Thursday, January 22, 2009

My new laptop


As I mentioned in my last post, I got a new laptop. Monday we made the trek down country (LOL, I love that phrase) to the nearest Best Buy and picked it up. Its absolutely HUGE compared to my HP laptop; it even has a number pad! My fingers are so confused and my typos so numerous because of this that I've had to actually practice typing so I get used to the placement. I chose this particular laptop because it has amazing graphics capabilities along with tons of ram and a kick-ass processor. And the screen was big, hey...my eyesight isn't what it used to be.
So I get this bad boy home, set it up, download my programs, update what needed to be updated and proceeded to open up one of my photos in photo shop. Big mistake. I never realized how much noise was in my pictures before...and how pixely they are. I am most defiantly my own worst critic, and I know I tend to pick my stuff apart, but there was no missing this; bands of blue in the snow, areas that just looked....horrible.
I knew I needed a better camera, It's old in digital camera years. 6 mega pixels is nothing anymore, Mike brought home a little point and shoot digital that cost less than a hundred dollars that has 9 mega pixels! For most people the MP's don't really matter, but I do a lot of cropping and blowing up and when you do that, or want to print big pictures, MP's really matter.
Now I'm sitting here waiting to be able to process tons of photos on this work horse of a laptop only to realize that every picture I take from now on is going to be a lost cause because I'm going to see the imperfections instead of the composition and the colors and everything else that makes a picture jump out and grab you...why? because I SUCK! lol. I know myself, I know I'm not going to be able to let it go, I'm not going to be able to look beyond what I consider wrong, it's a flaw in my make up. Thankfully there is nothing too wrong with my old laptop, sure I can't process more than a few pictures at a time, and forget adding more than 3 layers because if you do the program will most likely lock up and shut down on you. But at least in there I won't have to see the noise and the pixels! So I think I'll process my pictures on the HP, and Ill save this baby for when I get a new camera...the one I have my eye on has 15.1 MP and automatic noise reduction! I purr like Psycho every time I think about it...or maybe that's just a side effect of post nasal drip....yeah yeah..TMI I know :-P
I just wanted to add, I just ran a spell check on this..and OMG LOL...I've never seen that many yellow highlights on one page EVER. I really need to invest in a typing program...this is ridicilous :-P

7 comments:

Kimberly said...

If you really want to work on pictures in photoshop, why didn't you get a Mac?

I am not criticizing, but Mac's are a better choice in this field. I use a PowerBook G4 laptop and I have a G4 desktop. My husbands family has been using Mac's since they came out in 1984. We still have their original Mac, and it works too!

Now, my two boys are die hard gamers and would die if we took away their PCs, but my hubby has one of the new Mac's that run WIndows applications. One stroke of a key can let you jump back and forth between the Mac and PC.

Cameras are a huge argument around here. My hubby insisted on buying a big, clunky digit Canon camera. It takes beautiful and crisp pictures that can be enlarged to poster size. I hate it! It's not practical. It seems like he uses my 10mp Sony Cybershot most of the time, because I carry it around in my pocket or purse and it's always handy.

stace41971 said...

If I knew I didn't have to pay for a new camera in the next few months I would have gotten a Mac, I love how easy they are and, you're right, they are a much better choice for graphic design...but...I didnt want to have to re-purchace photoshop, OR any of my games (if its rainy or i dont feel good, Im apt to just curl up in bed with a movie and my laptop and play games all day) on top of the price of a Mac...Im hoping that by the time this laptop becomes obsolete I have enough put away to get one. :)
I have to agree with your husband on cameras...I cannot work the little point and shoot cameras...at all. I don't know why. I have to have a big slr in my hands with all those dials and adjustments...they're easier. I know, I'm weird. :-P

Anonymous said...

Wolf-whistle at your new laptop. Now go stop being so obsessive...LOL!

Gayle said...

Congratulations on the new toy! :)

Kimberly said...

If you need software for anything, let me know. We have just about everything! : )

I can snail mail you a copy!

Firefly Mom said...

Wow - that's an awsome laptop! And what a wonderful excuse to get a new camera ;P We were given our current camera, which is tons better than our last one, but still not nearly what I want. Like you, I'm a cropper and enlarger and this one just won't let me do that well. It'll look fine on the computer, but once I get the prints they're all grainy. Let us know when you get your new one, and post some pix!

Firefly Mom said...

I *should* have said to post some pix that you take WITH the new camera. It kinda sounds like I asked for pix OF the camera. Though that would be OK, too ;D