Laptop memory for CS3 - DPChallenge Forums

07/04/2007 09:20:46 AM · #1

I'm looking at laptops to take to the desert and ruin. :-) The one I want is out of stock - it has 1G of memory. The next one up, for another $300 more, has 2G of memory and that's really about the only difference between them. For those of you who have used CS3 on a laptop, is the difference noticeable?

SamDoe1

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM

07/04/2007 12:56:11 PM · #2

Oh yes, especially on a Vista machine. Get as much RAM as you can afford, I can't say that enough. It will be well worth the money.

steveh552

Canon EOS-700D Rebel T5i

07/04/2007 01:04:36 PM · #3

you dont tell us what laptop your looking at. i have an HP with 1.5gig of RAM and 2 is the highest mine will go. It works well with vista and CS3.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

07/04/2007 01:57:25 PM · #4

Thanks for the input. I think I'll end up getting the 2G machine just because there's actually one of those available. :-) Oh, and it's a Toshiba. They did have HPs, but they're out of those, too.

Message edited by author 2007-07-04 13:57:43.

Elaine

Canon EOS R5

07/04/2007 03:44:36 PM · #5

I recently replaced my old Toshiba laptop with a new one. I don't use it for processing, so I can't comment on how CS3 works. I did use CS2 a couple of times but it was hard because screen position makes a huge difference in how the shot looks. I rarely even comment or vote using it. I don't like Vista and I don't like Office 2007 (Word, Excel, etc). My husband is thinking about taking Vista off and using XP, and I will go back to Office 2003. The laptop itself is great, and we have had Toshiba laptops for several years. When we were looking at laptops they all seemed to have the shiny (I don't know the correct term) screen instead of the matte (non-shiny) screen our old laptop had.

07/04/2007 03:52:57 PM · #6

Originally posted by Melethia:

If you shoot RAW/30D and process at 300 pi, you'll need at least 2GB RAM. If you shoot either and process for only for the web (at 72 dpi), you'd be able to squeak by with 1GB. -I've done it on Macs only though -not Windows/Vista.

Message edited by author 2007-07-04 15:55:06.

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

07/04/2007 03:53:34 PM · #7

I think almost all of them (different manufacturers) have the shiny screen these days. As for using it to process and vote, it'll be all I have to use for the next six months or so, so I'll have to work at getting the screen in a position where things look "right". I haven't had a Toshiba before - just HPs - so I appreciate the vote of confidence.

SteveJ

Canon EOS-7D

07/04/2007 03:57:18 PM · #8

motherlee has a Tosh with 15.4" screen. It has the shiny screen, but comparing her P&P done on the laptop, then looking on my LCD 18.1" screen, they look very sinilar. Of course there is always the issue of viewable angles and the Tosh does look weird at certain angles, but it is easy enough to find the right viewing position.

Good Luck with it Deb!

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

07/04/2007 04:02:37 PM · #9

Thanks - and it's a 15.4" screen I'm looking at. Looks nice and purty in the store.

Now I gotta figure what to do with the old one (other than remove CS3 and hope I can reinstall on the new one without having to call Adobe). I gave my first one to my mom after she talked me into getting a new one so she could have the old one. Crafty, my mom....

Elmakias

Canon EOS-5D

07/04/2007 04:22:40 PM · #10

i have 3 gigs on my macbook pro and it works perfectly with cs3

Dr.Confuser

Nikon D800

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

07/04/2007 04:33:50 PM · #11

Originally posted by zeuszen:

If you shoot RAW/30D and process at 300 pi, you'll need at least 2GB RAM. If you shoot either and process for only for the web (at 72 dpi), you'd be able to squeak by with 1GB.

I'm not sure pi or dpi are relevant since they represent a translation to media (paper or screen in this case) not the size of the file or image ... what's relevant is the size of the file (image). It would be like saying what size is a football field in yards per carry (in American football)? What you care about is yards, not ypc.

If you are processing for the web, the largest file you can comfortably see without scrolling on a 1024x768 screen is about 900x575. On paper, an 8x10 inch image would be 2400x3000 at 300 pi. A much bigger file.

The point is, the load on your laptop is related to file size and if you are processing large images (or many small ones at the same time) you'll want a lot of memory.

I agree with the advice others have given: Get as much memory as your can afford!

I use a Sony laptop with 2 Gigs of memory and CS3 runs fine!

kyebosh

Canon EOS-20D

Canon EF 80-200 f/2.8L

07/04/2007 04:58:26 PM · #12

just picked up a dell inspiron e1505 with the 2.0ghz processor 120g hard drive and 2g of ram and the total was about $1260 shipped with a $500 coupon i found online searching on google. Vista definately has it's drawbacks, but the system is rock solid and darn fast.

chimericvisions

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF 24-70 2.8L II

07/04/2007 06:18:01 PM · #13

If I had the ~$600 it would cost me, I'd go from 1G to 2G on this machine. CS3 is slow, but usable, on a 1G laptop. (Also note that my machine is older, at only 1.8GHz single core)

The thing I notice most is memory swapping.

Bobster

Canon EOS-20D

07/04/2007 06:58:11 PM · #14

XP takes what 300-350MB of RAM

so with 1GB RAM, that leaves you with 700-650MB of RAM for Photoshop - lets say you leave it on factory default of 55% of available RAM so you're working with 385MB RAM

that means you can happily work on an image that is 77MB in size without major Swap use, a 30D 8.2megapixel image is approx 20MB in size so you'll be able to happily have 1 of those open and working with multiple layers :)

i've worked on 50MB files with a machine that only had 384MB RAM (PS6 mind) and not had any real problems..

the real problems start when you begin using other applications at the same time as PS and you swap between the 2..

the important thing to do is make sure you give PS its own Swap partition

Olympus 12-45mm /f4.0 Pro

07/04/2007 10:14:48 PM · #15

Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:

Originally posted by zeuszen:
If you shoot RAW/30D and process at 300 pi, you'll need at least 2GB RAM. If you shoot either and process for only for the web (at 72 dpi), you'd be able to squeak by with 1GB.

I'm not sure pi or dpi are relevant...

Import a large file/300dpi into PS and see how long it takes to run the Lens Correction filter. Then import a duplicate of the same file at 72 dpi, run the LC filter again and compare.

Message edited by author 2007-07-04 22:15:40.

OdysseyF22

Panasonic DC-G9

07/04/2007 10:49:00 PM · #16

Originally posted by zeuszen:

Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:

Originally posted by zeuszen:
If you shoot RAW/30D and process at 300 pi, you'll need at least 2GB RAM. If you shoot either and process for only for the web (at 72 dpi), you'd be able to squeak by with 1GB.

I'm not sure pi or dpi are relevant...

Import a large file/300dpi into PS and see how long it takes to run the Lens Correction filter. Then import a duplicate of the same file at 72 dpi, run the LC filter again and compare.

Unless you're working with a file that you intend to print, I'm not sure why you'd ever use anything other than 72 dpi... And even then, I always edit first and then crop/resize to the print size & 300dpi as the last step.

As for the original question, I'd say 2GB RAM, minimum. I'm running Vista and CS3 on a desktop, and that's how much RAM I have, and it just purrs along beautifully.

Olympus 12-45mm /f4.0 Pro

07/04/2007 10:52:51 PM · #17

Originally posted by OdysseyF22:

...I always edit first and then crop/resize to the print size & 300dpi as the last step....

At what dpi do you edit a file intended for print?

OdysseyF22

Panasonic DC-G9

07/04/2007 11:24:15 PM · #18

Originally posted by zeuszen:

Originally posted by OdysseyF22:
...I always edit first and then crop/resize to the print size & 300dpi as the last step....

At what dpi do you edit a file intended for print?

I do all my editing at the native file resolution - 72 dpi. Then when my editing is done, for a print file, I set the crop tool to, for example, 8" height, 10" width, & 300 dpi, and crop it. (Or if the current and intended sizes are the same ratio, I just drag the crop box across the entire photo and resize it that way.)

I got all worried about moving between dpi sizes a while back and asked a question about it in the forums, and was told that it really didn't matter, so mind as well work with the lower dpi for less drain on the system resources. Seems to work well, and all my prints come out looking just fine.

Dr.Confuser

Nikon D800

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

07/04/2007 11:40:35 PM · #19

Let me try this again ... it's dots or pixels that matter in Photoshop performance, not dpi or pi.

Let's say I have a file that's 2560 x 1920, roughly 5 megapixels. If I print it at 300 dpi, it will be approximately 8.5 x 6.4 inches. If I print it at 72 dpi, it would be 35.6 x 26.7 inches. But the file is exactly the same size ... and it takes exactly the same Photoshop resources to edit it, regardless of the intended dpi.

If I intend to use it on the web, I might resize it 900 x 675 (or roughly 0.6 megapixels) so I could see the whole photo. After resizing, it will take much lower resources in Photoshop to edit it, because the file size is smaller ... 0.6 megapixels vs. 5 megapixels. I could still print it at 300 dpi, and I could still display it on the web, but that choice has nothing to do with the file size and it does not change in the slightest how hard you're working your PC in Photoshop.

At the risk of another analogy ... if I have to travel 1,000 miles in my car, I can travel at 30 mph and it will take 33 hours, or I can drive at 7.2 mph and it will take 139 hours ... but it's still 1,000 miles. The significant factor is the length of the trip (miles) not my driving speed (miles per hour). If I have a faster car (analagous to a faster PC) I can arrive at my destination (analogous to edit my picture) in less time. But in the same car at the same speed, I can shorten my travel time only by shortening the distance (analogous to making the file smaller) Well, no analogy is perfect, but you get the idea.

I'm leaving now to go watch fireworks. bfn

Bobster

Canon EOS-20D

07/05/2007 01:01:28 PM · #20

Originally posted by zeuszen:

mport a large file/300dpi into PS and see how long it takes to run the Lens Correction filter. Then import a duplicate of the same file at 72 dpi, run the LC filter again and compare.

20MB file @ 300dpi and 20MB file @ 72dpi..

takes the same length of time for me :D

07/05/2007 01:41:14 PM · #21

Haven't loaded CS3 yet, but am not sure I'm liking Vista....

I'll load CS3 and see if it's bearable once the stupid computer takes it's sweet little time getting started and all.

By the way, does anyone know how to change the "click" that is used in Internet explorer? It just might drive me nuts.

Message edited by author 2007-07-05 13:41:58.

07/05/2007 02:49:55 PM · #22

OK, suffering from Buyer's Remorse. I think had I just purchased and installed another 512M of memory in the old beast, that 1G of memory with XP probably beats 2G of memory with Vista. Live and learn. And pay the credit card bill - that goes with that, too.

SamDoe1

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

07/05/2007 02:51:52 PM · #23

Originally posted by Melethia:

By the way, does anyone know how to change the "click" that is used in Internet explorer? It just might drive me nuts.

Use firefox...