Laptop To Be Used Strictly For Stamp Collecting: What Specs, Software, Etc.

I did not want to hijack Rod's thread so I am starting a new one since my needs are different. I will be working (playing) with my stamps in a different room from my desktop computer so I am looking to buy a laptop to use strictly for stamps.

What software do y'all use and recommend for your stamp collecting activities? I will probably want to hook up some kind of digital microscope or perhaps a small scanner of some kind. Any recommendations for that? My eyes are not so good anymore so I will be depending upon the laptop for any close viewing. I will also want to use it to maintain some kind of an inventory. Recommended programs for that?

As far as machine specs are concerned, I suppose the most important one will be a large, high resolution screen. Windows 10? 16GB of ram? Since I probably won't be loading a lot of software on it I probably won't need a huge HD, maybe just a small (256GB) SSD? I don't want to go overboard since this will be only be used for stamp collecting but I want to make sure it has everything I will likely need.

I like the ideas put forward in Rod's thread about buying used or perhaps a refurbished Dell. What is the difference between a Dell Latitude and a Dell Inspirion?

All ideas and advice appreciated!

Hi Anghus,

You'll get mostly a lot of personal opinions regarding your questions, so here's mine, for whatever it's worth.

I'm the (sole) PC technician at a large manufacturing plant. I buy anywhere from 20 to 80 computers a year, everything from laptops to large virtual servers. And then it's my job to support all of them. Before this position, I owned a retail computer store, where I assembled our own computers to each user's specifications.

Put simply, the top-tier laptop manufacturer is currently Lenovo (again, in my opinion).

Once I deploy one, I (almost) NEVER have to go back and fix something on that machine.

On the other hand, I despise HP laptops and printers, mostly because they insist on installing all kinds of "custom" HP software, which in almost all cases is already supported by the operating system anyway. I uninstall almost every HP program from a new computer before I deploy it.

Keep in mind the brutal truth when it comes to personal computers: whatever make and model you ultimately decide on, and regardless of whatever you wind up spending on your new computer, the reality is that, in perhaps five years or less, you won't be able to give the thing away for free.

A two year old computer in my job is considered "old." Anything running, for example, Windows XP, is simply not worth upgrading, and, to add insult to injuty, we have to pay someone to take the thing away. You can't even throw it in the trash, in California at least.

All this being said, the Lenovo laptops have a reputation of having a very long battery life, and being very durable.

You will have to get Windows 10 in a matter of time anyway, so you might as well get it now. Sixteen gigabytes of memory should be quite adequate for most people, and a 256 Gb SSD hard drive will be fine, unless you get into very large video files.

I have a SD card in my Lenovo, with a 256 Gb capacity, so I effectively double my storage capacity. I use it to back up the entire hard drive.

If you get a Bluetooth capable mouse, you'll free up a USB port. I have no problems running any software with the Core i7 chip.

The T560 that I have has a wide-screen display, as well as a full ten-key input on the right side of the keyboard.

Hope that this helps.

Jim

p.s. Found this, if it helps:

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/...rand-ratings

The Lenovo's are the evolution of the old IBM Thinkpad. I have used Thinkpads and now Lenovo laptops for many years, and I am a big fan.

Now there's a thing, I always considered Lenovo as the cheap end, due to an Aussie storehouse selling them (Kogan)

So here's a new option, I'll pass this on to Don, for his appraisal for me.
Thanks James.
If suitable, could make an easy one stop purchase.

https://www.lenovo.com/au/en/deskto...urrentmodels

Lenovo is bit like Dell. A lot of of their business line stuff is rock solid, but when it comes to 'consumer level' stuff your mileage will vary. It really comes down to knowing the specifics (both what's inside the box, as well as how/what kind of use it will have).

And a lot of bad things have been said about HP (I for one have more than enough bad experiences on them), but for example their EliteBook line is usually VERY good for certain use scenarios. So it really comes down to knowing the specifics, and choosing the right fit.




The general divide is something like this (from best to worse):

XPS is for serious graphics/photography professional (excellent displays, full of power)
Precision is for architects and other 'heavy computing' users (full of raw horsepower, average displays)
Latitude is the overall business model, love them (best overall solution)
Inspiron is the 'home' model/lower entry business model (for casual user)
Vostro is the very bottom end business model (don't really know why anybody bothers to use these, LOL)

The great thing with (business line of) Dell is that they allow you to have customized builds for even single machines. For example I've got Precision with high end display, and both of my previous Latitudes were highly customized for my needs.




Let's start with display...

Screen size... 14-15' is usually enough for most.
What matters here most is the affect it will have on recommended viewing distance and weight of device - the larger the display, the heavier the machine and the longer the recommended viewing distance. If you have plans to carry the laptop around it, or keep it on your lap, then opt for smaller screens. If it will sit on the desk most of the time, then you should go for 17' and larger displays.

That said, size is not all that matters, but for collector it comes also down to how accurate do you want the colors to replay? Each display has got a feature called color gamut, which is a percentage figure (running way beyond 100) of how much of the color space (sRGB, AdobeRGB, proPhotoRGB etc) they can replay. The higher the color gamut, the better and more vivid the colors are displayed.

But this here comes down to knowing also what color spaces are supported by the display and can the programs/tools you use utilize them. sRGB contains roughly a third of the colors a human eye can see, AdobeRGB allows you to see about 60% of the colors on screen, and ProPhoto provides a truly realistic view of roughly 90% coverage. The latter two color spaces are available mostly with professional (photography) level laptops/tools.

So If you buy a cheap digital microscope, and use for example IrfanView (or Windows PhotoViewer) to view the images, then investing money into AdobeRGB/proPhoto display (such may come with Dell XPS and alike) does you no good.

On the other hand if you have plans for professional quality photo scanner, or higher end digital microscope, and you plan to work your images with Adobe Photoshop (or other color aware app), then getting one of those better displays might be worth the cost.

And in all scenarious, figure out the color gamut of the display (stated usually on laptop technical specifications). For example most recent Dell/Lenovo sRGB laptops have color gamuts ranging from 100 (low end) to 200 (high end) depending on the model. The difference in quality of displays can be staggering when you view them side-by-side (but without comparison point you'll likely be a happy camper as you have no knowledge of better).


Also put focus into two things with displays: antiglare and recommended viewing angle. For example some laptops are built with 'optimal' viewing angle of 90° (perfect if you keep it on your lap), whereas others are built for 110° (perfect if you keep it on desk). Antiglare is hugely imporant if you have lamps etc. that might reflect from screen and distract your viewing experience.



Windows 10 - definitely.

Ram... 16GB is usually enough, though the more you have, the quicker things will run. What matters more than the amount is the type of RAM. For example DDR2 is far weaker than DDR3, and DDR3 is worse than DDR4 RAM. So you really cannot say 16GB is enough, as it comes down to type of memory (DDR2/3/4, what Hz etc). In general, the cheaper the machine, the weaker performance/quality parts are being used.


256GB SSD drive... Usually enough. Just make sure you get SSD drive, and not eMMC drive (two different things that behave very similarly. eMMC is used with cheap laptops)
One thing you might want to consider here is data recovery. SSD drives has been promoted here heavily, but you should be aware that they have one major downside. When and if they fails, it is very difficult/expensive to recover data (unlike with old fashioned drives). So it is important you have rock-solid backup approach.


Other stuff you should consider now (and not when issues rise)...

* get yourself a cooling pad. Public enemy of laptops is heat. Cooling pads help to keep your laptop in proper position and also supply some cooler air/take heat out. Lots of alternatives out there, so read a bit about alternatives, compare how it fits to your laptop etc. As always, cheap is usually not good/efficient (but still better than nothing)

* check keyboard layout/position in advance. If you have long/short fingers, you can avoid potential issues by making sure the keyboard fits for you.

* check out ports: above all what type of USB ports are supported and what you have, and are they enough. Check out also other peripheral ports you might need.



-k-

PS. For the record... Professional geek (running my own business) since 1990s. As a side-track/hobby I also run a local IT-repair at our village. All in all I think I know quite a lot of this stuff as I've dealed with hundreds of machines.

Wow! Thanks everyone! I was originally thinking "laptop" as a way to conserve space on my "stamp table". Then I began thinking that a small tower would allow me to have a larger monitor and a full size keyboard at the cost of maybe 30% more linear space. But having a laptop would allow me to bring it along to stamp shows. If I have digital scans of all my stamps on the laptop I would be able to compare what I have to what I might want to buy. But I imagine that would require a much larger hard drive to hold all the scans. This stuff is tougher than it seems!

No one has said anything yet about software useful for stamp collecting. Are there any "must haves"?

There is a company in my town that sells used Lenovo laptops but they all seem to come with only 8 GB of ram and smaller (128 GB) SSD's. I guess I will have to look farther afield.

It's really not rocket science, but you really must think of the specifics of how you will (plan to) use the laptop. Otherwise you'll end up with device that is no match for you - and that is why most people complain. They get a computer that is either too simple or too complex for them.




Not necessarily...

If you scan at low resolution (say 300dpi - large enough to fill most of your screen at 100% size), you can fit 2-3 stamp images per MB, which would mean 2-3,000 images per 1GB of free space. So your 256GB hard drive should easily fit half-a-million scans (if you install nothing more than Windows, do basic browsing etc). Even if you doubled image resolution, you should fit quarter-a-million scans. And if you use phone's camera to take images, you can still somewhat easily fit 100-250k pictures.

And of course there's no need to store/keep it all locally forever. For example I've got Microsoft Office with OneDrive, which means I got 1 terabyte (=capable of stroring 2+ million images) of cloud storage. All those images are easily viewable through my phone, tablet etc. No need to carry the laptop with me, nor keep all the images on my laptop.





Nope. Most things run through web browser these days.

A lot of it comes down to what you plan to do .... If you study/research the images (for example measure 1/10mm differences), then you'll likely want some image editing application (Adobe Photoshop, Gimp etc). If you build DIY* album pages, then you might want some desktop publishing program (Adobe Indesign, Microsoft Publisher, Scribus etc). And if you want to build inventory, then you need something for that (be it simple Microsoft Excel or Access file, or something more dedicated like StampMate etc inventorying tool). No single right approach here.




Don't fall for that. 128GB is very inadequate - by the time you get next major Windows upgrade, the machine will die as it has not got enough empty space.

You can always ask for upgrade offer. Adding a memory stick and bigger SSD drive is relatively easy (talking 5-15 minutes job if laptop is well built; for cheaper machines the very same task is easily so time consuming that it really does not make any sense to modify them).

-k-

A colleague of mine, has a tower at home, and flits around stamp bourses with a cheap "tablet"
That will be my route, when I can afford the tablet next year.

The "finger flipping" through the pages, irritates me to heaven, like those infernal Funeral Insurance adverts on TV.
But it does work, he keeps in line with auctions whilst away, and he can get up his wants lists etc.

The anxiety of having a laptop on the road, is avoided with a desktop.
The thought of a laptop being stolen influences my choices.

As far as software, your collecting regime dictates that.
for me...
A good Image software package.
A good, nay, brilliant file and folder regime (I am a windows explorer fan)
"Agent Ransack" free, for finding stuff on your hard drive
"Stamp Fix" free from our member Postmaster GS (make a donation though)

and most of all, the ability to name your stamp images with a thoughtful and useful naming regime (I use Scott catalogue numbers)

I am still using a many year old Lenovo ThinkPad with 8GB RAM and 500GB (SSD now) running Win 7.

Rod, using a tablet for mobility sounds like a good idea. I don't really have any experience with tablets (just Kindles) so I will have to explore that. Perhaps some type of small form factor desktop combined with a small tablet as you suggest is the way to go.

scb, I will check with the local store to see if they are willing to customize any of their refurbished units. Hopefully that won't be a problem. I suppose I will have to spring for Windows Office on the new unit - that will provide all the basic tools.

I will see if I can find an existing thread regarding stamp inventory schemas/software. I took a look at the StampMate site but could not really tell much. Maybe someone here who uses it has done a review.

Just google "Stamp Mate review". In addition of SCF thread(s), several stamp bloggers (yours truly included) have written about it. And other stamp forums have got topics of it as well. Just like any topic related to computers, it really comes down to specifics whether or not it would be the right for you. For example what you collect, what catalog you use, why you want to build the inventory etc questions define whether or not it would match for your needs. And of course there's free trial that you can try before buy (and developer of StampMate is very friendly/helpful with any questions you might have).

-k-