Laptop Shopping - Again....

[neato]

I'm trying to decide on which laptop to purchase for design work using CorelDRAW and Photopaint on occasion.

How important is Cache Memory on a CPU for what we do?

Here are the specs of one of the machines I'm looking at:

General
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26G
Screen 15.4" WXGA
Memory Size 4GB
Hard Disk 320GB
Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
Video Memory 512MB DDR3

CPU
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo
CPU Speed P8400(2.26GHz)
CPU FSB 1066MHz
CPU L2 Cache 3MB
Chipset
Chipset Intel PM45

Display
Screen Size 15.4"
Wide Screen Support Yes
LCD Features Glare
Display Type Wide XGA
Resolution 1280 x 800

Operating Systems
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium

Graphics
GPU/VPU NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
Video Memory 512MB DDR3
Graphic Type Dedicated Card
Hard Drive
HDD 320GB
HD Interface SATA

Memory
Memory 4GB
Memory Spec 2GB x 2

Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type DVD Super Multi
Optical Drive Interface Integrated

Communications
WLAN 802.11a/g/n Wireless LAN
Bluetooth Yes

Ports
Audio Ports Yes

Audio
Audio Integrated Sound card
Speaker Internal Speakers

Input Device
Touchpad Yes
Keyboard Standard

Supplemental Drive
Webcam 2.0MP

Power
Battery 6-cell lithium ion

 

[Shovelhead]

Round two........buy it!!!!!!!!
Although 17" is way cool.
That's better than most people's desk tops...not mine though.

 

[neato]

And here's another I have my eye on:

Processor
Intel® Core™2 Duo T9400 (2.53 GHz, 6MB LS, 1066 MHz FSB)

Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista Business 32

Screen
15.4" WXGA (1280 X 800) TFT

Memory
3GB (1GB & 2GB) PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory

Hard Drive
160GB, 7200RPM Serial ATA 2.5" Drive

Optical Storage
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer Ultrabay Slim

Wireless
Intel® WiFi Link 5300 (3x3 AGN)

Battery
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (6.5 Hour Run Time)

Features
Carrying Case, UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader

Bluetooth

Video Card
AMD M86M Switchable Graphics 256MB

 

[neato]

Round two........buy it!!!!!!!!
Although 17" is way cool.
That's better than most people's desk tops...not mine though.

I know! This is so overwhelming to me. I tend to over-analyze purchases like this.

 

[jiarby]

Cache memory is very important!

 

[Jester1167]

I love my HP from Best Buy for around 1200 you can get a 17" screen, 6 gig of ram, e8600 (2.4 I think) Vista 64...

 

[Shovelhead]

I know! This is so overwhelming to me. I tend to over-analyze purchases like this.

You're an artist....and you're not alone brother.

 

[neato]

Good. I feel like a freak show when my wife walks in and I'm browsing Newegg and the Lenovo Outlet AGAIN!

 

[Shovelhead]

Good. I feel like a freak show when my wife walks in and I'm browsing Newegg and the Lenovo Outlet AGAIN!

In all seriousness....do you like the meticulousness of researching and making
a list? I know I do. but I have some sort of mental issue.

 

[omgsideburns]

i loved my macbook pro, and I am NOT an apple guy. always used pcs my whole life. sold the MBP to build a monster desktop, and as fast as my new desktop at my house is, i still wish i had the mbp.

 

[neato]

I'm not really a list guy, but I can't tell you how many computer spec pages I have bookmarked.

I like the looks of macs, but I use Corel. Gotta go PC.

 

[GB2]

Purchasing a laptop is almost more difficult than deciding on desktop features. What you need really depends on how you intend to use the laptop. For example, inherently they are good for their portability so if you intend to use it frequently on the go, then perhaps a 9 cell battery would be a good choice. If you intend to use it as a desktop replacement, then perhaps a docking station would be a consideration. I wanted parallel port and serial port capability when I purchased my laptop so I could hook directly to some older equipment if I needed to so that was a factor. The thing I had the most difficulty with was choosing the screen resolution and even now that I have a laptop, I'm not sure what the right choice is and whether or not I made it. Mine is a WXGA+ and it's good but I still don't know what the difference would be between that and any other one. It seems that the display is merely smaller and nothing more, I just don't get it. Hard disk size is important as the newer programs just eat that up and if you start doing anything with photos or large image files that hard drive space just disappears, 160GB is an absolute minimum and it should be larger. 3GB RAM is a minimum requirement but if you are using the latest Vista technology you may want even more. The best video card you can get is my recomendation and this is the time to add all those bells and whistles so you don't regret not getting them later.

 

[slappy]

you might like an nvidia graphics card in it (i like mine for design and overall appearance) and definably a 9 cell (up to 5 hours without being plugged into the wall)

 

[Mainframe]

Check out the Macbook Pro, it is made from a solid block of aluminum, has a lighted keyboard, an awesome operating system, (you can load windows if you need to) & a killer LED backlit screen.

 

[neato]

Well, I settled on this one. It's a Lenovo Thinkpad T500. I had to commit, before I was committed.

I could have gone with another gig of Ram, but this was a good deal on a refurb, so I figure I can always add ram later if I think I need it.


Processor
Intel® Core™2 Duo T9400 (2.53 GHz, 6MB LS, 1066 MHz FSB)

Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista Business 32

Screen
15.4" WXGA (1280 X 800) TFT

Memory
3GB (1GB & 2GB) PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory

Hard Drive
160GB, 7200RPM Serial ATA 2.5" Drive

Optical Storage
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer Ultrabay Slim

Wireless
Intel® WiFi Link 5300 (3x3 AGN)

Battery
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (6.5 Hour Run Time)

Features
Carrying Case, UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader

Bluetooth

Video Card
AMD M86M Switchable Graphics 256MB

 

[choucove]

I think it should be able to do what you need by the sounds of it. Lenovo is known for good business computers.

3 GB of RAM will be about the max that could be recognized in a 32-bit operating system like the Windows Vista Business 32 that you purchased, so an upgrade in RAM may not be needed until if/when you upgrade to 64-bit operating system. Besides, 3 GB of DDR3 memory should be pretty zippy and still handle all of your tasks I would imagine.

I also saw that you selected a 7,200 rpm hard drive. While the drive densities are lower, the increased speed from your average 5,400 rpm hard drive is very helpful.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

I have a Gateway FX series that I have purchased from Best Buy that I am very happy with. 17" display, Intel Core 2 duo, 4 gigs of ram, nvidia graphics card, vista home premium 64 bit. Has worked very well for me. I think it was around $1200.