Reply With QuoteI've got a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (last model). It's brilliant for holidays, light and a powerfull laptop in it's own right. You can use it like a tablet or with, the also very light, keyboard.
Haven’t really kept up with laptops for a while, I use pc or IPad however...
Going on holiday later this year where myself and my Wife are likely to take a lot of photos and video
and will mostly be staying where there is no internet connection. I want to be able to view and sort through photos on something bigger than the camera screen plus make a back up of them and be able to view the backup to make sure it’s worked.
The Ipad is rubbish for this as seems you need to download them to view them and doesn’t have enough storage, have looked into a wireless hub and hard disk solution but they seem rather unreliable and clunky in use and as means taking 2 additional items and the IPad am wondering if it makes more sense to take a cheap laptop.
As long as it has something like a decent 10/11 inch screen that would be ok and doesn’t need to really do anything else except be ok for browsing when we are somewhere with internet but would want it to be lightweight and cheap...any suggestions advice appreciated
I've got a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (last model). It's brilliant for holidays, light and a powerfull laptop in it's own right. You can use it like a tablet or with, the also very light, keyboard.
Lenovo.
Either the outgoing Miix 320 or the current D 330.
The 320 will be ok in 4GB guise and can be had for less than £200 second hand.
Also, I've just bought a Teclast F5 from gearbest. £275 and performs well, (although, I did have to reinstall Windows as it was really glitchy).
I was messing around with a Surface go the day and it was impressive. The cheaper version with a big SD card in sounds perfect for you
Thanks everyone, the MS surface seems to be right kind of thing and a lot lighter than the Lenovo and
Teclast.
The Pro seems to be a bit more than I want to spend unless can find an older model at a good price,
so maybe will go and look at the ‘go’
If you don't want to go Pro, you really might be better off finding a high spec surface pro 3 than the go. I work in IT and it's now the only laptop I use for business. It's really that good / powerful!
J
I just popped out and looked at the Go, size and weight is ideal the only draw back is lack of connectivity with 1 USB and no sd card slot but guess could get a small USB
hub but was hoping to find something which had both, think in this size thast unlikely though.
I dont really need anything powerful so dont see the advantage of going for a Pro unless it had more connections.
10 or 11 inch?? you must have great eyesight - my old 12.5" is looking a bit small these days... .I started with a 10 moved on to an 11.6 ... I'm thinking about a 14
It definitely has an SD card slotOriginally Posted by TBKBABAB
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It’s only to check them not to do any editing on, definitely better than a 3’’ camera screen
Which model? The Go and the Pro 6 only have micro sd slots and was trying to check the the specs of the 2017 Pro and seems to be a micro sd as well.
Last edited by TBKBABAB; 1st February 2019 at 17:59.
Sorry I did mean Micro SD.
I hadn't considered you might want full slots.
In my camera I have a micro SD in an adapter so this wouldnt be a problem
Mine are all full size cards and there is no way to connect them to a micro sd slot so would
need to use a reader connected to the USB slot which is a pain as would like to transfer them
to a flash drive view the cheaper Surfaces only have 64 GB memory. Trying to keep stuff to
a minimum but this would mean taking a USB hub as well.
Would a tablet not do?
You could do it the other way around- put the adapter in the camera and then shoot to micro sd cards in the camera the laptop accepts but understand that is more expensive. I don’t know if the micro SD interface is faster than a USB ?
I have a surface pro although would like a surface go for travel due to the smaller size and weight. The surface pro is very capable but expensive if you wouldn’t make more use from it. I think a new model may have just been released which might make the previous version more affordable.
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Have an iPad which won’t work
Think the ‘GO’ is the best option and buy a small sd card reader to plug into the USB port, Sandisk do one which is really small, and a couple of 128gb micro sd cards which can then use to back up in the GO.
No need to take a USB hub doing it this way.
I need fast SD cards in the camera (and already have them) but not to use in the GO for back up so can get good quality but not super fast 128gb ones for about £16 each.
Last edited by TBKBABAB; 2nd February 2019 at 09:58.
I have a Mabook Air - I don’t use it very much but when I do need to it’s very good.
So clever my foot fell off.
Very nice but just too much money for what it will be used for.
Sorry, I meant an android one that takes an SD card. If it really is just for sorting photos whilst on holiday, then pop down to your local CEX and they should have some second hand cheap enough. If you think that you'll use the thing upon your return, then spend a little more and go for something decent. I've seen the Surface Go suggested. I've had no experience of these but they sound good and are very light / compact.
I use a Surface Pro as my main computer and as others have said, they are very impressive bits of kit.
Having an iPad would rather go for something a little more laptop like and that uses same OS as my pc and all the android tablets only take micro sd as well so would have to have the same set up as the GO. Can pick up a refurbished/returned GO from major retailer with 12 month warranty for about £300 so think that’s still looking like best option.
If you want a Windows 10 machine then possibly also look at the Galaxy Tab/book range. these are similar specs to the Surface Pro but can be had a lot cheaper. They come in at 10.6 and 12 inch screens and vary in spec from Intel Mobile or i5 configuration but they are available on the bay for around £200 for a clean example, I saw one at the moment that was 6months old going for £289..
both the mobile and i5 processors are a lot more capable than the Pentium in the Go.
musicMagpie sell refurb Macbook Air for just over £400 with a 12month warranty
https://store.musicmagpie.co.uk/cate...amenu_id=TNTLL
The Macbook Air is actually about twice the weight of the GO and after buying my Wife a refurbished camera last week from the manufacturer which wasnt working after 1 day
been told not to go down that route. If I had a Samsung phone might look at a Samsung but also bit heavier and keyboard isnt so good and a lot more new, processor isnt super
important for what I want it for.
Any way have bitten the bullet on a GO, think I managed to get a pretty good, lucky deal, 8GB Ram and a 126GB SSD which gives me much better storage at £450 including
keyboard. I think they screwed up the online price as next best for same one from Uk offical retailer was £470 without the keyboard or £460 refurbished with. Their Price now jumped
to £610.
If most of what you need is a fairly recent Windows machine with a fullsize SD card slot, you could also get a pre-owned Lenovo Thinkpad X230 or something like it. Fairly small, 12-inch screen, SD card slot, USB 3 ports so you can back up to an external harddisk if needed. It may have Windows 7 but that is still fine for what you want to do. And it won't break the bank so you'll have more left to spend on the holiday itself. Some sellers of refurbished machines will offer a choice of harddisk sizes, so go with the largest one for all those photos and videos.
I can also heartily recommend Faststone Image Viewer as a good image handling program on a Windows machine. It's free (you may make a donation but it makes no difference to the functionality).
Thanks but something around 10’’ was biggest I really wanted to go, have a photographic back pack
with a compartment for something that size but also wanted to keep the weight as low as possible.
ill check out Faststone.
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