Expert: LizaL - 3/6/2005

Question
I would like to know your opinion on a good laptop to buy to use PhotoshopCS and download digital photos...also, I would like to put my music cds on it...with dvd write capabilities.
I have a Sony Vaio desktop that I am using now.
(I'm new to Photoshop)
Thanks!

Answer
Hi Pat,

Welcome to the Photoshop world! I'm sure you'll have fun and learn a lot.

To answer your question . . . there are several good laptops out there now, so it's basically a matter of personal choice, and what you're used to -- or what you're willing to adapt to.

In my opinion, the choice for a new computer is a matter of need/functionality/money available. You're clear as to your needs, which will basically dictate the functionality you need, but you don't mention the money you want to spend. But most PC manufacturers these days have laptop lines that range from low- to high-end without breaking the bank. So I'll just give you my input and you can "shop around" from there!

1. Dell has several good laptops -- and I can personally attest to that, since I own a Dell laptop! Dell is also very easy to deal with, as a company. I like the fact that you can customize your system before you buy it, too.

Here's a link to Dell's Inspiron 9300, which is a good machine. In fact, that whole Inspiron line is pretty good.
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_9300?c=us&cs=...


2. Toshiba also makes good laptops. Their Qosmio line is good, and here's a link to the E15. The F15 is also recommended.
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?seg=HHO&coid=-28284&sel=0&rcid=-2636...


3. HP Pavilions have also gained a fair amount of recognition lately -- the zd8000 here has a DV-RW:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/compare_category.do?storeName=compute...


(If those links don't work, just go to the companies' Web sites and search for Inspiron, Qosmio, and Pavilion.)


The thing I'd be most concerend about, for you, is that you get a large enough hard drive, in order to store music and photos. Many of the new laptops only come with 40- and 60GB stock hard drives, and you'd probably want something much larger (say, 120GB).

Also make sure you get one with enough speed to handle your DV-writing needs. But that shouldn't be too hard, since many standard laptops are as fast as 2GHz and better, these days.


Here are a couple of articles you can read that might also help:

1. From PCWorld:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,119455,00.asp

2. About.com:
http://compreviews.about.com/cs/pchardwarebasics/a/aaWhatToBuy.htm

3. About.com, again:
http://compreviews.about.com/cs/laptops/tp/aatpdeskreplace.htm



Hope this helps! Please post back if you need any more assistance, and let me know what you buy!

Lisa