Portable Digitial Photo Storage???

[PrincessLucy]

Anyone know of an inexpensive way to store your digitial photos while on vacation... without your computer?

 

I looked online and it seems that if I will spend $400+, I could buy a portable digital photo storage device that even has a viewer. But all the less expensive ones (under $200) do not have a viewer and also have bad reviews.

 

I've been so lucky in the past, have never lost my camera or card but just don't want to chance it any longer.

 

Any ideas?? Your thoughts??

[seashinesunshine]

Memory cards are pretty cheap now and they are small enough to not take up any room, you could get a card for each day. We bring the laptop and then download onto cds every night, but then my hunny is a professional who takes 2-3000 photos a day on a cruise.

[sparky-elpaso]

I take my netbook and download my photos at the end of each day - easier to keep track of what I've taken and where we've been. I also take a portable hard drive as a back up.

[pierces]

Another vote for the netbook. I have an Epson P-2000 viewer and though it has a beautiful screen, a 40GB hard drive and works well, Epson discontinued support for it with the release of new models. To get RAW support for my Sony A700 (or any new camera) I have to buy a newer model for $500+. On the other hand, my $300 Acer netbook has a 160GB hard drive, a 10 inch "viewer", allows me to sort and categorize my photos in Picasa and manage email (if I want) through the ship's WiFi. Additionally, if I get a new camera that Picasa doesn't support, it only takes a couple of weeks for Google to add support.

 

Yay netbooks!

 

Dave

[misskitty123]

I ended up getting an iPad instead of lugging my full size laptop with ne. One trip to Europe last year was more than enough. Just got back from a short cruise and it worked great. I wouldn't nessisairly recommend get one just for photo back up but because I have other uses for it, it's perfect for me. It's also great for loading up with travel documents and destination info.

[PrincessLucy]

Thanks for the feedback. I hadn't even thought of getting an ipad or netbook but it really makes perfect sense. If I am going to spend $$ on a photo storage device might as well have some other uses also. I can always use it for meetings, etc.

 

So that being said.... I would probably get a netbook over ipad only because I have all PC and no Apple at home.

 

Any pros or cons with netbook? Any wish list that you would have liked to have in yours but don't or things you don't really need?

 

We leave for our Panama Canal cruise in under 2 months and I will definitely buy prior to that.

[pierces]

I opted for a fairly basic Acer from Costco and since I planned to use it for the reasons stated before, I wouldn't really add anything to the spec list. Afterwards I upgraded the memory to 2GB. (Always the best bang-for-the buck performance boost!)

 

BTW, I got mine with Win 7 Starter on it and it runs flawlessly.

 

Dave