I know there are already a couple topics based around 'what laptop should I get for web design' in this forum, but they are from last year so I figure there might be some knew knowledge around here.

 

I have decided that I should probably invest in a laptop. Right now I'm working on my family's 3 year old imac, it works okay but it isn't portable and it's getting a little slow, plus I'll need one for uni anyways...

 

- My budget is $1000 - $2000 (£650 - £1300).

 

- Mac or PC, doesn't matter. I am used to OS X, but I figure I can adjust to Windows if it saves me a couple bucks!

 

- Would love something lightweight and portable.

 

- Can handle the basics: PS, Ai, Dw, etc, all at once.

 

- I would also like to be able to connect it to a monitor (or two) and use it essentially like a desktop.

 

Any recommendations? What is the go-to brand for solid laptops these days?

Edited February 18, 201313 yr by wellerweb

With that budget I would recommend avoiding the Apple store. You need to spend more to get something worth your time from them. It's disturbing, I know.

 

Unfortunately I know very little about the PC world so I'll chip out of this thread.

 

One thing I would say, though, is that you absolutely MUST get a solid state drive. Do NOT be tempted by the cheap, huge HDDs, there is a reason for it.

You could always get a MacBook Pro. They have just had a price cut, so even the 13" Retina Display model is £1249, which is not actually too bad.

 

But of course you will save a lot of money by going the Windows route.

 

Heres some links, might help you out a bit:

 

Apple side of the fence:

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro

 

Decent Windows laptops:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops/703_7006_70006_0_BA00004565-BV00299348-BA00002522-BV00149805/xx-criteria.html

 

Personally im using an '07 iMac and a '08 MacBook to do all my stuff with no worries (PS, DW, Ai etc) so you should have no worries on anything new

 

Hope this helps!

I've tried out many a laptop (including a macbook and macbook pro). I currently am on a Lenovo Y580. One of the best laptops I've used in a long while especially for the price ($1,100)! Has an awesome 1080p HD screen, 8GB RAM, and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M. Definitely one of the best values out there right now as far as new laptops go. Also, ASUS's N series laptops are right up there as well.

Looking around on Amazon, I found a company that sells pre-upgraded laptops. Essentially, they take a product, install more RAM and a different HDD, and sell it for profit. The prices seem reasonable, although I would probably want to check the brand/quality/etc of the parts that they add. But the reviews seem good, here is one I was considering:

 

It's a ASUS Vivobook, 12 GB RAM and 500 GB SSD for $1,200

 

http://www.amazon.com/VivoBook-S400CA-DH51T-i5-3317U-Windows-Ultrabook/dp/B00AY0DKWQ/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1363801156&sr=1-7&keywords=ASUS+VivoBook+S500CA+SSD

 

Do you think buying a pre-upgraded laptop like this would be a good idea?

1.7GHz i5, 12GB RAM?! What are they doing - movie editing really, really slowly...?

 

If you're doing something that requires 12GB of RAM, you're going to need more than a 1.7GHz i5 Dual-core...Turbo-Boost or not.

Yeah, I thought the 12 GB was overkill as well (I'm currently running 4GB without issues).

 

I checked out their website, looks like I can downgrade the RAM and save a bit of money. Or I could always upgrade to a laptop with more processing power, I don't really know how much is enough for photoshop/dreamweaver/etc.

 

Their Ebay reviews seem positive, would you think buying a laptop from these guys would be a good idea, or should I keep looking?

Well the only downside would be that I assume they void the manufacturer's warranty by opening it up in the first place, so you're taking a risk there unless they offer their own kind of warranty service - again, a little risky.

 

12GB is overkill for what you need - even for future-proofing. 8GB will be enough, but don't go lower. Also look at the speed of the RAM - you'll probably want 1600MHz DDR3 or higher. As for processing power, I'd personally suggest either an i7 dual-core (allows for hyperthreading), or a quad-core i5/i7 (the i7 being overkill) - it depends how much you're willing to spend. I'll never claim to be a hardware expect, so take my suggestions with a pinch of salt. There's much more to look at than just the advertised clock speed - shared cache for one.

 

However, the purchasing of a SSD will be the most significant performance boost you would notice - regardless of clock speed, or RAM. Honestly, if you can afford a SSD...get one. The performance boost is truly outstanding. No processor/RAM upgrades will match this.

Edited March 21, 201313 yr by andy9l

Thanks, Andy.

 

I'm definitely going for an SSD - I've heard a lot about how great they are so I figure it's a good investment to make.

 

These are the basic specs I'm looking at right now:

 

- 3rd Generation Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5

- 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory

- 256 GB Crucial M4 C400 SSD

 

The Ivy Bridge is only a dual core, but I can't find anywhere that has a quad included on this laptop model. Is that something I could upgrade myself, or would it even be worth upgrading?

 

256 GB is a little small in relation to the 1TB of free space I'm used to on my current desktop, so I'll probably pick up a basic 500-700GB external hard drive for storage of old projects and etc.

 

The setup I mentioned above will run me around $950 plus shipping, the equivalent of about £630 I believe, and comes with a one year warranty which I'm still looking over.

Yep that sounds good. With regards to the processor, it's 3rd gen so it has "Turbo-boost" technology. This solves the problem of many applications not being written in parallel - thus in theory, only one core can be utilised effectively. Turbo-boost notices this, over-clocks one core and under-clocks the others to avoid over-heating. With a laptop, a dual-core i5 with Turbo-Boost should be fine...especially in the web development field.

 

I have never personally upgraded the processor of a laptop - I use Macs so it's near-nigh impossible - but I do know it's not as easy as swapping out the hard drive or RAM - both of which are essentially plug 'n' play. Try to find the laptop with the processor you want - in most cases, the hard drive and RAM can be changed with ease.

 

Yes you sacrifice space with SSDs with the current costs, but that will decrease over time - and the price of externals is constantly dropping. Dump all your movies/pictures on the external drive, and I bet that'll be enough to leave the rest on the SSD. 256GB of documents/code is an absolutely massive amount. You could even setup your current laptop as a media server on your LAN, to save you buying an external HDD.

 

If you're buying this from those people you mentioned, just be wary about the warranty/guarantees - I can't imagine there's much.

Thanks again, I'm thinking of buying from xoticpc instead as they seem a little more legit.

Considering upping my budget since I realized if I go PC I'll have to repurchase all of my adobe creative suite, plus I really love OS X.

 

Now, Macbook Air vs Macbook Pro...

 

Macbook Pro:

 

$1650 (with student discount)

2.5 GHz

256 SSD

8 GB Ram

13" Retina display

 

Macbook Air:

 

$1,450 (also student discount)

1.8 GHz

256 SSD

8 GB Ram

13" display

 

Is the $200 extra for a retina display and faster processor worth it?

I can't work out what models you're looking at - at 15% student discount, I can't make a 1.8GHz i5 MacBook Air cost $1,450 in the US store?!

 

On the store landing pages for the Air/Pro, which model are you first selecting (before customising)?? Both i5 processors?

I was only getting a $50 student discount, maybe it is different in Canada?

 

I went ahead and got the Macbook Pro. After taxes, ended up a little under $1,700 with a $100 teacher discount (dragged my dad along )

Good choice