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10/25/2007 11:41:20 AM · #1 |
My computer is dying. For space reasons a laptop would be my best option as a replacement and since my wife says she'll pay it doesn't have to be the very cheapest. I've been looking but the specs just make my head spin, so ....
What features/specs should I be looking for ? I don't play games or watch videos on my computer, just browse the internet, word process and run CS2. I have an external hard drive already with plenty of storage.
I looked at a machine today with 2Ghz and 2 MB of memory. If this makes sense then is it what I need ? Is there some other information I should be looking for ? Do I need a dedicated graphics card ?
I have looked at older threads but they were quite technical. Grateful thanks to anyone who takes the time to respond here - please keep it simple. |
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10/25/2007 11:44:14 AM · #2 |
MacBook Pro
You'd need 2GB of RAM to run CS3 efficiently. You'd need a decent screen or monitor, 17" min. You'd want a computer that's giving you the least amount of headaches and downtime. You, probably, want useful software/graphics card preinstalled, so you don't have to pay for it on top of your hardware purchase.
You may also want to consider an iMac. It's a desktop but nearly portable, taking up very little desk space. Refurbished and quite capable models (white 2006 models) are still available at low cost.
Message edited by author 2007-10-25 11:57:08. |
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10/25/2007 11:53:59 AM · #3 |
Well I'll try and help out a little bit.
CPU: Right now, if I remember correctly, Intel's Core2Duo (C2D) processors are top of the line. You can get these with Centrino so it will help improve battery life (mine gets ~3.5-4hrs with wireless turned on, more with it off). AMD's cpus are good too. A 2.0GHz dual core processor would me more than enough for what you want to do.
Memory (RAM): Get AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. Can't stress that enough. 2Gb is good, but 3Gb or even 4Gb would be best especially for running Windows Vista.
Graphics card (GPU): A dedicated GPU for what you want to do won't really do a whole lot, but it can't hurt either. Having a dedicated card with it's own memory makes it so that Windows won't dedicate system memory for graphics use. This means that you will have 100% of the RAM available for system use and whatever capacity the card has for video use. This set up is ideal.
Other: Look for a machine with built in wireless and built in bluetooth as well. This prevents you from having to buy and/or use those external antennas for wi-fi access. Next the screen. Try and find something with a high resolution display. Laptop screens aren't all that great to begin with but you can get a fairly good one if you look around and see them for yourself. Some laptops come with glossy screens. This makes the images look clearer and more vivid but also introduce glare to the screen and may mess up colors in photo processing. I prefer matte screens myself.
I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting but hopefully this is a start.
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10/25/2007 12:02:34 PM · #4 |
I just bought mine so i figured id chime in.
With CS3 and with Vista I have to say go for 2GB. Im running Vista on 1 GB and while after i close a game it goes down to 47% of ram in use. Vista at idle can be as high as 83%.
Acer had a model with 2GB of ram and a 160 GB hard drive for 600 bucks which seemed like a good deal at the time. I ended up paying 480 for my compaq with a AMD Turion 64 X2, 1 GB of ram, 120GB hard drive, DVD Burner with lightscribe.
My Plain Advice
Go with somethign you can afford with a dual core processor and the largest hard drive you can find. Its cheaper to buy a 2GB ram kit for 75 bucks then to pay 200 more for a laptop with the ram u need which is what i did.
To zeuszen's comment. Most laptops have a 15.4 inch widescreen display with a resolution of 1280x800. Thats actually good enough considering a normal 17inch flatscreen has a rs of 1280x1024. For about 750 though u can get a nice 17inch with a full keyboard and 2gb of ram.
I havent seen many laptops right now under 1000 that actually support more then 2 GB of ram (2 x 1GB sticks).
Message edited by author 2007-10-25 12:05:01. |
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10/25/2007 12:03:34 PM · #5 |
Running CS2 is what you need a lot of horsepower for. A Macbook or Macbook pro would do well, if you like Macs. A Mac is generally the "weapon of choice" for artistic work.
A 2 GHz dual core processor with 2 Gigabytes of ram would probably be just fine for your purposes. The larger the hard disk, the better. I would say get at least an 80 Gb drive, more if you can afford it.
The biggest variable on laptops, in my own experience, is the built in pointing device. I have used some laptops with great touchpads, while others have been unusable. On a Thinkpad I used to use, I found the touchpad to be awful, but after some preference adjustments, the trackpoint (The eraser-like stick that sits in the middle of the keys) was very usable for me. Use a mouse while at home of course.
Make sure you have plenty of USB ports built in. A minium of 3, 4 is preferable. You want some of them to be accessible from the front or side as well. It's a pain to have to root around in back for the ports just to plug in a friends flashdrive.
Most laptops are coming by default with Windows Vista. Vista is off to a slow adoption rate. I have one sample of Vista at work for test purposes with our products, and it most definitely runs slower than XP on the same hardware. I'm not a big fan of all the content protection that is built into it either. It does have much better security than XP, though, and it may be worth considering for that reason. I'm not sure if CS2 will work with Vista yet or not. That will probably be the deciding factor for you.
Message edited by author 2007-10-25 12:06:45. |
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10/25/2007 12:06:36 PM · #6 |
Yes vista is slower but I actually game on it and its fast enough to run Need For Speed Carbon on a 480 dollar laptop. (I have had some minor troubles with my particular laptops video card driver)
CS2 should run fine on Vista it did 1 year ago on Beta 2 and RC 1.
Message edited by author 2007-10-25 12:08:29. |
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