For bloggers, online businesspeople, and business professionals, it’s essential to be able to edit photos while on the go. Laptops and notebook computers are handy for this type of work, but system requirements must be met and the correct tools should be available.

Many modern laptop brands offer enough power for users’ portable photo editing needs. Dell computers offer high quality for every budget, including a variety of screen choices to give the best possible photo editing experience. Toshiba laptops have some of the latest in processor technology available; however, cheaper models do not always have optimal display settings for photo editing. Even lower-priced Acer notebooks perform well enough for photo editing tasks, though some models may not meet users’ expectations for speed.

A good wireless mouse can aid with detail editing. Instead of having to manipulate difficult changes with a touchpad, a mouse allows the user to tweak the finer points of photos with ease. A USB headset can be helpful for those who wish to make slide shows or YouTube videos with their photos. These headsets have a microphone that can be used to record voice over tracks, and the headphones let the user edit in private no matter what location he or she may be working in.

Quality photo editing software is also necessary. Professional programs can be expensive, but open-source tools such as GIMP are free and easy to use. GIMP offers a variety of tools that are perfect for photo editing. Photographers on the go can crop, rotate, and resize their photos; as well as fine-tune colours, add photo effects, and touch up impurities.

GIMP is free to download and free updates are available from time to time. It runs on a variety of operating systems including Windows, Unix, and Mac. The minimum recommended amount of memory to run GIMP is 128MB, but this may vary depending on how big the images being edited are and how many a user attempts to work with at once.

Anyone planning to use a laptop or notebook computer for photo editing should take note that LCD laptop screens are not always the best when it comes to displaying true colour and contrast. Whenever possible, travelling photo editors should double-check their work on another machine to make sure the final product has the look they want.

With today’s laptop and notebook technologies, editing photos from anywhere is a breeze. Smart purchases and the availability of high-quality, free photo editing software make it inexpensive as well. All it takes is a little creativity to be able to put the finishing touches on great photos anywhere, any time.

5 Laptop Scams to Avoid

If you’re in the market for a good and cheap laptop, be wary of the different laptop scams that may be out there. This is especially true if the deal seems too good to be true. In this article, we’ve sieve out some of the more common laptop scams you’ll see in the market so you can protect yourself from them.

1. EBay Laptop Scam

The first and most obvious place for laptop scams is EBay. Now, there are a LOT of scam artists in EBay selling laptops. They basically try to take your money and do not deliver the goods. Here are some pointers you need to check before you buy a laptop from EBay.

• The seller is not in the same country as item
• The seller’s laptop photo is a stock photo – not a custom one
• The seller does not list Paypal as a payment option
• The seller does not have a good feedback rating, or is new
• The seller does not respond to questions about the item

Any of the above points should trigger thoughts about the deal being suspect. My personal recommendation is to try to buy laptops from brand name manufacturer’s websites instead of EBay.

2. Laptop Warranty Scams

If you are thinking of buying an extended warranty for your new laptop, you should be careful to check out the prices involved.

Electrical stores selling laptops using push extended warranties quite hard. These stores make a cut from selling the warranty, so you might end up paying slightly more in the long run. Besides, I’ve always believed that a laptop purchased from a good brand name manufacturer will last for some time. In any case, if the laptop goes bonkers after 2 years or so, forget the extended warranty – it’s probably time to upgrade the whole machine.

3. Airport Laptop Scams

The airport is a hotbed for laptop scams. It has been found that 12,000 laptops are left behind in U.S. airports each week, according to a recent study by Dell. If you are travelling, take special note of the airport security checkpoint, scam artists might use a ‘bait and switch’ tactic to replace your laptop bag with a similar looking one. Trust me, this is known to happen.

4. Laptop Repair Scams

Here’s another one I’ve heard about. Laptop scam artists respond to advertisements for ‘laptop repair’, saying they have say 20 laptops to repair based on a price of $X each. The scammer sends in a check that is probably more than the total price say $20X + $Y (as advance payment) and then asks for the difference. The victim would then send in a check on with difference ($Y) to the scammer, only to never hear from the fella again.

5. In-Your-Face Laptop Scams

Then there are what I call In-Your-Face laptop scams. Here, the scammers are really direct. Then approach you or set up a street stall with laptops being sold for rock bottom prices. You purchase a unit and hand over the cash. You’re then handed a laptop bag containing bottles of water or soft drinks. Then the scammers run away before you can shout for help.