Researching a new laptop for travel... I will be on the road for all of 2013, starting Jan. 2... I will be living in an RV and need something for PP work... As I will be staying at each location from 1 - 2 weeks I will have ample time for PP... Major concern is keeping the monitor calibrated... 1) Can you calibrate a laptop monitor (Mac / PC) ?? Is the Macbook pro with Retina display worth the extra money & can it be calibrated... Would I be better off just taking my desktop, although it is large ?? I would like to keep cost under $30000.00... What do you suggest... Thank You, Jim
Don't know about the Retina displays, but I have two recent MacBook Pros that actually calibrated much better than I expected them to using an X-Rite i1 Display Pro. The MBP's themselves, the 13 inch models, were only about $1200 per with another $120 to put 16 gb or ram in afterward. Of course, you can run the price up by going larger or adding sad drives, but the basic machine is pretty affordable. If you don't need the optical drive, you can replace it with a carrier for a second internal hard drive as well, which could be ssd or not.
Peter Figen wrote:
Don't know about the Retina displays, but I have two recent MacBook Pros that actually calibrated much better than I expected them to using an X-Rite i1 Display Pro. The MBP's themselves, the 13 inch models, were only about $1200 per with another $120 to put 16 gb or ram in afterward. Of course, you can run the price up by going larger or adding sad drives, but the basic machine is pretty affordable. If you don't need the optical drive, you can replace it with a carrier for a second internal hard drive as well, which could be ssd or not. ...Show more →
from what I see, the Retina displays look great but a laptop is a laptop and it's the first generation of the new style. You can be assured that after dropping 3k on a laptop, there will be upgrades within a year.
No laptop display is going to be as good as a good 22/24" display like the NEC or some of the Dell's when calibrated when used for post-processing.
howardm4 wrote:
from what I see, the Retina displays look great but a laptop is a laptop and it's the first generation of the new style. You can be assured that after dropping 3k on a laptop, there will be upgrades within a year.
No laptop display is going to be as good as a good 22/24" display like the NEC or some of the Dell's when calibrated when used for post-processing.
Thanks Howard... Do you recommend a NEC over an Elzo, Dell, or Asus... I was looking at this Asus if I needed to take my desktop... ASUS PB Series PB278Q 27" 5ms (GTG) WQHD HDMI Widescreen LED Monitor 300 cd/m2 80,000,000:1 Built-in Speakers ... Jim
Jim:
I'm using the NEC P221W connected to my Toshiba Tecra i7 laptop and both items are great.
The NEC Spectraview system is self calibrating and always precise.
Every two weeks it tells you to plug-in the sensor and run the software.
See you on the road.
Psychic1 wrote:
Jim:
I'm using the NEC P221W connected to my Toshiba Tecra i7 laptop and both items are great.
The NEC Spectraview system is self calibrating and always precise.
Every two weeks it tells you to plug-in the sensor and run the software.
See you on the road.
Thank you... Self-calibrating would be very helpful... Jim
that's really not the definition of 'self-calibrating'. In reality, you dont need to calibrate more than every month or 3 although some people like to do it much more often.
My Eizo is truly self calibrating in hardware, and does not need a computer to be connected. The sensor is on a small motorized arm that retracts into the bezel when done. I have it set for automatic calibration every two weeks, but there are other options. I like it because I don't need software on three connected computers or deal with other issues. I'm sure there are other ways to accomplish the same result, but this is easy and after the initial setup my work is done for 3-5 years until the monitor is replaced.
howardm4 wrote:
that's really not the definition of 'self-calibrating'. In reality, you dont need to calibrate more than every month or 3 although some people like to do it much more often.
I currently use a Spyder Pro 3 to calibrate once a month, but that is a desktop... I was hoping to use my laptop on the road... Thank you, Jim
EB-1 wrote:
My Eizo is truly self calibrating in hardware, and does not need a computer to be connected. The sensor is on a small motorized arm that retracts into the bezel when done. I have it set for automatic calibration every two weeks, but there are other options. I like it because I don't need software on three connected computers or deal with other issues. I'm sure there are other ways to accomplish the same result, but this is easy and after the initial setup my work is done for 3-5 years until the monitor is replaced.
