Adobe CS4/5 Laptop for commute

dalzY · 23 Oct 2011 at 21:15

Hi guys,

After some friendly advice.
I have a fairly long commute to and from work by train. Looking at getting the most from my time. I will be using mainly Dreamweaver & Photoshop CS4/5.
Is the following spec sufficient for my needs?

•Inspiron 15R - N5110
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
•Processor: Intel Core i3-2310M (3M Cache, 2.10 GHz)
•500 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
•4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (1 DIMMs)
•8X DVD+/- RW Drive
•Display: 15.6in High Definition (720p) LED Display with TrueLife
•6 Cell Primary Battery, 48W
•Black
•Wireless: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 (1x2 b/g/n+ Bluetooth Combo Card)
•English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64Bit OS)

Thank you for your help.

Tom

memyselfandi · 23 Oct 2011 at 21:18

I'd have thought that you'd probably want more memory than that with those applications (as you've specified 4GB as a single DIMM I imagine you should be able to add a second to give you 8GB ... but this is something you should check).

I'd imagine that the i3 maybe limiting as well.

Hyburnate · 23 Oct 2011 at 21:21

8GB RAM and then you should be good.

dalzY · 23 Oct 2011 at 21:24

•XPS L502x
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
•Processor : Intel Core i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz
•750 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
•8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
•8X DVD +/- RW DRIVE
•15.6 in HD WLED TL (1366x768)
•Graphics : 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M Graphics card
•Battery : Primary 6-cell 56W/HR LI-ION
•LCD Back Cover : Silver WLAN
•Wireless: Intel Wireless-N 1000 Card
•English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64Bit OS)

Would this be more suited to my needs?

dalzY · 24 Oct 2011 at 07:50

opinions anyone?

ukbilleh · 24 Oct 2011 at 08:17

yes better than what you originally selected by far but for me personally, the panel resolution 1366x768 is way too low :/

cats_five · 24 Oct 2011 at 08:17

The big problem with photo editing and laptops is the (poor) quality of the average laptop screen. Serious colour-accurate photo editing really needs a calibrated IPS panel and nearly all laptops have TN panels.

There are some around but they are not the cheapest by some distance - Lennovo do them (but good luck finding those particular models on their website!), I suspect Dell do and some or all of the Apple laptops do. There might be some other makers as well.

I see you are considering a WLED screen. I've never come across those, but a specialist photo forum such as Luminous Landscape has lots of folks that will know how suitable they are. Come to that they will probably also know which model laptops have IPS screens.

If the laptop is your main computer you also need to consider backups - and writable CDs/DVDs are not a backup, the life of the media is very variable.

PS 4GB RAM is enough for Photoshop CS4 on my own PC - the one time it's slow is creating a panorama from several 12Mpx images but I very rarely do that. However you do want to be sure you can up the RAM if necessary.

dalzY · 24 Oct 2011 at 08:21

Its not my main PC.
Will be just be used to do mainly Website design and coding on Dreamweaver as anything that requires anything beefy I can use my Desktop.

Thanks for your advice.

So ideally I should be aiming for i5 - i7 with 8GBram. Anything else I should aim for? Storage shouldn't be an issue.

elrasho · 24 Oct 2011 at 09:36

I know you just gonna be coding and doing come PS but hav you thought about getting a Mac? The screens are the best for laptops and you could always run Parallels and have Windows 7 running on it.

dalzY · 24 Oct 2011 at 09:39

Mac's = ££££
Don't want to be spending over £500 ideally

Hyburnate · 24 Oct 2011 at 09:49

An i5 would be ok for you needs

dalzY · 24 Oct 2011 at 10:21

Hyburnate said:
An i5 would be ok for you needs

Thanks, so aim for i5 and 6-8GB DDR3 ram.

Was aiming to look on Dell outlet. This is the cheapest, yes?

Thanks for all your advice guys grateful appreciated !!!

dalzY · 24 Oct 2011 at 13:54

dalzY said:
Thanks, so aim for i5 and 6-8GB DDR3 ram.

Was aiming to look on Dell outlet. This is the cheapest, yes?

Thanks for all your advice guys grateful appreciated !!!

I will need a special graphic card or will the standard display do with most laptops?

Sin_Chase · 24 Oct 2011 at 13:56

I use Photoshop CS5 on an i5 540M and 4GB RAM. PLENTY quick enough.

tigerstyle · 24 Oct 2011 at 14:31

Sin_Chase said:
I use Photoshop CS5 on an i5 540M and 4GB RAM. PLENTY quick enough.

Snap

If you are commuting with it (obviously you are, turn of phrase) try to make sure it's a SandyBridge CPU to get the best battery saving out of it. I bought mine just before SB came out, tiny regret about it!

dalzY · 24 Oct 2011 at 14:35

tigerstyle said:
Snap

If you are commuting with it (obviously you are, turn of phrase) try to make sure it's a SandyBridge CPU to get the best battery saving out of it. I bought mine just before SB came out, tiny regret about it!

Excellent

Thanks for your advice guys!

dalzY · 24 Oct 2011 at 15:23

Should this be ok then?

Processor: Intel® CoreTM i5-2430M, 2.4GHz
Operating system: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
Hard drive: 320 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
Memory: 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3-SDRAM
Optical Drive: DVD disc drive
Display: 35.5cm LCD 1366 x 768

How do I know if the processor is SB or not?
This is a Sony Vaio range

Sin_Chase · 24 Oct 2011 at 16:03

That model number would seem to indicate a Sandybridge chip yes.

VAIOs have historically carried a brand tax - IE you pay more for what you get. I think this has improved recently but it might be worth investigating what other brands offer you for the same price.

reflux · 24 Oct 2011 at 16:06

dalzY said:
I will need a special graphic card or will the standard display do with most laptops?

No need for a special graphics card. Adobe CS5.5 runs very well on my XPS of very similar spec to the below:

dalzY said:
•XPS L502x
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
•Processor : Intel Core i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz
•750 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
•8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
•8X DVD +/- RW DRIVE
•15.6 in HD WLED TL (1366x768)
•Graphics : 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M Graphics card
•Battery : Primary 6-cell 56W/HR LI-ION
•LCD Back Cover : Silver WLAN
•Wireless: Intel Wireless-N 1000 Card
•English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64Bit OS)

Would this be more suited to my needs?

dalzY · 24 Oct 2011 at 17:56

Ok its between the following:
I like the sony as its 14" so smaller and lighter but has £100 price increase on the Dell XPS. Plus it comes in some funky colours

Which would you go for if you were me.

1)
•XPS 15z
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
•Processor: Intel Core i5-2410M(2.3GHz, 4Threads, 3MB cache)
•500 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
•4 GB (2x2GB)1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory
•Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
•Display: 15.6in HD WLED True-Life (1366X768) with 1.3 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
•Battery : Primary 8-cell 56W/HR LI-ION
•LCD Bezel: Silver
•Wireless: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 (2x2 b/g/+ Bluetooth Combo Card)
•English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64Bit OS)
£540

2)
•VAIO C 14 Series
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
•Processor: Intel® CoreTM i5-2430M, 2.4GHz
•Hard drive: 320 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
• 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3-SDRAM
•Optical Drive: DVD disc drive
•Display: 35.5cm LCD 1366 x 768 + webcam
•Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics
•AC Adapter: 1 AC Adapter
•Wireless LAN: Wireless LAN(bgn) + Bluetooth®
•HDMI(TM) output: HDMI(TM) output
•Keyboard Style: Backlight keyboard
£650