Non-Mac laptop for graphics

[kevnich2]

My cousin is needing a laptop that will be used exclusively for working with graphics (Adobe Illustrator, Indesign & photoshop). Obviously he'll need a bigger screen and a very fast system. Does anyone here work with graphics on notebooks that might be able to lend me a hand? I'd prefer to get a 15" screen instead of a 17" because it makes the laptops so heavy to try and carry around. I'm thinking to basically max it out as far as memory and go with an intel core 2 Duo processor. I am wondering also about the video card. I'm more of an ATI guy myself but I'm open if anyone has any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[gus6464]

The new Dell Latitude D830 or Dell Precision M65 are two good laptops you should look at. They are sturdier and feel better built than the Inspiron counterparts.

 

[TheStu]

Do you mind my asking why you are saying no to the mac?

Also, for what you are doing, the graphics card is not nearly as important as the processor and RAM. You will want a Core 2 that is faster than 2 GHz, maybe the 2.4GHz if you can find it, and you want more than 2 GB of RAM.

 

[gus6464]

Yeah now that I think about it why not a mac? I mean they are designed for design and video platforms. The new CS3 on Intel macs is very fast and its a great improvement over running CS2 and rosetta. You should at least go to an apple store and try out a Macbook pro 15". My wife's best friend is studying Graphic Design at Cooper Union and she says that over 90% of the students use macs. Even the design labs are all macs. Even when I was in college i remember all the labs geared toward design students were macs.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: kevnich2
My cousin is needing a laptop that will be used exclusively for working with graphics (Adobe Illustrator, Indesign & photoshop). Obviously he'll need a bigger screen and a very fast system. Does anyone here work with graphics on notebooks that might be able to lend me a hand? I'd prefer to get a 15" screen instead of a 17" because it makes the laptops so heavy to try and carry around. I'm thinking to basically max it out as far as memory and go with an intel core 2 Duo processor. I am wondering also about the video card. I'm more of an ATI guy myself but I'm open if anyone has any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Gateway makes a very nice slim 17" laptop that you can play with at Best Buy. Widescreen is a must; I would also recommend getting the glossy screen for graphics work since colors show up better. Honestly a graphics card doesn't matter all that much when it comes to Adobe CS products; I use InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop professionally and my laptop only has an integrated Intel GMA950 graphics card. It's all about ram. The other two major factors are processing speed and hard drive speed. Get at least 2 gigs of ram (minimum), a 2ghz Core 2 Duo processor, and a 7200rpm hard drive. The best laptop drive currently on the market is the Seagate 160gb 7200rpm 2.5" SATA drive - it outperforms all others.

Is your cousin planning on taking graphics courses in college? If so, I would go with the recommendations of everyone else and say get a Mac, specifically a 15" MacBook Pro. The screen isn't as nice on the 17". I say that because every college graphics-related class I've taken was exclusively Mac. You can run Windows on it if you're worried about it through either Parallel (virtually) or Boot Camp (dual boot).

If you stick with a Windows laptop, be sure to get XP. I know Vista is the latest and greatest, but XP has the most support and is very, very stable. In addition, most schools are stuck in a time warp and won't even have Office 2003, let alone Office 2007. Both Dell and Gateway sell good laptops. A 15" widescreen would be excellent for what your cousin wants to do. I would recommend the following:

1. 2gb or 3gb ram
2. 2ghz Core 2 Duo processor or greater (Santa Rosa platform goes up to 2.4ghz now)
3. 7200rpm hard drive (100gb or 160gb)
4. Windows XP Professional
5. Adobe CS 3 Design Bundle Premium (includes Acrobat 8 Professional, which I'm sure he'll need if he's serious about working in InDesign)
6. Glossy laptop screen
7. Good mouse (I recommend the Logitech VX Revolution wireless laser notebook mouse)

You can typically buy the 7200rpm hard drive cheaper aftermarket, then stick the existing hard drive in a USB enclosure to use as backup. He will definitely need a backup drive if he is going to be working with graphics and having the slower stock drive in a small, portable USB case will be greatly beneficial.

 

[kevnich2]

Yes, I am aware that Macs are designed for graphics, but this isn't for me. He specifically requested a non-mac, so I'm just trying to gather all of the hardware requirements needed for a non-mac laptop for graphics design. It definitely will not have vista, it's too unstable and much slower than XP. He has an educational version of CS2 that he purchased when he was in college last year. I'm definately going with a 7200 RPM drive, my main questions were regarding screen size and how fast of a processor. As far as the last question, he just graduated with a degree in graphics design. He's used to working with Mac's as that's what he had in college but right now he requested a non-mac laptop to work with.