Ok you fellow lunatics here in the asylum...
My birthday is coming up (03-03-1965)..(hint ...hint...hint..)...(Yeah I'm old)...
Mom n Dad have been hinting about buying me a laptop.!!!!
I have worked on many of my friends' (HP,Acer, Toshiba, Compac,Dell).....
none of which had PS on them but they ALL worked just fine!

My question to you is this .......medium price range and higher price range ...your thoughts....on what I might ask for in a windows O/S laptop...???????

I know in a year or less something better will come out ........
just want all your ideas and input on what may be the best right now!

And YES I know MAC is the way to go .....(that's All I used in college) can't do it right now !!!!

So please high/med/low end .....any and all of your suggestions are greatly appreciated .....thanks guys n gals....
Now I will STFUAC

~5150
PS: Keep in mind occasionally I do some movie editing !!!!

http://www.photography-forums.com/ideal-laptop-photoshop-t210906.html

here is somebody having that same question, and getting some answeres. Last year, but you can only ask for better after that yes?

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404898.html?PID=1225267#features

And here is some more useful info on OpenGL and CS4 and CS5 (Adobe).

MAC is crap! woow that rhymes

if u buy a mac book, then you pay 200 € only for the name... and thats ripoff!!!

in my opinion the best value for your money u get on laptops by ASUS or Acer!

Toshibas are nice, I guess. Not too expensive, but not shabby.

I use a toshiba throwaway with surprisingly identical specs as the $999 mac book. Mine was less than $350 out the door. Runs flash, streams video, blah blah. Doesn't have a camera. My Monster in law has a little atom processor netbook. It blows. Won't run flash. Windows 7 seems to run photoshop okie dokie.

I've used PC's for over a decade. They work, they cost less. This is true.

I've had many friends who went to MAC, myself included. Most of them are artists of one sort or another.

NONE of them ever went back. If you are doing artistic stuff, the MAC line is worth the extra money.

True: the end result out the back door is exactly the same. A PSD is a PSD.

But the ride to get there just tends to be more organic (which normally tends to support the "artistic vibe") on a MAC and that is why so many artists end up there. I wish I'd switched years earlier.

And THAT being said, budget does tend to control one's purchasing decisions... If you have some talent and some commitment, you can make any computer bend to your will.

If you're going with a non-mac laptop there are a couple new developments coming out this year that are definitely worth waiting for:

1 - the PC bios (initializes a machine so its operating system can get going) is being replaced this year with UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) -- UEFI will allow the computer to start up in less than a handful of seconds (no instant on though), removes many of the limitations bios has with peripherals, is more compatible with 64 bit computing, doesn't have the drive size limits of two terabytes in the original PC design, and will be ready to handle many of the new technologies that are coming out.

2 - USB 3 will give approx 10 times more speed than USB 2 -- this is huge when using usb connections for streaming video, transferring data to external hard drives & flash drives.

3 - most laptops by now should have 802.11n - this is a big improvement in distance it can cover and data transmitted. If you can find one that is dual band (2.4 & 5.0 ghz) you'll do even better with streaming videos. Here is the the history of the 802.11 versions:

802.11b 2.4 GHz 5-11 mbps
802.11g 2.4 GHz 25-54 mbps
802.11a 5.0 GHz 25-54 mbps
802.11n 2.4 GHz 100-200+ mbps

You'll need to look at your needs & budget to figure out:
~minimum ram & hard drive size
~single core processor or more
~basic dvd burner or hd burner
~larger screen size vs portability

From what I've read you'll want Window 7 Home Premium version as the minimum, though you'd be much better off with the Professional version (or Ultimate).

As far as which laptop brand to get I've read (and heard from friends) that HP/Dell/Toshiba have done well.

I hope you find this info helpful in getting your new laptop!

John

Stay away from the Sony Vaio line. I've had two go dead on me.

I've personally been fond of the HP line-up. However Dell seems pretty good as well. My son's got a 17-inch Dell that is very nice for being a low-end unit.

"It isn't WHAT you use, It's HOW you use it! The greatest tools in the world in the hands of an idiot are useless! A simple pencil in the hands of an artist render remarkable results!" - Cartoon Contractor