Notebook for ART Major

[Jon855]

I will need some help in finding a few choices for my friend who needs a laptop for her ART coursed at college, the software being used at classes are Adobe related stuffs. She would like to save as much money as possible and is looking for something that can give out more than 1280x1024 and still retain something "portable" not the clunky 17" ones. Her price range given to me is as 900-2k. Factor em in guys. Thanks.

EDIT: She's scared of Dell, so she doesn't wants to take a risk with it. Don't as me why. And some considerable battery life would be great, something you can watch a movie before it dies on you.

 

[NoToRiOuS1]

ASUS W5A

edit: here are some specs i was able to pull up from newegg. i really like this little laptop(though i'm an averatec fan at heart)
if you want, let me know, ill try and look into some more that have the min screen res that you are looking for. also let us know if the screen size matters...as in 12in...14in...15in...etc. what would be a good size for her. i personally think this 12in should be no problem but then again some ppl cant see well and so on. oh and provide a little bit more info and what she wants to try and do with it. as in, what else, besides adobe will she be using the computer for because this might help find a cheaper computer with perhaps a slower processor or faster processor, depending on her needs. hope this helps!
ASUS W5A
Windows XP Professional
Pentium M 740(1.73GHz)
12.1" WXGA TFT
512MB DDR2
40GB
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
Integrated Intel GMA900
Modem, LAN and WLAN
Battery Life 4hours
Dimensions 11.7"x 8.7" x 1.2"(WxDxH)
Weight 4.0lbs
Screen Size 12.1"
LCD Features High brightness
Display Type WXGA
Resolution 1280 × 800
WLAN 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN
Bluetooth
Card Slot 1 x Type II / I PCMCIA 2.1 compliant
USB 3
IEEE1394 1
Video Port 1 x VGA, 1 x S-Video TV-out
Audio Ports 1 x Microphone-in jack
1 x Headphone-out jack (SPDIF)
Audio
Audio Built-in Azalea compliant audio chip, with 3D effect & full duplex
Built-in speaker and microphone
Speaker Internal Speakers
Card Reader 4-in-1 cardreader SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO
Mouse RF mouse receiver
Webcam 1.3 Mega Pixel web camera
Power
AC Adapter Output: 19 V DC, 3.42 A, 65W
Input: 100? 240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
Battery 6 cells 4400mAh battery
Battery Life 4hours
Physical spec
Dimensions 11.7"x 8.7" x 1.2"(WxDxH)
Weight 4.0lbs

 

[roadkill1313]

No offense...but she is a woman, so something less weighty would be best, such as a 12" option. The only problem I see is that staring at a 12" screen is tough on the eyes for art type work. You may want to invest in a larger external monitor and get a small laptop. As in Photoshop I like to have a dual monitor setup. I have my laptop with all my tools and the main program runs on a 19" LCD, and the two sit next to one another.

I think this IBM has enough power for your needs:
IBM T42

CPU Cache: 2MB
CPU FSB: 400MHz
Display Type: SXGA+
Max Memory Supported: 2GB
Memory Slots: 2x SO-DIMM
Memory Speed: DDR333
Operating System: Windows XP Professional
Part#: 2379DXU
Resolution: 1400 × 1050
Video Memory: Dedicated 64MB
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9600 mobile
Weight: 5.4lbs

Three yr parts and labor warranty too!

 

[fbrdphreak]

I think what is really going to determine this is if your friend is going to be using these Art programs on the laptop out & about, or if she can hook it up to an external monitor.

Other than that, you want to get as much RAM as possible. You can buy a 1GB stick for $100-$130; drop two of those into any of these machines and it will handle Adobe software a lot better.

Get back to us on the screen size and we'll get it squared away.

 

[Jon855]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Get back to us on the screen size and we'll get it squared away.

Max would be 15" and as high you can get the resolution to be.
Thanks guys for all of your inputs as well.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Well, if we take in the 2K price range you can get a nice T42p or T43p. These you can get with a 14" SXGA+ or 15" UXGA. I recommend the 15" because it is a Flexview display offering extremely large viewing angles and a brighter display. Downside is the 15" models are a little bulky, but not bad by any means; I carry my 15" T42 every day out & about.

For her uses, the processor won't matter as much. Somewhere in 1.6-1.8 GHz range will do fine, depending what configs there are. The 60GB 7200RPM drive is probably the way to go, and is commonly found in the T42p/T43p models. Don't bother upgrading the memory on the machine, 1x512MB standard is fine. Add another 1GB stick afterwards for ~$110 shipped. Most Thinkpads come with a 3 year warranty. Make sure to get the Depot warranty (they ship you a box overnight, you ship it out, they make every effort to ship it back the same day they get it, you get it next day; approx 3 day turn around time) and add ThinkPad protection (accidental damage).

IBM does do academic discounts through the website, but it is best to call and get a quote. Also her school may have a Thinkpad purchase program. I think she will be very happy with that system and it will last her a LONG time.

 

[NoToRiOuS1]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Well, if we take in the 2K price range you can get a nice T42p or T43p. These you can get with a 14" SXGA+ or 15" UXGA. I recommend the 15" because it is a Flexview display offering extremely large viewing angles and a brighter display. Downside is the 15" models are a little bulky, but not bad by any means; I carry my 15" T42 every day out & about.

For her uses, the processor won't matter as much. Somewhere in 1.6-1.8 GHz range will do fine, depending what configs there are. The 60GB 7200RPM drive is probably the way to go, and is commonly found in the T42p/T43p models. Don't bother upgrading the memory on the machine, 1x512MB standard is fine. Add another 1GB stick afterwards for ~$110 shipped. Most Thinkpads come with a 3 year warranty. Make sure to get the Depot warranty (they ship you a box overnight, you ship it out, they make every effort to ship it back the same day they get it, you get it next day; approx 3 day turn around time) and add ThinkPad protection (accidental damage).

IBM does do academic discounts through the website, but it is best to call and get a quote. Also her school may have a Thinkpad purchase program. I think she will be very happy with that system and it will last her a LONG time.

i def agree with fdrdphreak, and i wish i had suggested those instead of the asus. i guess it slipped my mind. built quality wise, thinkpads are absolutely fantastic. a bit pricey, but you certainly get what you pay for with these bad boys.

 

[Corporate Thug]

powerbook

 

[piasabird]

Need lots of storage if you are going to store lots of graphics or video or what have you. You also need a lot of memory. A DVD Burner would help if you want to save stuff to disk like art work or maybe video.

A lot depends on your major. Are you planning on being a Painter, Sculptor or consentrating more in the Computer art and desktop publising or artistic graphical design?

Wireless is always nice. A lot of colleges have wireless access in various places. This is where you need to know about the college you plan on attending.

 

[Brazen]

An ART major? She had better get a cheap second-hand notebook then.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: Jon855
I will need some help in finding a few choices for my friend who needs a laptop for her ART coursed at college, the software being used at classes are Adobe related stuffs. She would like to save as much money as possible and is looking for something that can give out more than 1280x1024 and still retain something "portable" not the clunky 17" ones. Her price range given to me is as 900-2k. Factor em in guys. Thanks.

EDIT: She's scared of Dell, so she doesn't wants to take a risk with it. Don't as me why. And some considerable battery life would be great, something you can watch a movie before it dies on you.

Hmm, maybe she would like a Tablet PC? Since she's in art, it might be nice to have a PC she can draw on.

Only tablets that meet her resolution requirement are toshiba's though.

The Protege M200
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmo...d=-26373&sel=&rcid=-26367&ccid=1291021

And the Toshiba Tecra M4
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmo...d=-29325&sel=&rcid=-26367&ccid=1291021

Tecra is more powerful, but I'd imagine it weighs more.

 

[justflow]

I'm an architecture major still in school and use the computer a lot and may have some good input. i also am a graphic design professional and do a large amount of freelance graphics work. For a student who will be using a sudio a lot, weight and size are prime concerns. it just gets old lugging a heavy computer between home and studio, esp if you're walking. I wouldn't worry a ton about screen size as long as it isnt tiny, remember you're using a computer and you're gonne be zooming in a lot regardless of screen size. In terms of hardware, it really depends on the software used. Photoshop is not very intensive, regardless of what people think, but illustrator or other vector programs have a great tendency to kill your computer, especially since you always have more than one of these open at a time in order to work faster. Also, the adobe suite all generate extremely big files, with 300 MB not uncommon, so the main factor I would consider is the more ram the better and a fairly fast HD. Then comes the GPU issue. If you're only doing 2D then it really doesn't matter, but if you are ever going to use a 3d rendering program such as maya or rhino, its a good bet that you'll want a good gpu because you wont want to wait 30-min a frame for a nice render. The last consideration is stupid for anyone but an art or design major, and that's aesthetics. Nobody wants to walk into studio with an ugly thinkpad just because they want to impress others with their design sense, same reason we all dress funny. I own an asus w3v, because i use the 3d programs a lot and it came down to that or a sony and the asus was cheaper. Its small, light, and all the components are really well balanced. I have a 20" lcd-tv at home that i plug into when i want a larger screen, and an old desktop that i use as a render box on occassion. Lastly, a writing tablet is nice to have for drawing, but i find that i use the computer to make stuff look computerized and draw by hand when i want it to look by hand, so a mouse is really all you need.

 

[Jon855]

Originally posted by: piasabird
A lot depends on your major. Are you planning on being a Painter, Sculptor or consentrating more in the Computer art and desktop publising or artistic graphical design?

Wireless is always nice. A lot of colleges have wireless access in various places. This is where you need to know about the college you plan on attending.

This is for a friend of mine whom is already attending a college, but thanks for your input though. I believe she's into DP/AGD area. Thanks man I'll pass on the tips to her.

 

[cpush]

12" Apple Powerbook G4