I only looked at the first of the machines you referenced. That machine is no stinking good! The internal hard drive should be 10 times larger, the memory should be at least 4, preferably 8 times larger. Wait for something you can use for a few years, don't buy something that will be useless in 3 months!
Though not as computer literate as many on the list, I do put a fair amount of study into it. I spend (or rather I authorize my office to spend) $20-30K (USD) every year on computer gear for the 10 of us in the office. There are luxuries you don't need, there is cheap crap you shouldn't buy, and there is a vast range of good usable equipment in the mid-range that will help you to be effective in your job. Don't be penny wise, pound foolish!
Of the 3 computers in my home, 2 were bought on eBay. It is a potentially good source. BUT, you should be looking for features, not price. As John Francis commented, you have a situation where you should not be fretting over a few dollars. I figure your gross income each year should be about $200k ASD, a net of $100k before taxes. You are doing yourself, your family, and your clients a serious disservice by buying cheap antiquated equipment that results in you spending time waiting for the computer to process an image, time you should be spending to be creative.
To repeat the familiar mantra from the List, Raise your prices! Raise your prices! Stop demeaning yourself by giving it away. Be proud of your work and make others proud to have used your service; raise your prices!
And, happy new year!
Stan stans-photography.info
Tanya Mayer Photography wrote:
In regards to my "laptop question", I have received many wonderful responses, some of which included:
John Francis saying: <snip>"This should be a business expense. Buy yourself a decent machine with a good warranty (a brand with a local dealer nearby would be a plus)." <snip> "And yet you're agonising over saving a couple of hundred dollars on a laptop computer that will be part of your mainstream revenue production process? If you're overworked, yet underpaid, your prices are too low. Raise them."
Mike Wilson with this advice, emailed to me off list but with permission to post it here: <snip> " You don't seem to have noticed, despite numerous people telling you, that you _have_ won the lottery. Most, if not all, of the professionals on this list can only dream of the opportunity that has fallen into your lap. Grab it. With both hands, hang on for dear life and bite the legs off anyone who tries to take it away from you. I'm including your sister and mother in that group. The first thing you need to do is get some money off them up front. Say, about enough to cover the cost of a decent laptop and burner? You are going to charge them a seriously five figure fee, aren't you?"
Frank queried: "I wondered if there's something about Macs that make them good for that application, ie: quickly editing then sending jpegs back to the paper/magazine immediately after the game."
Ryan offered: "what I meant to say is that it's not usually a big hassle to put in a cd burner in some not too old yet affordable secondhand laptops. No screwdrivers necessary. However, what I'd suggest to you though, is to find a laptop with perhaps USB2.0 or firewire connectivity, and to get an external DVDRW burner, instead of a CDRW... "
Steve offered: "Most Dell laptops made in the last few years have been modular - swapping the floppy or CD drive for a burner is as simple as pushing the release button on the bottom, sliding out the old drive and then pushing in the new one - you can even do it with the machine running. :-)"
Ok, soooo, here's my thinking:
As a result of this great booking that I have from the Middle Eastern couple, I am going to have a little bit of extra money floating around. Of course, my immediate thought was to go straight out and buy myself the *istD. Then, I stopped, and stood back to consider it for a while. And here are my plans... I will have about au$2k to "play with"...
1. Use au$1000 as the required deposit to LEASE the *istD for the next 2 years with an ongoing fee of au$45 p/month... 2. Use au$500 to purchase a used laptop to "get me by" until I can afford something better... 3. Use remaining au$500 to purchase some "other" items, I have been trying to organise - namely Windows XP upgrade, Quickbooks software, another CF card etc...
Yep, so I know that the laptop choice seems really dodgy, but it will "get me by" for now. Later on, I will probably lease a decent one and pass this "little" one onto my boys to play their PC games on.
In regards to laptops, John mentioned that i was "agonising over saving a couple of hundred dollars on a laptop". Well, I was just discussing computers with Rob Studdert the other day. You guys in the US, UK etc seem to have access to technology at much cheaper rates than we do down here. I am not talking a saving of a couple of hundred dollars here, I am talking thousands, around three to four to be exact. At the risk of making you all think I have gone stir-crazy, here are some links to some that I am watching and bidding on right now:
This first one, I am planning to snipe, as I think it would suit my needs the best and already has a burner installed:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3450455595&category=31560&rd=1
Then, there are these ones that look pretty good too, only I will have to purchase an external burner, which I would prefer to avoid if I can as it is one extra thing for me to lug around...
I like this one as it has two USB ports and is preloaded with Win 2000:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3450789600&category=3717&rd=1
This one's not tooooo bad, more RAM, but no OS or burner and slower CPU: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3450333325&category=31560&rd=1
Again, this one is preeeetty good, but no OS or burner, BUT check out that price! It is an absolute bargain (although still has 4 days to go):
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3450793183&category=3717&rd=1
Most come with a warranty of sorts and all are from reputable sellers.
Like I said, these would be just to "get me by" until I can stretch it to buy a decent one, and I will probably have to buy an external burner of some sort too, but just so that you all "get" where I am coming from here...
Cotty - I've been looking at those Apple iBooks online - do you know that I can't find one in Australia for under au$4500, *except* for these ones and they are basically the same configurations as the ones in the auctions above for triple the price...
http://shop.centre.net.au/index.html?cat=0005WZ00062600060J&prid=000XRT&it=product
http://shop.centre.net.au/index.html?cat=0005WZ00062600060J&prid=000ZQB&it=product
Ok, now I am going over to the "weirdest booking ever" thread to wade through all of your responses to that...
Thanks again guys for your words of wisdom, and for anymore that you may have to add after reading this!
tan.
