Finally, an evolution

Ever since the D40X (released 2007), the lowest end DSLR from Nikon appears to have used the same 10 megapixel CCD sensor inherited from the D200 (released 2005). While the D60 (2008) and then the D3000  (2009) have sold very well, I could not help but feel disappointed at Nikon's lack of innovation in this sector of the market. 

Because the relatively poor ISO performance of the D40X is the main reason why I've been wanting to upgrade the cam since last year.

Can't really blame them I suppose, but it meant I had little incentive to upgrade from my D40X, which of course remains an outstanding camera after more than 300,000 pictures and lots of physical abuse: lots of rain, some snow, the seaside and once, a drop from about 1 metre.

But things seemed to have finally taken a turn for the better last week. Nikon announced the D3100, successor to the D3000. It will come with 14 megapixels with a base ISO range of 100 to 3200, which can further be boosted to 12800. It is also the first Nikon DSLR to do full HD video recording.

Picture from http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/

That's better than Nikon's top-end D300s DX format camera, at least on paper!

And for me, one of the most welcome innovation (for Nikon's bottom-end model) besides the brand-new sensor is a physical switch to toggle between Single frame shooting, Continuous shooting and Self-timer. The last option is the Quiet shutter mode. In the D40X/60/3000 as well as the D5000, these options can only be chosen from a menu on the camera's display. Because the camera automatically switches back to normal shooting mode (Single or Continuous) after a Self-timer shot, it was troublesome to do self or group portraits or long exposure shots without a remote, as one will have to change the setting through the onscreen menu to Self-timer again after every attempted shot.

Picture from http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/

But upon reading the specs a little more closely, I found a deal-breaker. Sort of. The D3100 doesn't work with the cheap Nikon ML-L3 remote, almost an essential accessory for my D40X for the past three years! I suppose the new shooting mode switch makes up for this deficiency to some extent, but that's quite a bummer, really. Shall have to await the D90 replacement, set to be announced in September, to see if there is a better alternative.

Besides compatibility with the ML-L3, I am watching out for two memory card slots. One memory card failure was all I needed to feel the need for this feature, which allows for instant back-up of pictures taken on a second SD card.

In the meantime, the Ricoh GXR is looking to be a very interesting (but relatively expensive) option.

A Quick Guide to choosing a new laptop processor

I decided to buy a new laptop a few weeks ago, after using my IBM Thinkpad X41 for the past 5 years. Boy did the little machine last me long! Last year, I maxed out the RAM to 2GB (from 1.5GB), bought a new battery and even tried to install a solid state drive (SSD) -- which unfortunately didn't work for some reason. Anyhow, I managed to get by for another year, and probably can continue using it for years if I didn't need a more powerful machine for photo editing.

Yep, for normal uses like web surfing and word processing the X41 still worked perfectly. But after editing photos on it for two years, using Nikon's power hungry Capture NX 2 software, I thought it was time to be more efficient. A new laptop was the only way.

Unfortunately, the CPU landscape has changed quite drastically since 2005. The latest CPUs have funky names like i3, i5 and i7... and now there are things called quad core processors. (My X41 has a single core Pentium M 1.5GHz processor.) For those who are as lost as I was when I started doing my research, here's a concise guide to choosing what you need.

The 3, 5, 7's of Intel's processors

Suffixes

1. The new processors are generally called iX-XX0M. The suffix "M" tells you that it's a mobile processor. "QM" means quad core processor, and they only appear in the i7 line. "LM" means low voltage, while "UM" means ultra low voltage. The latter two sacrifice performance for lower power consumption and are thus meant for laptops that are lighter and/or tend to run longer on batteries.
2. Intel calls its top end processors the "extreme editions" and they end in "XM".
3. Then there is "E", which means it supports a special type of memory called Error Correction Code memory. Irrelevant for most of us. (There are also "LE" and "UE"variants.)

Other terminology

1. The clock speed of the processor is the one of the main factors for its speed. They are written as XXX GHz. Bigger number, better.
2. Except for 4 options in the i7 line, all of Intel's latest laptop processors are dual core. From what I have read, they are mostly faster than the corresponding models in the previous "Core 2 Duo" line.

i3 vs i5 vs i7

1. The lowest end laptops with Intel's i3 processor start at higher clock speeds of >2GHz, except for the ultra low voltage version. The main difference is that unlike the i5 and i7 models, they don't have a feature to "turbo boost" their processing power. Despite that, they are fast enough for most typical business type uses.
2. The i5 is the mid-range line. But there is an anomaly. Some of the i5 "M" processors are actually faster than the i7 "LM" and "UM" processors. The fastest i5 is the i5-540M.
3. The top-end i7 line starts with some dual core options. The fastest is the i7-620M.
4. Also of note are the i7-620LM and i7-640LM variants, which are slower than the i5-540M but consume less power, as mentioned earlier.
5. There are 6 quad core options in the top-end i7 line: i7-720QM, i7-740QM, i7-820QM, i7-840QM, i7-920XM and i7-940XM. They are all power-hungry and laptops that use them are very bulky and tend to last less than 3 hours on a full battery.
6. Another anomaly: the i7-620M is said to run faster than the i7-720QM when it comes to certain types of programmes, even though the latter has 4 cores to the former's 2. This is probably because the i7-620M has a faster clock speed, which probably matters more to most computer programmes on the market now. This means that the i7-620M is probably better value for money.

So how to choose?

Gamers and those looking for a mobile workstation:

i7-820QM and above. Be warned that these machines are expensive, quite heavy and battery guzzlers. From tests found online, the i7-720QM loses out to the i7-620M when using certain programmes, as mentioned earlier. Might as well make it worth your money and muscle (to carry the heavy machine) by getting something more powerful.

And for the rest of us mortals...

Mobility first, performance second:

i7-640LM or i7-620LM. They are the most powerful low-voltage processors, and the best ultraportable laptops on the market use them.

Performance first, mobility second:

i7-620M, or if you want to save some money, i5-540M. If you want to save more money, you can consider the i5-430M.

Budget:

The i3 series is probably the way to go then.

Conclusion

Hope this helps you in choosing your new laptop. It took me many days of reading up online to get up to speed. Actually, I've stopped reading tech mags and articles since I got my first computer in 1998. In those days, Pentium II 266MHz with 32MB RAM was top end.

But if you don't need to upgrade now, you should wait for next year's models. Due to be out in the first quarter of 2011, they promise to be faster and more power-efficient.

In the end, I placed an order for the Thinkpad X201 tablet with an i7-620LM. After using a Thinkpad for the past 5 years, I don't think I can use any other laptop again. Love the keyboard, the trackpoint (aka the little red dot) and the overall asthetics. Hope it arrives in the mail soon!

Links:

Intel i3 mobile processor lineup: http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyId=46468

Intel i5 mobile processor lineup: http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyId=43483

Intel i7 mobile processor lineup: http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyId=43402

Intel i7 mobile processor (Extreme edition) lineup: http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyId=43403

Afternote:

Other important factors to your computer's speed would be the hard disk drive speed and the amount of RAM.

For the hard disk, try to get one with 7200rpm, or get a solid state drive (SSD) if you can afford it.

Get 3GB of RAM if you are running Windows 7 32 bit, and at least 4GB if you are running the 64-bit version.