After the frustration of travelling with the upgraded laptop, that was having trouble connecting to wifi, amongst other frustrations. I felt it was time to get a much lighter but still powerful enough PC to use specifically for my photographic endeavors as I travel. The basics were pretty simple to map out, I wanted a browser, email, something run to Lightroom and OnOne 10 and Aftershot Pro. That would require 8GB as the minimum workable memory, an SSD drive if possible at least 256GB, a decent screen and light weight. Whilst there are lots of laptops that fit the bill I was attracted to just 3. The Microsoft Surface 4 Pro, the HP Spectre and the Apple MacBook Pro, Whilst the Apple with retina had the nicest screen it was by far the most expensive and I would have to restock my software tools and I’m not a fan of apple OS anyway. Relearning the way I work while I travelled was really not an option. The decision between the Surface Pro and the Spectre was more difficult. They are both 2 in 1 machines that can run as a Windows 10 PC but also be run in tablet mode and have touch screens. It ended up just being the spectre is a sexy build, very James Bond, metal case and much nicer keyboard and the backlight IPS screen has a lower resolution than the surface but looked better with my photos (I spent some time on each computer looking at my recent daily photos on flickr, then stress tested the wifi access and checked out their keyboard. Not exactly a detailed technical investigation). So all three would be fine but the spectre looks more durable & stylish, something I could confidently lug around and still get down to serious photographic post processing and management. I'm not used to touch screens (yet) but the spectre comes with a pen that works a lot like the pen stylus on a wacom tablet, so that feels natural and powerful for me. Keyboard and pen are extra costs on the surface putting it significantly higher in price for a comparable setup. At 1.4 kg with the power block its less than a fifth the weight of my toshiba laptop and power brick (7.5kg). Travel fun awaits...
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