Digital Camera Repair Blog

Technology and innovation has placed digital photography into the forefront in such a fast phase. Today it is common for even young children to have their own camera. This is due to their ease of use but also with the price coming down over previous years. They are convenient to use and require no film. Due to the big number of consumers of digital cameras and prospective aficionados of digital photography, the number of companies and manufacturers of various brands of digital cameras has become quite numerous. Knowing what to buy can be a minefield of information, but finding somewhere to buy is now no problem at all. It can get quite confusing deciding what to choose with such a large choice. When looking to buy a digital camera online, here are some factors to take into account.

* Price

When buying anything, it is usually the price that is first considered, unless the buyer is filthy rich. There are a large number of various brands of digital camera available, making browsing within your budget an easier task. Needless to say however, the more costly the camera is, the better its over-all quality is more likely to be. Therefore, if you intend to make a living out digital photography, putting more money in it becomes an investment and will be more beneficial to you in the long run. Otherwise a cheaper, less complicated camera may be better for you to start with.

* Intention for Buying

In connection with the price, you need to first think of your main reason why you wanted to buy the camera. As mentioned already, if it is to seriously take up digital photography, a good quality one will be the ideal choice. When using for everyday basic photographs then possibly a cheaper choice would be a camera with lower megapixels.

* Durability

If buying, whatever amount of money is involved, you will of course want something that is durable. The more money you put in it, the more durable the item should be. To have an idea of durability, it is often a good idea to go into a store to feel the product in your hand. It is also wise to get a money back guarantee.

Aside from the above mentioned factors, there are still a lot of other important details to consider when buying a digital camera. Digital cameras can seem very ‘technical’, but it is indeed these features that require consideration. Below are some of the most vital features for consideration:

* Megapixel

Many of today’s camera is bought according to the number of megapixel the camera is capable of handling. There are a wide range of megapixels on offer, so what you want to do with the image must be considered. If you are into professional digital photography, then you may opt for the higher megapixel types since you may enlarge the photos taken without compromising the integrity of every shot. While again, for fun a cheaper option may be best.

* Lens Quality

Optical zoom lens of various cameras of today range from about 3x to 18 times optical zoom lenses. It depends really on your future intentions for use of the camera.

* Feel of the Camera

It is important to make an actual test of the camera by putting it in your hands and testing its familiarity. You cannot rely simply on looks of a digital camera. It is best that it will feel right in your own palms to ensure great shots when already doing some digital photography.

* USB Capability

Today’s gadgets are now almost always linkable to the computer, making it easier to transfer, modify, print and do many other things with it. Most cameras today will be fitted with USB capabilities but always check to be sure. When making your choice on a purchase always make sure this feature is incuded.

* Manual Focus

Although optical zoom features are highly important, it would be handy to also have one with both zoom lens and manual focus. It allows you to adjust manually your lens for better shots.

* Tripod Feature

Although some may not find it important, it would be useful to have a camera that can be screwed to a tripod. You never know if you may need one in the future, therefore having the feature now saves later. It is convenient to have it when needed, even if it is not used all the time.

* Macro Setting

This feature, most especially in digital photography, will allow you to take photos of anything at a proximity of 3 to 4 inches. Life can become a little frustrating without this feature, particulary for a photographer.

Other important features can be considered before buying a digital camera that will surely help you produce great photos. These will all depend on how you wish to use the camera. If the features you want are not all available within your price range then you have to prioritize.

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So when Netbooks came out and were dirt cheap I bought a couple of them; one for me and one for the kids. They are both now gone.

The first netbook I bought was an Asus netbook with a 160GB hard drive for about $225 online for myself.

The Asus EEE PC 900HD comes with an 8.9″ LCD, Celeron 900mhz, 160GB HD, 1GB RAM, WiFi, a webcam, memory card slot and Windows XP. I upgraded the RAM to 2GB after doing some research, it seems like only certain RAM will work, make sure you research first before buying RAM!

It looks like the 900HD is no longer available, the 1005HA replaces it with a 10″ LCD and Atom 1.6GHZ CPU instead of the Celeron 900.

The Good Stuff:
It was a good working little computer with good looks and design. It started up fast, the battery seemed to last a long time and it is super light and easy to carry anywhere!

I watched video files that I transferred onto it without any problems, (no DVD drive to watch movies remember) and most websites ran quickly and smoothly if they didn’t have a lot of Flash or other heavy animations etc. The LCD screen is bright and decent resolution, but NO it will not play games very well except for small down-loadable ones like games from Popcap such as Chuzzle or Bejeweled etc.

The Bad Stuff:
I had to hunt and peck when I wanted to type something, so it was pretty much useless to me. I wanted the computer for doing Twitter, writing articles while not at my main computer and other tasks while away from home. I quickly learned that the computer was very small and portable, but not good if you want to type a lot.

The other issue I had with the computer was that the LCD was so tiny you were scrolling A LOT to be able to see everything that’s on the screen. This became annoying as using the touchpad wasn’t comfortable to me, I’m used to using a scroll wheel on a mouse instead.

The second netbook was a Dell Mini 9 Inspiron 910 netbook with the Intel Atom 1.6Ghz CPU,  1GB RAM, a 4GB SSD hard drive, 8.9″ LCD, WiFi, webcam, memory card slot and the Linux operating system which we updated to the Ubuntu Netbook Remix which is superior to what comes on the netbook from Dell. (http://www.canonical.com/projects/ubuntu/unr)

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The Dell Mini 9 is no longer available, here is an excellent replacement the Inspiron 1011 Mini 10 with a 160GB hard drive and Atom CPU.

The Good:
Cut and paste here the same good points from the Asus netbook… but also add that the Solid State Drive is 100% motionless so it takes up less power, makes no noise, and won’t break like a regular hard drive if the netbook is dropped.

The Linux OS is good if you are familiar with it. If you’re not, you might be in for some trouble. If you want Windows I have heard that there is a way to install it, but without a DVD drive it could be tricky. I did like the Ubuntu Netbook Remix we installed, it’s much better than the stock Linux OS by far.

If you want to create your own “Hackintosh” you can actually install the Mac OS on your netbook and it’s supposed to work very nicely. Well worth it if you’re a Mac Geek.

The Atom processor is slightly less powerful than the Celeron 900mhz and uses about the same power… so it’s really not a high point of the computer though they sure want you to think it is. There’s nothing wrong with getting an Atom processor as long as you understand that neither it, nor a Celeron of any kind will give you computing power to run high intensity stuff like games etc. But that’s not why you buy a netbook anyway. Overall, the CPU is good as it really does make battery life go a long way.

The Bad Stuff:
The SSD hard drive is TINY. 4GB is not enough to do… well… anything!! You can stick an SD memory card into the card reader to upgrade your storage by 16GB or even 32GB more but they are very expensive; maybe you can find a 4GB or even 8GB for a decent price though. Don’t expect to store much of anything on the included hard drive.

The same keyboard size, LCD size and speed issues are the same with the Dell as with the Asus. I’m not going to test the two against each other, that’s not the point. The point is does it matter to you that it’s very small and much slower than anything else? If so, do not buy a netbook.

Overall Conclusion:
I think it should be clear that I have nothing against either of these netbooks, I honestly wish that I could be happy with one as they are so small and portable… maybe if I had gone with a 10″ model instead of 9″ the keyboard would have been big enough for me to use comfortably.

Get a Dell Inspiron Mini 10″ for $310 here
or
*RECOMMENDED!* Get an Asus EEE PC 1005HA 10″ for $325 here

Just so you know, the Asus 1005HA is currently the #1 selling netbook on Amazon.com! Click the link above to buy one through us on Amazon.

I do recommend a netbook to those who understand their limitations and feel they can still use it. Dell no longer sells the Mini 9″ netbooks, though they do have a nice 10″ model. You can still get 9″ netbooks from several other manufacturers, though you will have to shop around to find a good price, as you can get a 10″ LCD model with the same specs and an almost full sized keyboard (usually about 90% full size) for the same price as the tiny 9″ and tiny keyboard.

Hope this helps with your hunt for a new netbook computer. Please note the Amazon product links go to support this site, if you are looking to buy a netbook please click on our link first! Thanks!

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