what to look for in a new laptop...

[nsaplayer]

So my mother has asked me to price new laptops for my dad, who is also an amateur photographer. He uses CS4 on his computer.

He currently uses my sister's old Compaq, and its on its dying breath.

I have no idea what to look for in terms of RAM, processing, etc.... the computer I use is pretty much just as terrible, so I can't use it as a guide.

I don't think my folks are ready to move into the MAC world yet, unless the price is right, so we will probably stay within the realm of the PC.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I think my company gets decent discounts on DELL's so that might be the way to go....

[Footski]

Dell produce some superb and very powerful laptops. Much depends on your budget, but as a guide you will need at least 3gb of RAM memory and preferably 4. A hard drive as large as possible, say 500 gb if you can, but that said good priced externals are easy to come by so this is not as important as the RAM. You could do with a half decent graphics card like an nvidea mid range or similar. Enjoy.

Barry

[Shokinen]

Finally a question I can answer without doing any research ! hahaha

Alright, there is so many laptop on the market it's very difficult to choose. I will give you a few pointers and you can start from there. You will have to look what the company as to offer in term of design. Some people like fancy cases some don't.

- Get Windows 7. It's by far managing your ressources better. This mean you'll laptop will be "faster" than if you use Vista.

- Get a 64-bit Operating System (such as Windows 7 64bit). Software like Photoshop are starting to get advantage of it. This is the future.

- Get at least 4GB of Ram, 6 if you can. Software like Photoshop will use everything it can so you won't waste it. It will also allow you to have many application open at the same time without slowing down the machine.

- Processor: Core Duo are mid-range / Quads are high-end. We are also starting to see laptop with the new i7 from intel. If you have the money, get i7. It will replace the quad in a few years. AMD based laptop are not bad at all and are cheaper. Intel based are faster.

- Hard-drive: get away from huge drive running at 5400 rpm. It will slow down your applications. Get at least 7200 rpm or SSD (Solid State Memory) if you have the money. Be sure to have external backup with SSD because they drive size are not much... but it's sooooo fast....

- Screen: LED is by far the best screen you can get but it's a little more expensive. It increase the contrasts. Otherwise, look for a resolution at least over 1400 X 900 (16:9 ratio so it's also good for HD). 1920 x 1080 is the best (also known as "Full HD", 1080p). Glossy screen will increase the contrast as well and WUXGA will allow people beside you to see better. You will get better quality if you go with a 15-16 inches screen than if you choose to go with a 17-18. They tend to sacrifice the quality for the size.


You budget will really define what you can get. DELL is making good laptops but there is also HP, ASUS, Lenovo, MSI and Eurocom.

Hope this help

[nsaplayer]

Thank you!!

This is exactly the kind of information I need!

[Shokinen]

No problem, I'm an IT Project Team Leader. This is my day to day stuff

[mipo]

It is always good to set the budget first and then look in that price range.

And I was just reading today that Toshiba is has one of the lowest failure rate for the first 3 years. At 15.7%
And the lowest is Asus at 15.6%

But my personnal experience with Asus is not good.
Had problems with System boards when building pc's & support was almost non-existent.

[firebox40dash5]

Definitely get Windows 7, I've been using it as both the free RC and now the final version, and it's much better than Vista. 64-bit is good if you need it, just keep in mind that it may limit some other choices- not everything has drivers for 64-bit, and some software won't work with it. I haven't messed with a 64-bit OS in a while though, so that may no longer be a real issue.

4GB of RAM is a good start. Just check the prices of buying RAM (I usually buy from Newegg.com) and make sure they're not trying to charge more for a memory upgrade than what you could buy it for. You'll usually get better quailty RAM buying it from a reputable brand than what Dell/HP/etc. will put in as well.

A 320GB or 500GB hard drive is a good start, unless he doesn't mind either carrying a portable external drive, or being 'tethered' to a desktop external drive. The same caveat applies to this as the RAM- I can often pick up a larger hard drive for the same/less than they want to upgrade from the standard size, and then have the standard hard drive as a spare or put it in an external drive enclosure. A 7200rpm drive is well worth it over a slower one.

Also, a discrete video card of some kind will perform much better than the cheaper models that just share the system memory for video. Well worth the extra $100-200, as it's one of the harder parts to upgrade on a laptop, if you can at all.

If you/he can swing an i7, they're a big step up from even a Core 2 Quad, but I haven't seen many laptops with them yet. In fact the only manufacturer I've seen use them in a laptop in Alienware, though I'm sure there's a few more around.

In short- spring for a good processor, video card, and display when you buy it- they're the hardest parts to upgrade later without replacing the whole computer. You can always add RAM, replace the hard drive, or upgrade the OS later.

[Shokinen]

Originally Posted by firebox40dash5

If you/he can swing an i7, they're a big step up from even a Core 2 Quad, but I haven't seen many laptops with them yet. In fact the only manufacturer I've seen use them in a laptop in Alienware, though I'm sure there's a few more around.

There is a couple now:

- Asus G51j-a1
- HP Envy 15-1050
- HP DV7-3080
- Toshiba Qosmio X500-014
- Eurocom W870CU Cheetah
- Eurocom W860CU Cougar
- Eurcom D900F Panther

There is probably more, these are the ones on top of my head
(Actually, I checked on the web for the model number... I can't remember that hahaha)


You are also right about the video card. Forgot to mention it. Get something from either ATI or Nvidia. They offer similar product (with a few fps different depending on the model). Unless you are gaming, anything with 512MB of dedicated memory is good enough, 1GB if you have the budget.

[winclk]

i know it's an old thread but very useful information for me.

robin