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Can you run a Large format off a laptop?
- Thread starter depps74
- Start date
Christian @ 2CT Media
Active Member
Yes it shouldn't be an issue other than capabilities of a laptop processor vs desktop.
greysquirrel
New Member
Running a rip off of a tower will make your rip more efficient. t will not solve any color issues that you are having.
Signature Graphix
Wide Format Printing - Signage - Vehicle Wraps
Ive put multiple wide formats into production using a laptop based design AND rip setup. The only issue that may occur is possibly longer rip times if its a older/slower processor coupled with lower amounts of ram.
Texas_Signmaker
Very Active Signmaker
Laptops are no less capable of running printers than desktops when the specs of both are the same. But some things to consider are, laptops run hotter than desktops and that can effect speed and longevity. Also, most laptops have low voltage processors that run slower than desktops to prevent overheating and conserve battery. Desktops are more likely to run full-throttle for longer periods of time.
Signature Graphix
Wide Format Printing - Signage - Vehicle Wraps
A fix would be to go in to power settings and change the processor settings to high performance and it will keep the processor running top notch.
Texas_Signmaker
Very Active Signmaker
In Windows 10 it's usually already set to run "top notch" when on A/C. They may throttle down on battery but I'm talking about the actual processor model. Most laptops have "low voltage" processors that are slower and use less electricity and run cooler. That is not a setting you can change.
Gaming laptops usually have regular processors, but also come with large power supplies and heat sinks.
Wild West will be here in a minute to write a 10 paragraph essay on workstation PCs, just give him a min to drink his coffee.
Signature Graphix
Wide Format Printing - Signage - Vehicle Wraps
You are correct.
The other reason laptops aren't as fast is that they have poor thermal characteristics, which result in high performance processors throttling back to slower speeds in order to lower the temperature.
As another poster on another thread has found out as well, laptops typically come with settings to shut off the screen and go to sleep much faster than desktops, and this can cause printing to stop in the middle of a job. You can change those settings, but then you will use more battery, which means you need to be plugged in to print, which means why do you need a laptop if it's plugged in all the time.
As another poster on another thread has found out as well, laptops typically come with settings to shut off the screen and go to sleep much faster than desktops, and this can cause printing to stop in the middle of a job. You can change those settings, but then you will use more battery, which means you need to be plugged in to print, which means why do you need a laptop if it's plugged in all the time.
Pauly
Printrade.com.au
Can you run a printer from a laptop? Yes
Should you? No
When ripping large files, your CPU will be sitting on 100% for as long as it takes to rip. if this was on a laptop, it'll get hot, thermal throttle and slow it down until it cools.
On a properly built pc or workstation, this is less likely to happen.
And for the amount of money you'd spend on a laptop, you'd get more for your money with a PC.
You can run into driver issues sometimes if you keep plugging in and unplugging the printer.
And you should also not do editing, Photoshop / Illustrator ect on the same pc as you'll just slow it all down as they both will try use all the CPU.
There's some RIPs out there (Onyx thive) that you let run on a standalone PC and use another pc/laptop to send jobs to the RIP. so you could be doing graphic intensive stuff on your laptop or workstation with out interfering with the RIP trying to do it's job also. This is what we do.
or you can set up hot folders over the network to send files to the RIP pc. some RIPs also allow you to drop files into hot folders that will RIP your jobs automatically with pre defined settings.
Should you? No
When ripping large files, your CPU will be sitting on 100% for as long as it takes to rip. if this was on a laptop, it'll get hot, thermal throttle and slow it down until it cools.
On a properly built pc or workstation, this is less likely to happen.
And for the amount of money you'd spend on a laptop, you'd get more for your money with a PC.
You can run into driver issues sometimes if you keep plugging in and unplugging the printer.
And you should also not do editing, Photoshop / Illustrator ect on the same pc as you'll just slow it all down as they both will try use all the CPU.
There's some RIPs out there (Onyx thive) that you let run on a standalone PC and use another pc/laptop to send jobs to the RIP. so you could be doing graphic intensive stuff on your laptop or workstation with out interfering with the RIP trying to do it's job also. This is what we do.
or you can set up hot folders over the network to send files to the RIP pc. some RIPs also allow you to drop files into hot folders that will RIP your jobs automatically with pre defined settings.
Dukenukem117
New Member
I run my 560 with an old T530 I bought on ebay for $100. Rips fine. Runs fine. You dont need something super sleek and thin. Old used workstation laptops are very cost effective.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
I don't drink that vile swill. Can you imagine how amped up I would be if I were?
RIPing wouldn't be something that I would consider to qualify for a true workstation rig. What some people call workstations, I would not. The only caveat here would be is if that same rig has to do multi-tasking (one rig to rule them all type of thing). For a lot of reasons, I prefer towers over laptops for main workloads, but to each their own. I have run production on a gaming laptop, so it's not impossible, the longevity of said laptop would depend on it's specs. Some can last longer under higher workloads then others.
While I have used a gaming rig and most people on here suggest gaming rigs for things (in general mind you), keep in mind gaming rigs focus on different computing conditions then what would necessarily be important for our workload. In general, not necessarily specifically what's being talked about in this thread.
Space, as in smaller footprint. When I was running said laptop above, it was always plugged in and I had actually removed the battery, so that constant charge didn't kill it. It was on a battery backup, so it didn't lose power instantly either.
I think there have been some that have used NUCs (I would say a Mac Mini would qualify as well) for RIPing as well. Now, they aren't running Windows. I think can even get Caldera on a Dell NUC running Linux as well from Caldera. If smaller footprint is a reason. My son has a NUC that I put together for him. I actually quite like it. Specific focused single use case it does great. Again, not running Windows, his runs Neon.
Dukenukem117
New Member
I wouldn't recommend trying to multitask using the same computer as its printing. If one of your other programs causes a crash, then you lose your print. Printer-capable computers are so cheap that its better to just get a dedicated system like an old thinkpad.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
Running a true workstation (this is key, a lot of people call some computers workstations when they really aren't, they still have consumer grade parts in them) computer would preclude a lot of that from happening. They can usually handle errors a little bit better, it would take more errors or errors of more severity to fubar everything. At least in my experience.
Although I do tend to agree with the notion of just having a computer only handle RIPing and multi-tasking on others, otherwise to do it all, it would require a beefier computer, but as long as it's a single use dedicated station, could actually get away with less then what one would think of, as long as that was truly all that it was doing.