Adobe Photoshop CS Lappy

[ShellGuy]

Hey all,

I was just out lookin around for a good lappy for runnin Adobe CS and working with large sized pics. Guy at Cmpusa was sayin that if I was lookin at a Pro camera then I should go with the Apple Powerbook. But if I was stayin with like a D70s then I would be ok with a good win machine. Just lookin 4 yalls input before i go and spend 3000+ on a lappy. TIA.....


Will G.

FBrd want 2 hear ur input.......

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: ShellGuy
FBrd want 2 hear ur input.......

Hehe, awwww 😱

Well, here's the thing: Photoshop LOVES RAM. Whatever you get, load it up with 2GB RAM and you will be set. A 7200RPM drive will help, but the big thing is RAM.

Judging from this benchmark on AT's article about the P-M on a desktop, A64's generally provide the best performance for Photoshop. If you want a DTR type deal, go with an A64-based machine; as fast as you can afford with 2GB RAM. If you want mobility as well, obviously Turion 64.

As to specific models, my main recommendation is HP here.

They have some very well built DTR's that offer great performance for the money (zd6000 series I believe?) and of course there is the business line nx6125 that uses the Turion chip. I don't think you could go wrong with a Turion chip, but a high end A64 (like the 3700+) will perfom better since it is a Socket 939 chip and it doesn't waste time trying to save power 😛

Not many other manufacturers have the widespread AMD offerings like HP does, and HP makes good quality notebooks for the money.

 

[Fox5]

I'd say two things....
Get as much memory as possible, Adobe loves memory.
and
Don't get a Powerbook. The hardware is ridiculously weak, there's a reason that in a few months Apple will be replacing their entire laptop line with Centrino. The G4 cpu in the Powerbook is barely any different than the G3, which I believe was introduced at around the same time as the original Pentium, it's quite outdated. For a while Apple at least had the low power thing going, but now Centrino has that.(the G4 cpus wouldn't be too bad if they slapped a faster memory bus on them though, but they're still using a single channel 166mhz bus)

A couple last things, hardware wise the only real choice is between Centrino and Turion based systems. The Centrino systems should perform a bit better in Adobe, but they're also more expensive generally.
Oh, and besides getting as much memory as possible, a 7200RPM harddrive would be nice. If the manufactuer doesn't offer the upgrade, you could get an upgradable laptop and add it in yourself.

Also, memory is much cheaper if you buy it yourself and add it in, rather than having the company do it.

Edit: Oh yeah, I was thinking you wanted a mobile notebook. If you don't care about weight, size, battery life, and heat, then for all out performance an Athlon 64 notebook will be better. The Turions are only available at the same clock speed as the Pentium M processors though, and they generally lose on a clock per clock basis.(notebook Athlon 64s lack dual channel, plus P-M has 2MB cache compared to 512KB or 1MB on the Athlons)

Athlon 64s also have the advantage that they can upgrade to 64 bit windows when it ever comes out(I don't count the current release as it has very little support), and a 64 bit Adobe should be faster than the 32 bit version. 64bit theoretically could also support more than 2GB of memory, but I doubt any notebooks actually will.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Fox5
Don't get a Powerbook. The hardware is ridiculously weak, there's a reason that in a few months Apple will be replacing their entire laptop line with Centrino. The G4 cpu in the Powerbook is barely any different than the G3, which I believe was introduced at around the same time as the original Pentium, it's quite outdated. For a while Apple at least had the low power thing going, but now Centrino has that.(the G4 cpus wouldn't be too bad if they slapped a faster memory bus on them though, but they're still using a single channel 166mhz bus) Bingo!!

A couple last things, hardware wise the only real choice is between Centrino and Turion based systems. The Centrino systems should perform a bit better in Adobe, but they're also more expensive generally. This MIGHT be true. We will have a Turion vs Pentium M article coming out shortly and Photoshop tests will be included, so we'll see then 😉

Athlon 64s also have the advantage that they can upgrade to 64 bit windows when it ever comes out(I don't count the current release as it has very little support), and a 64 bit Adobe should be faster than the 32 bit version. 64bit theoretically could also support more than 2GB of memory, but I doubt any notebooks actually will. Actually Intel's next generation Pentium M (codenamed Yonah) will support 4GB RAM. News. Dual core, 667MHz FSB, 4GB RAM; niiiiiiiiiiiice

Intel Yonah Information Thread

 

[Fox5]

Does Yonah support 64bit? If not, that 4GB of ram isn't much use, 2GB is the limit for programs and then the other 2GB windows will just use, maybe it can be put to good use for the swap file, but I don't think windows itself generally uses more than 256MB of ram.

Anyhow, I doubt that any Athlon 64 notebooks actually support more than 2GB of ram.

 

[ShellGuy]

I wager you can find some that will support 4. Maybe not A64 but there are ones out there. I was lookin for some portability. FBRD do you think the Ferrari or the 5020 sorry if the model is wrong.. would do the job?? Cant really find what i like at HP.


Will G.

 

[Fox5]

Ferraris are good, though a bit expensive.

 

[omissible]

Originally posted by: Fox5I'd say two things....
Get as much memory as possible, Adobe loves memory.
and
Don't get a Powerbook. The hardware is ridiculously weak, there's a reason that in a few months Apple will be replacing their entire laptop line with Centrino. The G4 cpu in the Powerbook is barely any different than the G3, which I believe was introduced at around the same time as the original Pentium, it's quite outdated. For a while Apple at least had the low power thing going, but now Centrino has that.(the G4 cpus wouldn't be too bad if they slapped a faster memory bus on them though, but they're still using a single channel 166mhz bus)

Photoshop is one of the few apps where a G4 does pretty well; certainly better than a G3. It won't show up a Pentium-M, but it's not weak there, either.

Guy at Cmpusa was sayin that if I was lookin at a Pro camera then I should go with the Apple Powerbook.

Maybe what the CompUSA guy was saying is, "Pro-level digicams have FireWire in addition to USB2. Lots of laptops don't have FireWire, and using USB2 on very-high-res photos is painful. PowerBooks have FireWire."

 

[ShellGuy]

Just did a search on mine an no lukc on the firewire just usb 2.0. O well just have to get a pcmcia for CF. I dont' really care who the maker is just want a lappy to do the job.



Will G.

 

[fbrdphreak]

The Acer 5000 series or the Ferrari would work well. The distinction here is whether you want gaming capability. The Ferrari 4000 is almost the same as an Aspire 5020; both TUrion w/X700 graphics. I'm not sure if the 5020 has 128MB VRAM, I think it does; other than that all it lacks is the carbon fiber chassis.
There is also an Acer 5002, which is incredibly inexpensive (<$1K?), has 15.4" WXGA and Turion.

Since you're doing lots of Photoshop, it might be worthwhile to find a machine with a higher res screen. WSXGA+ or WUXGA oughta help out a lot with Photoshop; I couldn't imagine working with large images on a low res screen. The Ferrari 4005 has a WSXGA+ screen @ 1680x1050; downside is it runs $2K.

I just checked and the Ferrari does have firewire also.....sounds like this might be your best bet.
Altho if you don't want the graphics performance, I'm sure we can find you a Turion high-res w/Firewire notebook for a good deal less $$$.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: omissible

Originally posted by: Fox5I'd say two things....
Get as much memory as possible, Adobe loves memory.
and
Don't get a Powerbook. The hardware is ridiculously weak, there's a reason that in a few months Apple will be replacing their entire laptop line with Centrino. The G4 cpu in the Powerbook is barely any different than the G3, which I believe was introduced at around the same time as the original Pentium, it's quite outdated. For a while Apple at least had the low power thing going, but now Centrino has that.(the G4 cpus wouldn't be too bad if they slapped a faster memory bus on them though, but they're still using a single channel 166mhz bus)

Photoshop is one of the few apps where a G4 does pretty well; certainly better than a G3. It won't show up a Pentium-M, but it's not weak there, either.

Guy at Cmpusa was sayin that if I was lookin at a Pro camera then I should go with the Apple Powerbook.

Maybe what the CompUSA guy was saying is, "Pro-level digicams have FireWire in addition to USB2. Lots of laptops don't have FireWire, and using USB2 on very-high-res photos is painful. PowerBooks have FireWire."

G4s do better than G3s in Photoshop mainly due to Altivec, and maybe the improved cache. I know G5s have a pretty beefy Altivec implementation, but I'm not sure about the G4s.

Maybe what the CompUSA guy was saying is, "Pro-level digicams have FireWire in addition to USB2. Lots of laptops don't have FireWire, and using USB2 on very-high-res photos is painful. PowerBooks have FireWire."

Of the few Turion laptops I've looked at, they all seemed to have Firewire as an option.

Just did a search on mine an no lukc on the firewire just usb 2.0. O well just have to get a pcmcia for CF. I dont' really care who the maker is just want a lappy to do the job.

Like I said, I believe Turion laptops tend to have the firewire option.(it was part of the productivity ports package HP had on their Turion books)
The Ferrari 4000 comes with IEEE something(firewire) as standard. The other ferrari may as well. It's part of the ATI Xpress chipset which it seems like all Turion notebooks use.

 

[ShellGuy]

Hey Fbrd,
Lets say i have 3k to work with and no real time i have to have it by. What u think. O GREAT LAPPY GOD..... 😀:thumbsup:

 

[fbrdphreak]

In the coming weeks we will have an article doing a direct Pentium M to T64 comparison (Acer 8104 vs Ferrari 4000). This will include Photoshop testing, so look to that as far as whether to hit up T64 or P-M.

I think another consideration is what screen size you want. A 15.4" WSXGA+ sounds nice to me, but you may want more desktop real estate to work with. In that case, a Dell 9300 or XPS2 sounds nice (depending how much gaming you do). 17" WUXGA/WSXGA+ would do nicely for Photoshop.

If 15.4" WSXGA+ works, I would get either the Ferrari 4000 or Acer 8104 (both 2GHz 15.4" WSXGA+ with X700 graphics). They both come with 100GB 5400RPM drives and 1GB RAM. Drop in another 1GB RAM and if you get zealous a 100GB 7200RPM (when they're out). That will be an ultimate Photoshop machine 😀

 

[justflow]

 

[justflow]

I just bought an asus w3v for graphics work. Powerful thin and light, plus i neededsomething that could handle 3-d work so anything with integrated graphics was out for me.

 

[kenan921]

how about a gateway 7510gx. It's on sale this week at best buy for $1249 with no rebates, comes with a 3700+ (2.4ghz 1mb cache) processor, 1gb of ram, ati 128mb x600 video, 100gb (4200rpm) hd, and firewire. Granted it's not a turion and battery life would run 2-2.5 hours, but it's still a super fast adobe machine, and would blow away any turion or P-m in photoshop.

 

[fbrdphreak]

The 7510 is a great machine for the money. The main reason that I didn't recommend it is 'cuz the OP has $3K to spend on it; with that much money you can get something build better and with more features 🙂