WinOS Laptop Which One?

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 17:31:11 -0700, "Donna"
wrote:

Hi all, looking for advice from Windows users (no offense Mac guys). I need a new laptop and have been driving myself crazy looking at specs of laptops. Since I use CS (all of the programs), I know that I need a fast processor, lots of ram, big harddrive and the video card, I assume is critical. Anyone bought a new laptop recently and using these programs, are really happy?
Before anyone says get a MacG4, let me assure you that I might consider it, if it were not for the thousands of dollars of software that would have to be replaced to the MacVersions.

Anyway Windows people, how about it? Thanks for any advice.

My laptop is an older Dell (Latitude c610)
1GB RAM
20 GB HDD
Runs at 700 or 1.0 Mhz (Battery or Mains power)

It runs Photoshop CS just fine but it was a royal pain to get the screen calibrated! For that matter it’s a royal pain to KEEP the screen calibrated so if I have any choice I don’t use it for color sensitive stuff, just basic touchups, cropping, etc. I try to save the intense stuff for my main system at home.

Drifter
"I’ve been here, I’ve been there…"

FWIW – widescreen laptops seem to have the edge for me

Artio

"Donna" wrote in message

Hi all, looking for advice from Windows users (no offense Mac guys). I need a new laptop and have been driving myself crazy looking at specs of laptops. Since I use CS (all of the programs), I know that I need a fast processor, lots of ram, big harddrive and the video card, I assume is critical. Anyone bought a new laptop recently and using these programs, are really happy?

Before anyone says get a MacG4, let me assure you that I might consider it, if it were not for the thousands of dollars of software that would have to be replaced to the MacVersions.

Anyway Windows people, how about it? Thanks for any advice.
—
Donna

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 17:31:11 -0700, "Donna"
wrote:

Hi all, looking for advice from Windows users (no offense Mac guys). I need a new laptop and have been driving myself crazy looking at specs of laptops. Since I use CS (all of the programs), I know that I need a fast processor, lots of ram, big harddrive and the video card, I assume is critical. Anyone bought a new laptop recently and using these programs, are really happy?
Before anyone says get a MacG4, let me assure you that I might consider it, if it were not for the thousands of dollars of software that would have to be replaced to the MacVersions.

Anyway Windows people, how about it? Thanks for any advice.

Unless you’re willing to spend a lot of money for a desktop replacement your best bet is either a Centrino or an Athlon based system. You can get laptops containing AMD 64 chips at reasonable prices now, and that would be my favoured solution. The ,main problem you’ll have is with memory and hard disks. Most laptops won’t be sold with more than 512 Mb, so you’ll need to upgrade that, but you’ll find that 1Gb is the limit. Also, hard disks tend to be smaller, and you’ll only get one of them, so you’ll have a problem with a slowdown because of the scratch disk being on the same drive. Finally, the video card doesn’t really matter because most of the cards inside modern laptops are good enough for 2D.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Well, I might have found what I think is the best PC laptop for graphic designers. Here is a brief rundown on the important specs:

Pentium 4, 3.4Ghz Processor; 80GB harddrive; Ram expandable to 2048MB; 17" XGAWidescreen; Video-Nvidia GEForce5700, 128MB DDR memory; OS-WinXPPro.

Further comments?

"Hecate" wrote in message

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 17:31:11 -0700, "Donna"
wrote:

Hi all, looking for advice from Windows users (no offense Mac guys). I need
a new laptop and have been driving myself crazy looking at specs of laptops.
Since I use CS (all of the programs), I know that I need a fast processor, lots of ram, big harddrive and the video card, I assume is critical. Anyone
bought a new laptop recently and using these programs, are really happy?
Before anyone says get a MacG4, let me assure you that I might consider it,
if it were not for the thousands of dollars of software that would have to be replaced to the MacVersions.

Anyway Windows people, how about it? Thanks for any advice.

Unless you’re willing to spend a lot of money for a desktop replacement your best bet is either a Centrino or an Athlon based system. You can get laptops containing AMD 64 chips at reasonable prices now, and that would be my favoured solution. The ,main problem you’ll have is with memory and hard disks. Most laptops won’t be sold with more than 512 Mb, so you’ll need to upgrade that, but you’ll find that 1Gb is the limit. Also, hard disks tend to be smaller, and you’ll only get one of them, so you’ll have a problem with a slowdown because of the scratch disk being on the same drive. Finally, the video card doesn’t really matter because most of the cards inside modern laptops are good enough for 2D.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

In article ,
says…

Hi all, looking for advice from Windows users (no offense Mac guys). I need a new laptop and have been driving myself crazy looking at specs of laptops. Since I use CS (all of the programs), I know that I need a fast processor, lots of ram, big harddrive and the video card, I assume is critical. Anyone bought a new laptop recently and using these programs, are really happy?
Before anyone says get a MacG4, let me assure you that I might consider it, if it were not for the thousands of dollars of software that would have to be replaced to the MacVersions.

Anyway Windows people, how about it? Thanks for any advice.
—
Donna

Aside from the good responses you have already received, I’ll add my laptop to the list: Toshiba Satellite P25-S670. There is a newer one out, but I don’t have the specs handy.

Pent4 3.2 MHz
RAM 2GB
Vid 128MB shared (note that video is not really a problem for CS apps) 1 80GB HDD 7200 RPM (working on which USB/Firewird HDD or additional 80GB HDD to use as Scratch Disk)
17" monitor, which is OK for most non-critical color work. Anything that is important in this area goes to workstations for adjustment. Good battery life, but I run on AC>DC most of the time (and want to replace battery for second physical HDD for those times).
Built-in wireless G card, and slots for 2 PCMICA cards.
4 USB2 ports, 1 Firewire 1394-400, 1 LPT, 1 Serial, 1 monitor port, 1 keyboard port, Bluetooth capable port, built-in modem, AV in/out, no S-vid port. Heavy, compared to most newer micro-laptops, but all that *stuff* weighs something.

Sony’s VAIO with 16" UXGA was another, that I looked at, but most of their newer laptops went another route than UXGA (sharpest laptop I saw), so I choose Toshiba.

These can be good "field" machines for downloading digital images, and some manipulation, but all will fall short in the color correction end, as others have pointed out.

Hunt

Would a second hard drive work best through firewire or USB?

Would PSCS or CS use a removable hard drive as scratch disk?

If the removable hard drive was not present could PSCS or CS revert to a scratch on the single hard drive?

I ask these cos u asked

The kit spec seems nice – very, very nice although I’d be tempted to go for a cpu chip that supports 64 bit architecture (due soon watch out for news)

I think I’ll go for a standalone PC with built in card reader, couple of fast disks and widescreen monitor – so many new programs seem to whack the help file to right-hand margin

Have fun Donna!

I expect if you kit up to such hi spec we may not hear from you for a few weeks or so – keep on posting wayway

Artio

"Donna" wrote in message

Well, I might have found what I think is the best PC laptop for graphic designers. Here is a brief rundown on the important specs:
Pentium 4, 3.4Ghz Processor; 80GB harddrive; Ram expandable to 2048MB; 17" XGAWidescreen; Video-Nvidia GEForce5700, 128MB DDR memory; OS-WinXPPro.
Further comments?

"Hecate" wrote in message

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 17:31:11 -0700, "Donna"
wrote:

Hi all, looking for advice from Windows users (no offense Mac guys). I need
a new laptop and have been driving myself crazy looking at specs of laptops.
Since I use CS (all of the programs), I know that I need a fast processor,
lots of ram, big harddrive and the video card, I assume is critical. Anyone
bought a new laptop recently and using these programs, are really happy?
Before anyone says get a MacG4, let me assure you that I might consider it,
if it were not for the thousands of dollars of software that would have to
be replaced to the MacVersions.

Anyway Windows people, how about it? Thanks for any advice.

Unless you’re willing to spend a lot of money for a desktop replacement your best bet is either a Centrino or an Athlon based system. You can get laptops containing AMD 64 chips at reasonable prices now, and that would be my favoured solution. The ,main problem you’ll have is with memory and hard disks. Most laptops won’t be sold with more than 512 Mb, so you’ll need to upgrade that, but you’ll find that 1Gb is the limit. Also, hard disks tend to be smaller, and you’ll only get one of them, so you’ll have a problem with a slowdown because of the scratch disk being on the same drive. Finally, the video card doesn’t really matter because most of the cards inside modern laptops are good enough for 2D.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Hi Hunt, the model of the Toshiba that I am quoting the specs on is the P25S676. Might this be the newer one that you referred to? One of the major reasons that I am looking at this particular model is due to the 128MB video card. I assumed that I needed this for PS filters and possibly using Illy’s 3D. Might also get into Animation at some point, so I thought this would be very important. Am I not understanding something here? Thanks.

"Hunt" wrote in message

In article ,
says…

Hi all, looking for advice from Windows users (no offense Mac guys). I need
a new laptop and have been driving myself crazy looking at specs of laptops.
Since I use CS (all of the programs), I know that I need a fast processor, lots of ram, big harddrive and the video card, I assume is critical. Anyone
bought a new laptop recently and using these programs, are really happy?
Before anyone says get a MacG4, let me assure you that I might consider it,
if it were not for the thousands of dollars of software that would have to be replaced to the MacVersions.

Anyway Windows people, how about it? Thanks for any advice.
—
Donna

Aside from the good responses you have already received, I’ll add my laptop to
the list: Toshiba Satellite P25-S670. There is a newer one out, but I don’t
have the specs handy.

Pent4 3.2 MHz
RAM 2GB
Vid 128MB shared (note that video is not really a problem for CS apps) 1 80GB HDD 7200 RPM (working on which USB/Firewird HDD or additional 80GB HDD
to use as Scratch Disk)
17" monitor, which is OK for most non-critical color work. Anything that is
important in this area goes to workstations for adjustment. Good battery life, but I run on AC>DC most of the time (and want to replace
battery for second physical HDD for those times).
Built-in wireless G card, and slots for 2 PCMICA cards.
4 USB2 ports, 1 Firewire 1394-400, 1 LPT, 1 Serial, 1 monitor port, 1 keyboard
port, Bluetooth capable port, built-in modem, AV in/out, no S-vid port. Heavy, compared to most newer micro-laptops, but all that *stuff* weighs something.

Sony’s VAIO with 16" UXGA was another, that I looked at, but most of their newer laptops went another route than UXGA (sharpest laptop I saw), so I choose Toshiba.

These can be good "field" machines for downloading digital images, and some
manipulation, but all will fall short in the color correction end, as others
have pointed out.

Hunt

After a lot of investigation I bought a Sony GRT series laptop. I selected it mostly
because of the Large 16.1" UXGA display with Xbrite technology. This screen is taller than some 17" systems making it more useful for Photoshop. I bought this 3.1 Ghz system direct from Sony and customized it by removing practically
all options, except increased the drive size. I them bought one gig of memory from a
third party (at half the upgrade price) removed and discarded the supplied memory.
It worked out well. (Mind you I hate laptops, but I always can’t take my desktops with me.}

The LCD is the best I’ve seen, but it is still lousy compared to my 5 year old 21" Nokia 445X screen.
Tilting the LCD screen or moving your head still changes the brightness, contrast and saturation
reducing the predictability of the outcome. I also hate the lack of on-line tech support by Sony
(compared to Dell and IBM) but I would definitely buy this machine again for Photoshop CS
use.

"Donna" wrote in message

Hi all, looking for advice from Windows users (no offense Mac guys). I need a new laptop and have been driving myself crazy looking at specs of laptops. Since I use CS (all of the programs), I know that I need a fast processor, lots of ram, big harddrive and the video card, I assume is critical. Anyone bought a new laptop recently and using these programs, are really happy?

Before anyone says get a MacG4, let me assure you that I might consider it, if it were not for the thousands of dollars of software that would have to be replaced to the MacVersions.

Anyway Windows people, how about it? Thanks for any advice.
—
Donna

In article ,
says…

Hi Hunt, the model of the Toshiba that I am quoting the specs on is the P25S676. Might this be the newer one that you referred to? One of the major reasons that I am looking at this particular model is due to the 128MB video card. I assumed that I needed this for PS filters and possibly using Illy’s 3D. Might also get into Animation at some point, so I thought this would be very important. Am I not understanding something here? Thanks.

[SNIP]

Yes, that is the one that replaced my model – about a month after my purchace Grrrr.

Mine has 128MB shared vid-ram too, and it works well with PS, but is really designed for 3-D. The resolution possible from a vid-card/monitor, are about all one needs to concern themselves with with PS. Now, any 3-D work will definitely benefit from more vid-ram and various acceleration techiniques. The Toshiba’s card is more than is necessary for PS alone.

In a PS only computer I’d go with the following list, roughly in this order:

1.) RAM
2.) HDD’s and I mean more than one, and yes, fast (in all respects) is much better than slower
3.) Processor speed
4.) Monitor(s), sharpest, largest, most color perfect, CRT(s) better
5.) Video card – all you need is enough to run your monitor(s) at your chosen
rez.

That is a simple want-list for PS only.

Hunt

In article <ywMYc.87544$ says…

After a lot of investigation I bought a Sony GRT series laptop. I selected it mostly
because of the Large 16.1" UXGA display with Xbrite technology. This screen is taller than some 17" systems making it more useful for Photoshop. I bought this 3.1 Ghz system direct from Sony and customized it by removing practically
all options, except increased the drive size. I them bought one gig of memory from a
third party (at half the upgrade price) removed and discarded the supplied memory.
It worked out well. (Mind you I hate laptops, but I always can’t take my desktops with me.}

The LCD is the best I’ve seen, but it is still lousy compared to my 5 year old 21" Nokia 445X screen.
Tilting the LCD screen or moving your head still changes the brightness, contrast and saturation
reducing the predictability of the outcome. I also hate the lack of on-line tech support by Sony
(compared to Dell and IBM) but I would definitely buy this machine again for Photoshop CS
use.

"Donna" wrote in message

Hi all, looking for advice from Windows users (no offense Mac guys). I need a new laptop and have been driving myself crazy looking at specs of laptops. Since I use CS (all of the programs), I know that I need a fast processor, lots of ram, big harddrive and the video card, I assume is critical. Anyone bought a new laptop recently and using these programs, are really happy?

Before anyone says get a MacG4, let me assure you that I might consider it, if it were not for the thousands of dollars of software that would have to be replaced to the MacVersions.

Anyway Windows people, how about it? Thanks for any advice.
—
Donna

Yes, the Sony’s UXGA was the best I could find. At the time, however, they were releasing all of their newer models in WXGA, which was OK, but not anywhere as sharp as their UXGA. It appears that I should have waited a bit. However, the Toshiba has done all I could ask for from a laptop – I just wish I had not seen that UXGA!!!!!

Hunt

In news:Donna typed:

Hi Hunt, the model of the Toshiba that I am quoting the specs on is the P25S676. Might this be the newer one that you referred to? One of the major reasons that I am looking at this particular model is due to the 128MB video card. I assumed that I needed this for PS filters and possibly using Illy’s 3D. Might also get into Animation at some point, so I thought this would be very important. Am I not understanding something here? Thanks.

I’ll go against the flow here. Video card on a laptop is something that cannot be upgraded later on; You can always add a firewire hard drive, external DVD burner, add memory, external audio card and monitor etc. But the video card, you are stuck with so choose carefully. Since you mentionned 3D animation, I would suggest going to the web site of the 3D app you plan to use, look at their requirement (usually very specific) and plan your purchase accordingly.

—
Odysea video production
Come dive with us!
www.odysea.ca

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 07:35:30 -0700, "Donna"
wrote:

Well, I might have found what I think is the best PC laptop for graphic designers. Here is a brief rundown on the important specs:
Pentium 4, 3.4Ghz Processor; 80GB harddrive; Ram expandable to 2048MB; 17" XGAWidescreen; Video-Nvidia GEForce5700, 128MB DDR memory; OS-WinXPPro.
Further comments?

A couple:

1. I take it you don’t need battery life longer than about an hour?

2. Make sure you have something covering your lap if you place it there, otherwise you’ll get serious burns.

Apart from that, fine as long as you remember to calibrate the screen weekly. 🙂

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 15:20:22 GMT, "Arty Facting" wrote:

Would a second hard drive work best through firewire or USB?

Firewire. Or in the case of a PC, IEE1394. 🙂

Would PSCS or CS use a removable hard drive as scratch disk?

Yes.

If the removable hard drive was not present could PSCS or CS revert to a scratch on the single hard drive?

Not unless you told it to. And when you tried to boot it up it would be looking for the hard drive…

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Thanks to everyone with their comments.
"Hunt" wrote in message

In article <ywMYc.87544$ says…

After a lot of investigation I bought a Sony GRT series laptop. I selected it mostly
because of the Large 16.1" UXGA display with Xbrite technology. This screen
is taller than some 17" systems making it more useful for Photoshop. I bought this 3.1 Ghz system direct from Sony and customized it by removing
practically
all options, except increased the drive size. I them bought one gig of memory from a
third party (at half the upgrade price) removed and discarded the supplied memory.
It worked out well. (Mind you I hate laptops, but I always can’t take my desktops with me.}

The LCD is the best I’ve seen, but it is still lousy compared to my 5 year old 21" Nokia 445X screen.
Tilting the LCD screen or moving your head still changes the brightness, contrast and saturation
reducing the predictability of the outcome. I also hate the lack of on-line
tech support by Sony
(compared to Dell and IBM) but I would definitely buy this machine again for
Photoshop CS
use.

"Donna" wrote in message

Hi all, looking for advice from Windows users (no offense Mac guys). I need a new laptop and have been driving myself crazy looking at specs of laptops. Since I use CS (all of the programs), I know that I need a fast processor, lots of ram, big harddrive and the video card, I assume is critical. Anyone bought a new laptop recently and using these programs, are really happy?

Before anyone says get a MacG4, let me assure you that I might consider it, if it were not for the thousands of dollars of software that would have to be replaced to the MacVersions.

Anyway Windows people, how about it? Thanks for any advice.
—
Donna

Yes, the Sony’s UXGA was the best I could find. At the time, however, they were releasing all of their newer models in WXGA, which was OK, but not anywhere as sharp as their UXGA. It appears that I should have waited a bit.
However, the Toshiba has done all I could ask for from a laptop – I just wish
I had not seen that UXGA!!!!!

Hunt

In article ,
says…

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 07:35:30 -0700, "Donna"
wrote:

Well, I might have found what I think is the best PC laptop for graphic designers. Here is a brief rundown on the important specs:
Pentium 4, 3.4Ghz Processor; 80GB harddrive; Ram expandable to 2048MB; 17" XGAWidescreen; Video-Nvidia GEForce5700, 128MB DDR memory; OS-WinXPPro.
Further comments?

A couple:

1. I take it you don’t need battery life longer than about an hour?
2. Make sure you have something covering your lap if you place it there, otherwise you’ll get serious burns.

Apart from that, fine as long as you remember to calibrate the screen weekly. 🙂

—

Hecate – The Real One

You are SO correct. My battery life is a bit more, but then I do 99% on AC>DC. I inadvertantly placed the Toshiba in my lap (hey, it’s sold as a LAPTOP, right?), and ouch! I went looking for my asbestos trousers, and remembered that the EPA took them away, some years back. I’d be afraid of using this machine on an airplane – I don’t know what the melting point of those tray- tables is!!!!!!!

Thanks for warning the OP – only wish you’d e-mailed me, before I tried it. Now, at the beach, I can tell all the young ladies about my Harley and its hot exhaust pipes, or something else as stupid.;-}

Hunt