PC laptops and Phocus 2.6

[Mats E]

Keith,

PM sent.

D

Time flies and so do progress of technology....

I am considering upgrading both my Dell XPS M1210 laptop and the desktop. Based on todays available supply, what specs are you guys recommending? PS, LR and Phocus are running ok  (but somewhat slow and the desktop getting more unreliable...) on current PCs. However, I can´t make tethered work on the laptop using a firwire expresscard.

What can we expect from Firewire going forward as it is a vanishing protocol especially now with the new USB 3,0 "standard" and aside from Mac, there are hardly any laptops in the market with firewire. Would of course prefer a really slim portable tool like the ASUS Zen with 256 GB SSD and as needed an external USB 3,0 HDD - but how connect it with the camera??

Would be greatful to get some updated views on this subject.

Thanks,
Mats

[Richard Naismith]

I got in December a Dell Precision M4600 15.6 inch screen, with 2.2Ghz Quad core i7 cpu, 128GB SSD for the OS and 750GB 7200rpm hard drive, 8GB RAM. It handles Phocus 2.6.4 fine, with no problems at all. Little heavy (3.5kgs maybe) but it handles anything thrown at it with no sweat. it has a Firewire 4 pin port built in, and an Express Card slot which I put my Firewire 800 express card in.
Highly recommended bar being a bit heavy.

All the best.

Richard Naismith

[Mats E]

I got in December a Dell Precision M4600 15.6 inch screen, with 2.2Ghz Quad core i7 cpu, 128GB SSD for the OS and 750GB 7200rpm hard drive, 8GB RAM. It handles Phocus 2.6.4 fine, with no problems at all. Little heavy (3.5kgs maybe) but it handles anything thrown at it with no sweat. it has a Firewire 4 pin port built in, and an Express Card slot which I put my Firewire 800 express card in.
Highly recommended bar being a bit heavy.

All the best.

Richard Naismith

Thanks Richard for sharing your experience.

Currently, I am loking at replacing my almost four year old Dell XPS M1210 with Intel Dual Core 4GB, which has been servicing fine including Phocus. However, I never managed to get the camera connection to work through a Chronos FW Express card.

Have been looking at Asus N55SL and a fully "loaded" Dell XPS 15, (both having the most powerfull i7 2670QM processor, latest 2 GB Nvidia, etc) but can´t really find out from their web site whether there is a a FW outlet or Express card slot to solve that issue. A MBP 15" with almost the same (but still less...) capacity costs almost 100% more. Hence, that is no option as you also need to install two OS to make life work......

The Phocus team at Hasselblad adviced me to look at Seagate Momentum XT drive, which has a built-in 4 GB SSD and is almost as fast as an SSD at a fraction of the cost. With this option you can get a 750 GB, 7,200 rpm. If not mistaken the Asus even has two (which I think is farely unique) HDD slots where you can put one 160 GB for OS and programs and 1 TB in the other one. Still, I want to solve the FW issue!!!

Anybody else with resent PC laptop experiences to share.

Mats