. There was no easy way for the user to modify the interface, or to install new programs. That was part of Intel’s, and Asus’s, vision.

Of course, many early adopters either worked their way around the simple interface to run a Linux desktop that is somewhere between Windows and Mac, and just as functional as either, or they installed a stripped down version of Windows XP. The demand for Windows versions was so great, as more manufactures entered the Netbook market, that the first XP versions began to appear within 3 months of the birth of the Netbook. Demand was so great, in fact, that it was a major factor (along with the generalized poor reception of Vista) in forcing Microsoft to extend the life of XP.  Technically XP is only available on Netbooks from here on out (until the introduction of Windows 7, which will apparently have a dedicated Netbook version).

Once you have a full working Linux OS or XP, then you are free to fill your limited storage space with any programs you choose, including image management and image editing aps.

There have always been small compact laptops, of course, 11-12 inch, but they were incredibly expensive, often twice what a comparable 14-15 inch laptop cost. The Netbooks, on the other hand, are available beginning at around $300, for Linux versions with smallish (4GB or less)  Solid State Drives for storage (SSDs), and going up to about $550, for XP versions with greater storage, even Hard Drives up to 160GB. These units weigh between 2 and 3 pounds, and are the size of a portable DVD player.

Acer alone shipped between 5 and 6 million Netbooks in 2008. Asus shipped another 4 million. There are now more than 35 models from more than 20 different makers, including all of the major names but Sony and Apple. Best Buy just added a Netbook category to its web-site and a Netbooks fill many of the top ten seller spots for laptops at Amazon month after month. Industry analysts expect the market to be in 35 million units range by the end of 2009.

So, what does this mean for the traveling fotog? It means that for the first time you can afford to own and carry a really small portable computer, capable of downloading the daily take of images certainly, but also capable of running Lightroom, Lightzone, Photoshop Elements, etc. and, as Intel envisioned, the email client and web-browser of your choice (and some generic office suite that reads Micosoft Office formats for those of us who think we will actually do some work on the things). You can download, post process, and upload to Flickr or Fotki or Smugmug, or post to Facebook or your blog, all without carrying around a 6-10 pound laptop.

You might be tempted. I was. I bought an Asus EEE PC running Linux last November, soon after they came out, while still in short supply. Since then I have owned an Asus EEE PC 900 16Gb with Windows XP, and this post is being composed on a Acer Aspire One with the new Atom chip set, a 120GB hard drive, and XP.  Of course, internet (and information) junky that I am, I read the blogs and surf the forums (two dedicated intirely to the Netbook phenomenon and several others dedicated to one brand or another) and read the Netbook news that appears regularly on my Technology tab in iGoogle, so you might say that I am earning my qualificatoin to advise my fellow photographers on Netbook purchases.

What are your choices?

In reality, almost all of the Netbooks on the market are built around the same Intel chip set, so they tend to be a lot alike. That reduces the options greatly. Still there are decisions to be made.

Operating System:

I really like Linux. However, since none of the Adobe Photoshop family runs on Linux, XP would have to be the OS of choice for fotogs. I, personally, tried to live with the image cataloging programs and image editing aps available on Linux. Cataloging: nothing that really works. Editing: Gimp and LightZone. Both fine programs, but not nearly as powerful as the Elements/Lightroom combo (and both Gimp and LightZone have Windows versoins if you must. LightZone is definitely worth having on your hard drive for dramatic landscapes. See Dramatic Landscapes: Lightroom vs. LightZone)

(And two more reasons to use XP: 1) you can’t legally put Mac OS on anything not made by Apple, and 2) iTunes does not run on Linux!)

Aspire One running Lightroom in Catalog mode

 

and in Develop Mode

Storage:

Choices are Solid State Drives in the 4GB to 20GB range (higher capacities coming), or conventional Hard Drives in the 80 to 160GB range. SSDs have the no moving parts advantage, which make them potentially more stable in a mobile device, however, for image processing, you are going to want as much storage (both for programs and files) as you can get. Elements takes up the better part of half a Gig on your hard drive, on top of a Gig or more for the OS. You might fill a 2 Gig memory card in a heavy day of shooting. You get the idea. Furthermore, XP was not designed to run efficiently on a SSD, and neither were any of the programs you will be using for photography. Lightroom, I am pretty sure, killed the SSD on my EEE PC (after it had already killed a 16GB SD card). So. For photography, hard drives in the 120-160GB range are perhaps the better choice.

Screen size and quality

It is more about quality than size. You can edit images on a 7 inch screen, if the screen is good enough. The limitation here is that 7 inch screens run a 800×480 resolution. Most programs find that cramped. 8.9 inch screens with 1024×600 resolution are better. Some are really amazingly good. The Acer Aspire One screen, because of its crispness, continuously impresses me as being bigger than the same sized screen on the Asus 900, and I find it completely adequate for image processing in Lightroom, etc.

Of course there are a lot of 10 inch screen Netbooks coming out now. Unfortunately they still run 1024×600 resolution, so I don’t really see the advantage. Personally, I like the compact size that a 8.9 inch screen allows overall.

Remember, it is more about screen quality than it is size. To assess the screen quality you need to see the Netbook in operation. Fortunately stores like Staples and Best Buy, even some Walmarts, are carrying a few Netbooks now, so you will be able to check out at least a few models.

Photoshop Elements on the Aspire One

Keyboard and trackpad

You won’t be spending all your time editing and uploading photos. You will want to be able to type on the Netbook. I thought my Asus 900, with an 8.9 inch screen, had an adequate keyboard, until, that is, I bought the Acer Aspire One. The One has a keyboard that is about 3/4 inch wider than the Asus. Doesn’t sound like much, but it makes all the difference in the world. The keyboard is the major advantage of the 10 inch Netbooks.

Just 3/4 inch bigger, but it makes the Aspire One much easier to type on.

Not all trackpads are created eqaual, and, while you will be using a mobile mouse most of the time (of course), there will be times when you have to use the trackpad. Look for one that allows gestures: two finger scrolling being the most important. The tactile feel is also important. The EEE PC had the best trackpad I have encounted in my limited Netbook experience. Nice traction. Gesture enabled. Good buttons. The Acer on the other hand, took some getting used to (and the download of a little ap to enable some gestures). I use it now, and am comfortable, but is was trial at first.

Trackpads: EEE PC 900 and Aspire One

(Speaking of which: sliders, like those in Lightroom or LightZone, are the bane of trackpads. Ever try to slide using one finger to track and another to hold the button down. Not fun. Both Lightroom and LightZone understand, however, that if you click on the pointer of a slider (sometimes it takes a center click, or wheel click, of the mouse) and then scroll you really want the program to move the slider. With gestures enabled on the my Aspire One, I can tap the trackpad with three fingers (to simulate a wheel click), and then scroll with two fingers on the pad to move the slider. Pretty slick. That means I can edit images on the tray table on an airplane without getting out my mobile mouse.)

Memory (system memory: RAM)

XP is supposed to max out at 1GB on a Netbook, but some will take 2GB of RAM. Avoid Netbooks which have only 512MB and are not upgradable. Adobe programs want more. LightZone wants more. For that matter, Firefox wants more. Get, or upgrade, to at least 1GB.

Processor

For the foreseeable future the vast majority of Netbooks will ship with the Atom 270 processor, clocked at 1.6G. Lightroom, LightZone, Firefox, Java, Elements, Office (and its clones) all run fine on the Atom. A dual core Atom is promised. Don’t wait for it, but you don’t buy a Netbook for another year (bad idea) it should be showing up by then.

There are a few other processor makers out there playing in the Netbook market, but none have a product to equal the Intel offering yet.

Flickr site on Firefox on the Aspire One

What else?

If you go for a Netbook, while the Hard Drive will be adequate for running programs and on-the-fly storage, you will want to purchase an inexpensive external hard drive with higher capacity for storing and backing up image files. 250GB drives are readily available for less than $100.

Conclusion

Based on my personal research, there are several Netbooks that might make a traveling fotog happy. I can recommend the Acer Aspire One, with XP, and either the 120 or 160GB drive without reservation. It runs Lightroom, Elements, LightZone, Faststone image viewer, and Thinkfree office flawlessly and relatively fast. Firefox 3.x flies. Thunderbird/Lightening is a great mail client and appointments calendar and works well. At $349 for the 1GB model with 120GB drive and XP, it has to be the best buy. (PC World rated it the Best Buy among Netbooks tested in the December 2008 issue.)

The Lenovo Ideapad S10 looks like very nice machine as well, but  I have not seen the screen. Likewise the Samsung NC10 is getting good press. The Asus EEE PC 1000H, with a Gig of RAM and a 160GB Hard Drive looks good too. All of these have 10 inch 1024×600 screens and XP and are going for about $100 more than the 8.9 inch Aspire with a similar configuration.

For the complete low-down on Netbooks, check out the Liliputing blog. Their database makes comparison of models easier. Another great site for geneal Netbook news is Netbook Tech. Either site will have links directly to the manufactures’ websites for more info.

With prices in the same range as a high tech cell phone (iPhone, Blackberry Storm, etc.) and almost all of the functionality of a full sized laptop, the Netbook has captured me. It is an essential photographic tool, only second to my camera, on every trip. You might want one too. Just don’t blame me when talking to your spouse about it!