I am looking to purchase a laptop for graphic design use. whats the recommended brand?

Question

also what specifications are recommended i.e RAM, harddrive memory, intergrated graphics memory, screen-lcd or shiny display

Answer 1

You need to look at the system requirements for the software that you're going to be running and make sure you exceed them. Shoot for the recommend requirements instead of minimum as minimum usually isn't all that good (it means the program will run but not all that well).

Go for at least 2 GiB RAM though more than 3 GiB is usually a waste and the biggest hard drive you can get (you'll manage to fill it up with large files if you do graphic design), get a DVD-burner but that'll probably be pretty much standard and a decent processor, dual core should be no problem (the Core 2 Duo is the fastest per clock at the moment and the best in terms of performance per watt but the Core Duo and Turion X2 are still decent processors).

In terms of graphics chip I think that depends on what you're going to be doing, if any of the software you'll be using says anything about OpenGL or 3D then you really should get dedicated graphics, I'd probably aim for an nVidia Quadro or aTi FireGL if possible as they are optimised more for workstation applications then games (they still do well at games) although a GeForce and Radeon would still probably be just fine anyway. If you do mostly 2D stuff then you might be able to get away with Integrated graphics (though you want to be careful with this because if you think integrated graphics will be enough and you get it wrong you won't be able to upgrade to something better and will either have to put up with it or buy a new laptop).

The screen would depend on how much laptop you want to carry around with you, I think that 14" is about the best size for most purposes though you might benefit from a 15.4" screen if you do graphic design, a 17" screen would be very nice for design work but it'll also make the laptop a bit too heavy and cumbersome to carry around with you all the time, anything less than a 14" screen and you start to make too many compromises that probably wouldn't be acceptable to you.

But don't expect a laptop LCD to give good colour as laptop screens are designed with a lot more emphasis on power consumption then desktop panels and some of that comes at the cost of quality, viewing angles are narrower and the screens can't display as many colours as well as having lower contrast ratios.

For specific advise I'd suggest you look at whether you might be better off with a desktop (where you'll make a lot less compromise with the monitor) instead of a laptop (or even just a good S-IPS or *VA desktop LCD you can plug into the laptop and use instead of the laptop's screen, if you want to do that a port replicator might be a nice thing to be able to buy).

Answer 2

Im with Edwin. They may be expensive and you may have to save for a bit b4 getting one, but a Macbook Pro with a 1Gb graphics card or Alienware M17x with dual graphics cards is your best bet. Macs have the best editing software, and are good with graphic design. Alienware are beast powerhouses that can handle anything you can throw at them. Either is exactly what you need. A Dell studio laptop is good, but its a step down from your 2 best options. So if you are serious about graphic design, save and go for the best. Good luck! Edit: the sony laptops you were looking at would need a pretty good upgrading from the starting point they give there. Both would need to go up over $1200 to suit your needs. and thats baseline. For later on when the detailed graphic designing comes in the sony Vaio wouldnt be enough and you would have to upgrade again anyway =/ My suggestion is to go with saving for a one time upgrade to alienware or Macbook. EDIT EDIT: Joe has some good suggestions on the HP, but to match the Dual radeon hd 5870 that come standard in the M17x you would have to upgrade to the NVIDIA Quadro 5000M. which is going to cost the same as the Alienware M17x in the end. so really once again its all about how much you can afford. there are some good HPs that he suggested that are cheeper at the cost of a lower quality GPU.

Answer 3

Laptop brand for a given application is very much the wrong question to ask.

1. Do you feel more comfortable in a Windows or Mac environment? If Mac, the obvious choice is a Mac.

2. RAM is relatively cheap, get at much as you can. 2 GB is probably your bottom limit.

3. You don't want integrated graphics at all. You particularly don't want integrated graphics if you'll be doing any 3D rendering.

4. Lenovo is Chinese. I mean the whole company is owned by the Chinese government. I'm not kidding. This is not a good thing. They are lame.

Answer 4

Apple

Get as much HD and RAM as your budget allows
Don't sweat the graphics memory in a Mac - it'll be fine
Glossy or matte screen? Purely a subjective choice.

With a MacBook Pro you can get either. With a basic MacBook you don't have choice - it'll be glossy.

I'm a professional photographer. Love my little MacBook.

I'm sure you already know that in the fields of graphic design and any kind of media - Macs Rule!

Why would you choose anything less?

Answer 5

If you are going into graphic design as a professional, you need a Macintosh. Industry wide, most professional graphic design companies, manufacture and installation companies only use Macintosh packages. (Hardware and Software)
You need the most ram you can afford, and the largest HDD you can fit. (2 is better).The graphics on Mac's are pretty good with intergrated memory, and the screen is your own personal preference but as large as you can get (bigger is better for designing). What is going to cost you loads of cash is the software because again you need the industry standards.
Good Luck

Answer 6

If you can spare a big budget for you laptop, go for mac book pro which goes very well with video and photo editing support. Recommended specifications:
processor - 2.0Ghz core 2 duo and above
ram - 1Gb minimum
graphics - go for 8700gt "vid card of macbook pro" or any other video card which has a memory above 128 Mb and 64bit above
Screen - depends on your working condition
shiny - preferable for indoor use for better graphic
display, gives more vivid colors
glare free - best for outdoor use which maximizes
your viewing performance in bright
conditions.

If not a mac user, you can choose brands like, sony, toshiba,dell, fujitsu, alienware, etc.. Requires the same or higher specifications given above. Minimum of 15.4" for best viewing size. Its harder to edit media on small laptops. Also go for windows xp, vista takes up too much memory which decreases system performance.

Answer 7

If you r gonna do professional graphic design u will need a relatively good video card for high quality output, depends what programme u want to use, most programmes don't require a good card like for games.....be aware that laptops in general are more expensive than a desktop pc with the same power....

Answer 8

Hi,

Please also check Alienware.co.uk they have very good Area51 7950 laptop for graphic. it has got lot of graphich memory upto 1 gig Dedicated if you are looking good graphix go for maximum graphich meomroy with windows vista ultimate

Answer 9

macbook pro 2.33, 17" laptop

and you dont need a glossy screen thats for photos

Answer 10

in a pickle, stop wasting ur time and get back to work or whateva!!!! everyone knows that the good old computers windows 95 are the best