Hi all

I was unsure of whether this should of been posted in the computer section. I am currently searching for a new laptop which would primarily be used for Photoshop and editing of photographs etc., just wondered if any members had any thoughts, suggestions on what would be best for this use or in fact whether anyone can suggest a laptop they feel would be OK for Photoshop and editing.

If the Mods think this would be better in the computer & tech category please accept my apologies and remove this.

Thank you in advance.

If you are using a recent edition of Photoshop ie CS2 or CS3 then you need to be looking at the highest spec processor you can afford and load the machine up with memory, may be worth considering a Macbook Pro if you can afford one.

Thanks for that Grinder, yes I did consider an Apple MacBook but as I have a G5 already and that the laptop is being part funded by another person and for work purposes I really need to look towards the Laptop range using Windows.

You'll get twice the spec for your money buying a windows based laptop anyway.

Personally, I'd suggest going for the highest spec Core2Duo you can find, with at least 2gb of RAM.

Thanks for that Grinder, yes I did consider an Apple MacBook but as I have a G5 already and that the laptop is being part funded by another person and for work purposes I really need to look towards the Laptop range using Windows.

Macbook pro and bootcamp (http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/)?

You'll get twice the spec for your money buying a windows based laptop anyway.

Personally, I'd suggest going for the highest spec Core2Duo you can find, with at least 2gb of RAM.

Not quite true anymore, but you can always buy a reasonably priced Windows machine whereas Apple start expensive. Their 'cheap' machines are usually missing something vital like say a DVD writer, so you would never actually bother with them.
Putting more than 2G of RAM in a laptop is a bit tricky as that's the max for most machines, which is a shame.


Macbook pro and bootcamp (http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/)?
The problem with Bootcamp is that Windows and OSX have a mutually incomaptible filing system, so you have to use the archaic and slow FAT32 to be able to share data. Apple unsurprisingly keep very quiet about this gotcha.

Some useful info re File sharing bewteen Mac+PC
http://www.markwilson.co.uk/blog/2006/07/sharing-disks-between-mac-os-x-and.htm
http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/02/14/how-to-share-files-and-folders-between-windows-and-os-x-using-parallels/

There's also of course the option of using Parallels (or vmware fusion that has just been released) to run Windows apps - the way they "break out" of the virtual machine is very neat. But of course that's more expense and hassle.

One thing to be careful of is that you get a good screen - I've not used many high-end laptops recently but if they vary as much as standalone TFTs it must be worth seeing them in action.

Apart from that it's difficult to recommend without knowing your budget, but you really get what you pay for in laptops. They can't usually be upgraded much at all, so get as much power as you can afford and justify...

Hi All

Was looking around the £800 - £900 budget, I know I would not get anything super duper super duper but something half decent would be nice, as I do have the G5 Mac as the desktop computer.

Is that £800-900 including VAT?

Makes a difference on which machines meet your budget

Was looking around the £800 - £900 budget, I know I would not get anything super duper super duper but something half decent would be nice, as I do have the G5 Mac as the desktop computer.

The new MacBook Pros have new screen which are a lot better than the previous screens for image editing [that's not Mac hype, but reviews of the new screen], but maybe they are a bit outside your budget. If the MacBooks also get tweaked then they should have the new screens too. Any of the new Intel macs will be a lot better than your G5.