July 2004 Archives

Well, its that time again for PC buying recommendations. This time, great kudos to AnandTech's June Overclocking Guide. I love this particular guide because it includes what machines overclock well to get you additional price/performance. I'm also in the middle of building up a high-end PC for my own video editing, gaming and digital photography as well as a low-end PC to replace Calvin's failing computer.

High-end PC

Lots happening in this category this month. Intel announced their new Prescott, PCI Express and 925X chipsets while AMD shipped their Athlon 939-socket processors and motherboards. The net of that is that the new Prescotts are hotter but not much faster and that the Athlon 64s remain a leader particular when you start overclocking.

So here is my dream system with prices from pricegrabber (although most of the time newegg.com or zipzoomfly.com are the cheapest but highest quality):

The recommended board is the MSI K8N Neo2.
is the way to go ||
| Antec True Power 480 | $87 | Don't skimp on the power supply |

Good comments are that good value for overclocking is:

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Mobile Barton (512K L2 cache)
Motherboard: DFI Infinity NFII Ultra (nForce2 Ultra 400)
Price: CPU - $88 shipped (OEM). Motherboard - $91 shipped. HSF - $12 shipped

This is exactly the system that I overclocked, but used the standard Barton. The Mobile version uses less than half the wattage and is a great overclocker. It is not super fast performance-wse, but look at the price!

This chip is also multiplier unlocked so instead of just running against a 133 FSB, many folks run it at 11×200 or even 12×200MHz successfuly. With the DFI board, folks are reaching FSB speeds of 280MHz!

Another recommendation would be:

Athlong 2800+ or 3000+ combined with a 2nd generation socket 754 board like the MSI K8 Neo or the Abit KV8 Pro

www.cyclingnews.com presents the 91st Tour de France, 2004. Great photos from the Tour de France. The race may be over, but the memory lingers on.

Scanner Reviews (Editorial) Sorted by Date - Page 1 - eCoustics.com . eCoustics is getting better and better, they now are a meta-review site that looks at reviews from many magazines and also trolls for user reviews. Very smart.

Here's a quick list of recent scanner reviews that would have taken hours to get:

• Minolta Dimage Dual IV. Photographic likes the $300 scanner for its modest price. Doesn't have fancy Digital ICE (the royalty is too high, but it is 3200 dpi. That means BTW, that at full scan resolution, you can reprint a 35mm slide to 15×10 enlargements (and each image would be 36MB or 14 megapixels).
• Nikon Coolscan V ED. Shutterbug liked this $599 scanner. It is a 4000 dpi 35m film , Digital Ice enabled. scanner. BTW at 4000 dpi, you can make 13×19" photos at 300 dpi with 55MB images! Seems like a good advanced amateur choice. The next model up is the 5000ED ($1099) with same resolution, but wider dynamic range. Main disadvantage is that it doesn't have batch scanning (you scan 6 frames at a time). Dynamic Range is 4.2.
• Minolta Dimage 5400. Shutterbug and also "Popular Photography';http://popphoto.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=976 like this $900 scanner. Has Digital ICE and 5400 dpi resolution. That's enough for a huge 16×23 photo. Need to use with SilverFast drivers though which are $200, but apparently worth it.

As an aside all these scanners appear to work the best with the Vuescan software. Great reviews on that or Silverfast for Minolta.

Another thing you'll need is either Adobe Photoshop Elements (the low end) $100 or their highend full Photoshop ($700). Popular Photography also likes the JASC Paint Shop Pro 8 for $90 which apparently also runs many Adobe plugins and is closer to the $700 Photoshop. Worth checking out.

Ultralight backpacking seems to be all the rage as is ultralight equipment in bicycling. I don't see why there isn't the same trend as people slep bags from one end of the world to the other.

The technology is getting better all the time, but I see all kinds of folks dragging gigantic laptops, huge bags, 10 changes of clothes for a 2 day business trip. So, here's a list of what I've done and the current recommended road warrior equipment. With this stuff, I've been able to go to Europe for a week in an amazingly small bag.

A few caveats, this works if you aren't being James Bond with ten parties and so forth. It actually works better if you are just doing business formal because then you just need suites

Actually I've been using a no-name rolling backpack from my Microsoft days for 5 years now, but it is finally breaking. Here are the key features, make it as small as possible so you can stuff it in the baggage compartment above. It really helps if you can turn it into a backpack too. Folks think backpacks are small, but rolling luggage is big. You need both because your pack is going to be dense so you don't want to carry it on your back through 2 miles of airport on a humid day in Heathrow or Toronto. Also, running to catch a plane is way easier if you have a pull along. Another important thing are water bottle holders. This no-name bag has a pair of pockets perfect for holding water and Luna bars (more on that later).

Since I can't id this bag exactly, I can say it is 18 high x 15 wide x 7 deep and look for something similar. Ebags Rolling Backpacks. Ebags has a huge set of wheeled backpacks to choose from. Two of the better looking ones are:

• Ebags Router Wheeled Laptop Convertible. $90 and seems like a well thoughout product, but it is new and first shipments are August 11. It is 19.75"H x 14"W x 12"D, 7 lbs 13 oz. It has place for water bottle, it is a rolling backpack. It has room for a water bottle as well. It won't be available until August 11 though, but there is a preorder period.
• Jansport Wheeled Optimizer. 18.75"H x 14"W x 9"D, 7lob 4 oz, 1580 cu. in. Its a bit expensive at $130 but has side pockets, top loading laptop holder.
• L.L.Bean: Microfiber Rolling Pullman. This isn't a backpack as well, but it is microfiber so is supposed to be 20% lighter. Weight in at 8 lbs 5 oz and is 17"H x 14"w x 9"D with 1,500 cu. in.
• Wide-Mouth Excursion Pack. OK, this bag isn't a rolling bag, but it can be a shoulder bag or a day pack. Only weighs 2lb 10 ox. and is 161/2"H x 12"W x7"D. Also it has those all important water bottle holders.
• Shockware Pack, Rolling. You'll laugh, but this comes from the LL Bean kids collection so only the grey color could be used for business. It is large at 2,125 cu. in. 6 lb. 2 ox. 18"H x 14"W x 7"D. It isn't clear from the photo online if the side pockets are big enough for water bottles though.

Filters. very confusing what to use now that photoshop exists.

Two most interesting are a haze filter and a polarizer. I have a UV filter on all my lenses. He says B+W or Nikon are best, but Tiffen is half the price and probably OK. Don't get ultracheap filters though.

Edward C. Nemergut Photography. I'm buying another batch of 35mm film. Used 9 rolls of Fuji Superia-X ISO 400 film for nature and portrait photography.

Results were Ok for the landscapes (mainly shot with a really neat 70-200 lense), but what was outstanding were the outdoor portraits (particularly on those overcast days in Alaska).

Many of the days were really hazy though and it felt like a haze filter or maybe a polarizing filter would have helped. I need to research this.

Or, it could have been film choise. The Superia-X is amazingly cheap and got good reviews out of popphoto.com, but some folks like Nemergut have some other recommendations for folks doing outdoor photography (E6 is the name for photo geeks):

• Fuji Velvia 50. This is ISO 50 slide film and is best for scenary. You need a tripod for many shots and it doesn't do well with people. Works best in overcast or low contrast situations. Caucasians look red with this film. This is a slide film, so not great for putting into albums, but good for scanning and reprinting.
• Fuji Provia 100F. This is lower contrast and better for high contrast light. For instance shooting animals in midday. Can use with people too. Its slide film

Finally for print outdoor film (C41)
* Fuji Superia Reala. This is ISO 100 film and is great for the "family in front of the Grand Canyon" because it has great flesh tones yet saturated colors. Also quite inexpensive. The other films likst go for about $5/roll, while this is about half that at bhphotovideo.com
* Fujifilm NPH-400. Interestingly, photo.net likes it for outdoor when shot at 320 because it is sharp but colors are not oversaturated.

For shooting indoor people and portraits:

• Kodak Ultra Color 400UC (formerly called Portra 400UC). This is a great choice for indoor people photography because its good for fleshtones (low contrast) but has vivid colors.
• Fuji NPH-400. This is what he recommends for weddings because of the black and white contrasting outfits. (Interestingly, photo.net likes it for outdoor when shot at 320 because it is sharp but colors are not oversaturated).
• Fuji NPZ-800. This is ISO-800 film that has nearly the grain of 400 film, but is one stop faster. Its good for "available light" weddings where you don't want a flash.

Tour de France - Daily Scoop (Stage 17). Those Texans can be so endearing

"I said to him, 'How bad do you want to win a stage on the Tour de France?' and he said, 'Real bad.' I said, 'How fast can you go downhill?' and he said, 'I can go downhill real fast'. He said, 'Can I do it?' And I said, 'Sure you can do it'. Then I told him, 'Run like you stole something, Floyd.'"

--Lance Armstrong, retelling the conversation he had with teammate Floyd Landis on top of the day's final climb, the Col de la Croix Fry.

What about that Texan. An incredibly classy day today and I'm even more impressed with how hard those guys at the Tour De France work.

And, for those of us looking for the perfect mountain bike, perusing Cycling news gives us the new Klein Palomino XV based on the Tuner Monoshock.

Well, it finally had to happen, but after 4 years, our HP 940 Csi inkjet printer finally died.

Actually the death has been lingering. First we put in Christmas cards in and this destroyed the ejection mechanism. Then, the cool two-sided printing module failed. Now, it doesn't power on at all. So on to a new one.

Low-cost home network printer

I'm surprised there isn't anything in this category with networking at home happening everywhere. What we need is a cheap and small network laser printer so we don't have to turn a machine everytime to use it.

Low consumables cost and fast for general printing and also something that will print on DVDs and CDs. A cheap laser printer is now just $210 is that it is 3x the speed. Right now ink costs and toner costs are about identical for black and white printing (2-3 cents per page). There are a couple of choices. These BTW all fit in my tiny little cabinet.

• PC Magazine liked the Brother HL-5140 which is 21 ppm but the Brother we owned before really was unreliable. Its $200. Or as ZDNet explains, get the HL-5170DN which has an Ethernet port already at $350 list with an Ethernet port and 32MB instead of 16Mb but the same print engine. Pricegrabber has this model as well.
• PC World likes the HP LaserJet 1300. Its $400 and has a $200 ethernet option called the 1300n. Main drawback is that greyscale photos look terrible. It has a $100 rebate on it from June to October, so it goes from outrageously expensive ($400-600) to somewhat more reasonable.
• Bjorn3D likes the Samsung HL-1720 and Hardware Central. He did a quick review of a $130 laser printer from Samsung (!!!). It's about the same speed and startup time as a 1300, but is way, way cheaper. With $68 toner cartridges, its about 2.7 cents per page. Main problem is that it doesn't have any networking option and PC Mag says its cheap but output quality isn't that great (what a surprise :-)

Photo Printing

Super high quality for the preparation to digital photo printing. It seems as the though the tremendous rush to quality has slowed the Epson 2200 was a milestone and now Canon, HP and Epson all have very good prosumer models. So here's the analysis. I ended up getting the Canon i9900 because it seemed to be getting just fantastic reviews and I couldn't justify the incredible Epson 4000:

• Epson Stylus Pro 4000. This is the current professional digital darkroom printer to lust after. Costs over $1800 but it is beautiful. Can product 17×44 inch wide prints. Now that is big and it is an 8-color ink device that has separate cartridges.
• Canon i9900 is the follow on to the very good Canon i9100. Canon just announced a new series of printers called Pixma that range in price from $150-$80 but I haven't seen reviews yet. Main issue is the thing is huge at 17.3×11×26 (wow, 26 inches deep, so it really needs a whole desktop! It like the Epson has separate cartridges. Also doesn't have a roll feeder so you can't just print a long roll of 4×6" prints out. It needs to go on a big desk.
• HP 7960. This one gets good reviews and is reasonably priced. The main problem is that it has a gigantic ink cartridge so you can't replace individual colors like the Epson. Steets at $290. It is an eight color printer as well. Says it is more accurate but less gamut (range) of colors vs. the Epson 2200 or the Canon i9100
• Epson R800 with a deep review at i-photo.co.uk This is a new high end printer from Epson that is just below the Epson 2200. Main advantage is that it can print directly to the right kind of blank CDs and DVDs. Also it has a roll feeder so you can print 4×6s really quickly. Interesting to see consumable wise it is about the same cost as a laser printer but much slower. Main problem is that it is 19" wide so won't fit in our cabinet. (it is narrow at 7" high x 12" deep).

Other details are that when you buy this, you need consumables. For the Canon, recommendations seem to show you should stick with their paper and their ink. Here are some of the good deals:

• BCI-6 Inks. These list for about $11 and there are 8 of them. You can get them in a 8-pack at Thenerds.net right now for $72 plus $10 shipping. With these small items, shipping is just a killer given that most internet sites charge a minimum of $4 per piece even if it is just a $5 stack of paper. The solution is to either get bigger packs or if you need individuals, go to officedepot.com and order $50 worth, then they deliver for free if you are near an OfficeDepot. Alternatively, you can use Amazon which has free shipping for over $25.
• Canon Photo Pro and Canon Photo Plus paper. The Pro is about twice the price and is guaranteed to last 25 years without fading. If you are just putting photos into albums that are not going to be in the light, seems like the Plus (4×6 sheets in packs of 120 for $18 or so at Amazon right now) are good buys. You probably also want to get some Pros for hanging up. They ship with 8×11 and gigantic 13×19 sheets for big photos. Not bad to set say 120 of the 4×6 Plus, 20 of the 4×6 Pros and 15 8×11 and 10 13×19 as a starter set. Amazon has the 4×6 Plus and the 13×19 Pros. OfficeDepot has the 4×6 Pros. So its a little complicated, but you can get it all without big shipping charges.

Here's Grace's T-ball schedule for Montlake:

Field #1 is by the Parking Lot
Field #2-4 are by the baseball field and Tudor building
Field #5-6 are on the football field

Practices are on Thursday at 4:30 pm at Montlake (prior to the game).
Rainout decisions will be made the day of the game at 3pm.

Well since I haven't switched to digital for yet, I've got 10 rolls of film that need to get developed from our trip to Alaska. Makes it worthwhile figuring out the right way to develop them. Finding a great lab, then getting the pictures developed with a good contact sheet seems smart. Then, I can just reproduce the ones that come out. Scan the right images for later printing too.

So here's a guide to good 35mm developers:

• A&I. We use this for all our semi-serious development. The picture quality is way better than a Costco for instance. They have mailers for about $12.50 for their machine generate printing (that comes out to about $0.34 per photo, so not bad. By hand, this costs $17 per roll. Main issue is that they are in LA, so you can't just drop over there. But, they will do C41 processing and make a 11×14 contact sheet for $8.50 per roll, so this works out if you only need say 10 photos per roll. Nice thing about these is that each print is done by hand so higher quality than machine processed.
• Ivey. Steve Bush recommends these folks. Nice thing is that they are local, but I'm sure expensive but given the number of photos probably worthwhile to make a trip. Idea is the same, get them to do the film processing, generate a contact sheet, then reprint or digitally scan.
• Overlake Photo. Steve recommends these folks as a lower cost alternative. Prices are comparable to A&I. $2.19 to develop and $0.31 per 4×6. Or you can get 35mm just developed for $3.50 and with a contact sheet for $8.

Chuck Husick on boatus.com. Darn it, the basic marine radio I bought I think I left on the boat while docked and it seems to have walked away. A good chance to get a pair that are good. Thank goodness for basic guides on the Internet.

• Things you want are Receiver sensitivity. Most provide 0.25 microvolt sensitivity.
• Selectivity. You need 80 dB for Intermodulation selectivity and 70 dB for adjacent channel selectivity and spurious response relationship.

For Handheld radios, you need a few more:

• Waterproofness and it should float too. In case you drop it "-)
• Standard batteries or rechargeables. You need standard alkalines for emergencies. The ideal is to have something that holds NiMH AA batteries and can also hold alkalines.

Then there are some new devices like Garmin RINO that combines a GPS with a FRS/GMRS radio. So you can share position with a standard family radio service. Kind of cool.

National Marine Electronics Associations Product Awards. Since there aren't great reviews of marine electronics, this award list from the trade association is a good surrogate for good handheld radios:

• icom ic-m88 in 2003. This is $289 with $30 rebate now from sailnet.com or Boat-us.com. This is a tiny li-ion battery unit. 70dB in selectivity statistics. Main drawback is the back-up alkaline battery mode only has 1 watt output.
• Standard Horizon HX460S in 2002. This is also a Li-ion miniture unit. $249.
• Standard Horizon HX350S in 2001. $189. This is a ni-cad unit, but you can put standard AA batteries in that are rechargeables for very long battery life (the ni-cad is 1100 Mah, but you can put in 6×1700Mah AA's in to get really long life). This is the one I originally bought and worked fine, although it was big.

Jan Ulrich's Bike. This is a Giant TCR Advanced with an integrated seat tube so you don't actually need a seatpost or clamp.

That makes it just 900 grams and you save 125 grams on the seat post and clamp. Wow.

BackpackGearTest.org - Clothing. Just spent a great week in Alaska. More on that later. But one thing Ilearned is that you need the right kind of gear really matters. ONly used 10% of what we brought, but the right stuff if important. Less is more. Some good reviews of stuff here.

Jen Voight's Cervelo. Now stock bikes are easily less than 15 lbs. Here's how:

• Cervelo R2.5 frame. Now is 200 grams lighter than 2003 and is now 1000 grams if you can believe it.
• FSA carbon cranks. Superlight and strong. Also FSA carbon fiber seatposts, headsets, OS115 stem, 7050 bars.
• Dura-Ace 10-speed components.
• Speedplay Zero pedals.
• Zipp wheels (these are tubulars of course.

MILITARY STYLE SPORTS ID. No, not for your bike silly, its id you might want to carry if you are riding and get hurt. How many of us travel with ID (actually, I keep a business card, credit card, $20 and proof of insurance in my backpack, but I'm a nerd :-)

Here's a $8 solution. Just get a set of dog tags so they know where to call.

:: Discovery to sponsor Lance's team. I'm sure the US Postal service was amazed that they got Lance to sponsor. Kind of too bad, they could never take advantage.

The big boys are moving in though, next year, the Discovery Channel is sponsoring Lance.

BTW if you are wondering if there is a God, check out the Lance Armstrong Chronicles. 13 part series on Lance preparing. Just watched a segment, now I know why people buy Tivos. Wish I had one.

Tom's Hardware Guide Mass Storage: Lite-On, LG and BenQ Bring 8.5-GB Recordable DVDs to the Party - 16x: The Final Destination?. At last the DVD burner market is maturing.

The DVD+RW and DVD+R format seems to be the winner. Both can go to 9GB on a single side and to 16x (that's 10,000 rpm folks as fast as a hard drive).

The main issue is the media is expensive. Most important thing is to update the firmware. There is going to be a pretty long period of incompatibilities between media and drives so you need to read the forums to get the right drive and the right media.

They tested three drives and the Benq 1600A is the fastest particularly at burnding DVD+RWs, so that make the most sense if you are burning lots of DVDs (like me). If you want DVD-R and DVD-RW as well then get the LG GSA-4120B.

X-bit labs - Articles - Three External Hard Disk Drives with 120GB Storage Capacity (page 8). Well these USB 2.0 drives will never be as fast as IDE drives, but it isn't bad.

The WD1200JB stuffed into an external enclosure for $200 vs. $80 if it comes as a internal drive, so there is a premium. Still this, plus the Linksys NAS make a pretty amazing combination of low power, no fan and lots of storage

How do these guys have time to do it. Here are a collection of daily rider diaries from folks actually on the TdF:

• Tyler Hamilton et al. Velonews has Tyler Hamilton blogging away.
• Floyd Landis. Of US Postal fame.
• Paolo Bettini. The Quck.Step-Davitamon rider.
• Chris Carmichael and "OLN Version": . He's Lance's coach.
• Phil Liggett. The ultimate commentator summaries

After a few years of relative stability, the new bikes are pretty amazingly cool. Here are some highlights for lusting:

• Giant get lighter with TCR Advanced. These are super popular frames from Taiwan. The new TCR Advanced has a new seat tube design that eliminates the need for seat post. It just clamps to the seat tube saving 175 grams. The whole thing including fork is just 1250 grams. I don't know what happens to heavy riders who can crack a post. Probably means a new frame :-) Its going to a 2990 euro frameset only. Expensive!
• Trek Madone SSL Prototype. Trek is updating their frames with a more aerodynamic version. The main change is to go to an even lighter frame material OLCV 55 (the OLCV 110 is used in Trek 5900s and OLCV 120 in 5200). There is production version coming out called the Madone SL as well.

What do all those numbers mean? Just that the bike material is 50% lighter (55 vs. 110). Yikes, that's amazing. They also did a wheelset that is 100 grams lighter than ever. That's amazing.

Product Review. A very clever product from Linksys. This is basically a small computer that takes USB 2.0 drives, runs Linux on an Intel Network processor and comes out on TCP/IP as a SAMBA server.

It's an incredibly cheap way to build a Network Attached Storage system for a home. Only $75, this means that you can connect a bunch of USB 2.0 external drives in and you don't have to run a whole Windows server to have storage. I love it.

A great option for the home or for a small business. Goes to show what happens when you build lots of network functions into separate boxes vs. a gigantic server.

Just put two 300GB drive on this thing and every home now has a nice backup and central storage solution.

Tom's Hardware Guide Video: Making Digital Home Movies, Part 1 - Software. Finally a decent guide to all the software you need for video editing.

I agree with them that Sony Vegas (formerly Sonicfoundry, I got mine as Video Explosion Deluxe), but it is all the same package is very nice.

They have a bunch of other good recommendations including:

• Sony's Soundforge for audio editing
• Blufftitler for titles
• Digital Juice's Jumppacks for animated backgrounds
• Wondertouch's ParticleIllusion for special effects
• Serious Magic's Visual Communicator for chroma keying

OK, some amazing ways to catch the Tour de France other than on a TV:

• Wireless Sign-Up 2004 Tour de France - 14:28:42 GMT. This gets you results texted to your cell phone
• Listen Live. This link works if you have Media Player. It uses the mms: link so it doesn't work in every browser

Been looking for a good camera bag that will fit a 35mm SLR and a long lense. Lowepro seems to have many good choices here including according to:

• Photo.net. As usual, the best reviews are here. Phil really likes the Tamrac bags though. Loves the huge Lowepro Trekker AW.
• Photography Review. Main issue is that this doesn't have that many reviews, but does have lots for the main bags.
• Camera Hobby. A personal review site that explores all the bags you can get.
• Kelleytown. Another person site. He basically likes the Lowepro Nature Trekker AW for transporting and the Kinesis system for shooting. A pretty good recommendation set

Given the above, here are the recommendations for a moderately serious amateur (e.g., me :-):

In terms of fanny packs and shoulder bags, there seems more enthusiasm here mainly because it is easier to get them out and actually use the camera. So backpacks are great for hiking and then getting the junk out. These bags are better for the "you don't know when the great shot comes" kind of photography. There seem to be two good recommendations for simple bags:

• Off Trail 2. This is a fanny pack so it is way easier to get your big lensed camera out. I have two fanny packs now and they are really convenient for this plus, you can have a dedicated backpack if you need it. ($80). Well liked by Photography Review. Also photo.net had a great review as well. He's very right about the belt buckle breaking. They just did on my Lowepro Lumina, so he recommends replacing with the Kelty Cam-Lock Buckle.
• Domke F-2. This is a shoulder bag, but top rated and apparently used by professionals the world over. ($149) and loved by Photography Review

There are also modular systems. These might be good for those of us who carry a camcorder and a camera (what geeks we are) and the professional ones are more durable. Going up in price are these systems. Probably the Kinesis is the Pro's choice and is about the same price as the Lowepro high end version.

• LowePro Topload Pro AW is $50 plus a standard vs. deluxe waist belt $8, but is less durable. Its not compatible with the profressional Streets & Fields modular system though.
• Tamrac 5519. This is the equivalent of the top loader. Also at $43, but it accepts SAS accessories and MAS belt, so it is more versatile than the Lowepro. You can add the $23 MAS belt, $12 medium lense case, $14 water bottle holder, $10 film holder, $37 camcorder holder. So, much cheaper than the Lowe full system (see below). Haven't seen any reviews yet.
• Lowepro Street & Field. Lowepro has a similar system priced like this $30 belt, Toploader 75 AW plus a Streets & Fields belt make a belt pack ($80), utility case for camcorder ($30), 1n lenses case ($15) and accessory pouch ($31) and lots of cinch straps ($10) Photo.net liked the Toploader case more than the Off Trail 2 because it has an extra pouch for film etc. but its a pro version so quite expensive. Its not as high end as the Kinesis, but still pretty nice.
• Kinesis. This is a high-end modular belt system. I can really see the value of doing this since everyone has different equipment. They are super expensive, but I suspect more durable in the long term. Reminds me of the "load bearing equipment" that the US Army has (called an ALICE). It's expensive but I think probably works super well for hiking around. Its similar to the Lowepro Streets & Fields line of modular professional gear. Its mainly direct and a system for a large SLR plus accessories is about. You need a B107 ($36) belt, C580 ($80) for camera with long 70-200mm lense attached, Y304 strap to hold it to the belt ($4), A170 water bottle pouch ($23), A200 for film ($43) or A257 ($43) to throw a camcorder in or E330 ($69) for holding two lenses and a camera. Totally about $250 for everything that I own today. Not bad.

If you need a big backpack for carry things around rather than immediate use, consider these:

• Stealth AW. You can pack a camera, a laptop and overnight clothes. Perfect for those quick trips to the Bay Area and also doubles for carrying a camera. It's a full backpack, so its 22" high and pretty big. ($400). Expensive, but the folks at Photography review like it OK but some really poor reviews too.
• CompuTrekker AW. Brand new, this is waterproof and has room for a laptop too (so good for just going on the road). ($133). It's about 15" high, so unobtrusive.
• Orion Trekker. It has two compartments and can take a long lense in the upper compartment it looks like, but its not padded. ($122). Liked by Photography Review. Main problem is that its hard to get your camera out.
• Mini Trekker. A small backpack, but in this case a long lense 35mm can be pulled right out. Doesn't have two compartments though. $110. It's smaller at 16" high. Photography Review folks find it popular and well rated.

These Anandtech buying guides are just awesome. Rather than writing my own, I'll just do the difference in opinion I have compared with their analysis:

High end

See AnandTech: Buyer's Guide: High End System - July 2004 for base recommendations.

Here are the deltas to get a machine cost (without monitor) of $2200 but it is the most screaming thing out there right now:

• I'd recommend the Athlon 3500+ ($500) instead and just overclock it rather than getting the FX-53 ($800). If you are bargain hunting, get the Athlon 64 3200+ ($270) and overclock it to 2.4GHz. It is the older socket, but performance is really just 2-3% less and quite a bit cheaper.
• The MSI K8N Neo2 comes out well in either socket 939 or older socket 754 versions at $150
• The OCZ 3700EB is a real winner at $370 for 2×512MB or get the OCZ 3500 EB ($300) and just slightly less performance. Both overclock well to DDR433-450 (217-225MHz bus vs. standard 200MHz).
• On video, benchmarks disagree a little, but either the GeForce 6800 Ultra ($540) with 16 pipelines, 400MHz GPU, 1.1GHz DDR3 RAM. The vanilla 6800 ($300) seems like a good price/performance leader.
• Agreed on the monitor with the very fast Samsung 193P ($750 shipped) as a great 19" monitor
• Agreed also on the case and power supplies. The Coolermaster Praetorian ($110) and the Antec True Power 480W ($85) are expensive, but will keep a big system cool and stable. Don't skimp on the power supply in particular.
• Sound and speakers. I'm actually not that expert on really wonderful sound and would probably use what's stock on the motherboard.
• On the disks, think you should get a single Western Digital Raptor 74GB ($200) as system drive and then a big Hitachi 7K250 250GB ($190) drive for data. These are two of the fastest drives around according to storage review.
• On optical, disagree with the choice and think you have to get a dual layer (9GB/side DVD writer). The NEC-2510A ($85) looks like a great choice.

Mid-range

See Anandtech's June piece, here are the deltas at $973 (excluding monitor, speakers, keyboard/mouse, that is assuming you are just replacing the system unit):

• CPU and Motherboard. Agree with the Athlon 64 2800+ ($172) and the MSI K8N Neo Platinum ($131). You can overclock this to 2.4GHz usually. Stick with the 754-socket, this is going to be cheaper, but you get the fast 64-bit processor at about the same speed with overclocking.
• Memory. Agree with 2 X 256MB OCZ PC3500 EL (Enhanced Latency) CAS2.0. Price: $120 shipped. These you are run reliably at DDR433 (217MHz bus).
• Video. Disagree and think you can get the ATI 9800 PRO 128MB for around $200 given the X800 has now shipped. A good performing video card if you play games. Otherwise, get a really cheapo one since video performance doesn't matter for running Office or browsing the internet.
• Case and Power Supply. CaseEdge TS1 Mid-Tower Price: $40 shipped from PC Club plus an Enlight 360W power supply ($35) seem fine.
• Disk. Would get a bigger hard drive given pricing. The Hitachi 2K250 ($190) is a great buy and is super fast. Or get the Western Digital WD1200JB ($80) if you are really economizing.
• Optical. At these prices, I'd just get the NEC-2510A dual layer DVD writer. You'll need it later ($85)

Low end

Ok, this is the cheapest decent system based on Anandtech to get a total system unit price of $536.

• CPU. Take both the Athlon XP 2500+ ($75). You can overclock to get a little more performance. The mobile version BTW has the ability to run much cooler ($88), so is well worth it.
• Memory. Take the secondary recommendation of the OCZ PC3200 EL 256MB ($70). If there is anyway to afford it, go to the 512MB version ($120). Memory is a big driver of performance
• Motherboard, Video, Power Supply and Case. Instead of getting a motherboard, case and video, you should get the Shuttle SN41G2 ($200). This is a box that has it all. Otherwise, if you want a big case, get the ASUS A7N8X-X ($75), Sapphire 9800SE ($48) and Foxconn Super Case 100-G2-P4 Mid Tower
  Price: $45 shipped with AMD approved power supply. This will be bigger though than the Shuttle and therefore upgradeable.
• Disk. Agreed on the Western Digital family, but best price per MB right now is the WD1200JB ($80) rather than the 40GB or 80GB versions.
• Optical. Get a vanilla CD-RW and DVD reader drive say the Lite-On 52×32×52×16 Combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive ($48). But if you can afford the splurge, getting to the NEC drive gets you DVD writing for backups and movie making.

AnandTech: Western Digital's Raptors in RAID-0: Are two drives better than one?. I was going to get a pair of 74GB 10Krpm drives in a RAID-0 to just get screaming desktop performance.

Indeed, it does look like that RAID-0 double actual disk throughput, but because a single drive also has caching and lookahead, the real world "delivered" to the application performance is only about 20% faster disk speed compared with a single drive.

Then when you take an actual overall system level performance in say Winstone or loading a game, you find it just washes out.

Defragging your hard disk is probably a bigger performance driver. So, the net, net, is get the 10K rpm drive, but you only need one and no RAID is needed.

Best use of RAID seems to me to be for RAID-1 mirroring so that it is easy to do backups.

Sony VAIO VGN-X505VP Review. So it costs $3,700. This is the utlimate machine. Thinner than a quarter, it has DVD, 1.1GHz Pentium M, 512MB Ram.

Film Processing, Photographic Lab, Printing - A&I Photographic Lab. Just a note, after a year of use, we really love A&I's photo processing. With a year or so to go until I go digital, this has been a nice compromise. Get a wonderful 35mm camera (Nikon N80) and some great lenses (50MM F/1.8 and 70-200MM F/2.8) and then wait for the super high resolution Nikon compatibles to come.

In the mean time, A&I does a great job with quality printing. They are expensive at $12.50 per roll, but the quality is amazing. Its about $0.50/print right now so it will be great to get to digital someday soon, but for now this works well.

Drivers Field Office Information. Hey, they even put the time you have to wait for a drivers license on the web. How cool is that!