Graphics Chip?

[ignotiev]

I'm researching an upgrade for our computer lab. We will be getting between 10 and 15 high end laptop computers. With the new equipment, we would like to introduce a graphics class (photoshop and maybe some other graphics programs, say for video editing or animation) and a digital music class. For reasons I won't go into, we can't get macbooks.

I would like to know if anyone has any ideas about what kind of equipment we should get to support high end graphics and music software. Will we need to get laptops that have special graphics or sound cards? Also let me know if you have had good experiences with any particular equipment.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Getting a laptop with a fast processor (and lots of RAM) would be about all you need to run those types of programs. I'm not sure if there are any specialized video cards designed for photo-editing, but workstation video cards are designed to work with 3D modeling and similar software. You should first find out exactly what software you will be using, and then research if that software can make use of any specialized hardware or workstation cards. Also there are now quad core processors available from Intel, so you probably want to consider getting one of those. As for a sound card, I'm sure if a program needed a special one you could buy an external device, such as a USB card.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Photoshop CS4 can utilize the GPU for some functions - like zooming/panning - and filters, but IMHO it's not that big of a deal, so far.

As far as audio, some laptops have very crummy analog ports - they suffer from electronic noise. Definitely a case of try before you buy, but if you are not inputting/outputting via these ports, then it's not as much of a big deal.

As cusideabelincoln (is that a reference to a copper penny?) stated, lots of RAM, and also a 64-bit OS to take advantage of it.

 

[Jephph]

Originally posted by: ignotiev
I'm researching an upgrade for our computer lab. We will be getting between 10 and 15 high end laptop computers. With the new equipment, we would like to introduce a graphics class (photoshop and maybe some other graphics programs, say for video editing or animation) and a digital music class. For reasons I won't go into, we can't get macbooks.

I would like to know if anyone has any ideas about what kind of equipment we should get to support high end graphics and music software. Will we need to get laptops that have special graphics or sound cards? Also let me know if you have had good experiences with any particular equipment.

Good. You don't want macbooks anyway. You want this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16834147924

Quad-Core 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM (upgradeable to 8GB) and a decent vid card just in case any of your vid editing programs are GPU-accelerated.

 

[mindless1]

Frankly it's not worth bothering with high end video on a laptop unless they'll be playing games on 'em. Then again, laptops are a terrible choice in general for image editing and audio, why must they be laptops if this is the goal? Poor screens and poor audio make for a terrible result, you'd be better off with a 1GHz Celeron system, 256MB of memory, integrated video, and merely adding a good monitor and sound card because it's the result that matters, not how fast you get there.

 

[Jephph]

Yeah, why do you need laptops? Is this for a college lab? And what's your price range? If you want something very good for video/animation, then go with some of these:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc...ablet_pcs/notebook_pcs

Also, if you're going to be doing any printing, yeah, notebook screens are crap for color matching. Poor gamuts and bit-depths.