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Old 03-22-2014, 09:28 AM
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Default Best laptops for digi scrapping?

Just curious... what are the best laptops that can handle the demands of digital scrapbooking? and have a nice-size screen as well? I have tried scrapping on my dell inspiron (about 3 years old now, I think) but I find the screen small and it seems to really tax my system.

I prefer to scrap on our nice desk top, but the reality is there are 3 other people who use that computer, and it's hard for me to carve out time to use it for that purpose.

I thought it might be fun to at least look into new laptop options...
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Old 03-22-2014, 10:30 AM
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I'd say the Macbook Pro because I own one. Mine has a 13" screen, it was big enough for me when I bought it 5 years ago, but after checking out the 15" Macbook Pros, I find it small.

But for a really great scrapping experience, I'd say any desktop computer that has a large screen, like 21" and above. I went to an Apple Store last week and opened up the Sweet Shoppe gallery on an iMac, and found the experience to be so much more amazing! I could see the details that I wouldn't have noticed on my Macbook.

I know I'm not helping though...sorry!
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Old 03-22-2014, 11:58 AM
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The make and model isn't important. The specs are. There are SO MANY different Dell Inspirons. I'm sure there are some that are good for digiscrapping (although I can't stand Dell, but that's beside the point!) The same is true for Sony Vaios, Lenovo ThinkPads, etc. Whatever they're called, some will do you well and some won't.

You want a lot of RAM, a good video card, and a fast processor. You can get that from any number of manufacturers. It's nice to have a solid state drive, too, but that gets spendy.
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Old 03-22-2014, 11:58 AM
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I'd recommend a 17 inch screen. I don't have a specific laptop to suggest, but I've bought my last few online from HP. I like that you can customize them so you can target your money on features that make a difference for scrapping, like extra RAM and an upgrade from integrated graphics..
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Old 03-22-2014, 12:14 PM
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I loved it when I was on my 15'' macbook pro. I am currently on an imac desktop that is 27". Sometimes I miss being portable but I love my screen size that I am at now. The Pro rocked though. I was very happy with it. Now my husband has taken it over.
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Old 03-22-2014, 12:29 PM
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Because my 15-inch Macbook Pro is acting up, I am currently scrapping on my Macbook Air (yes, 11 inches!). I recently backed up files on my Pro and felt that the screen and size was so massive, lol. Apparently I don't miss the screen size TOO much. I have to admit the utter portability of the Air and the speed of the SSD drive has spoiled me I can run, LR, CS5, multiple tabs on my browser, Mail, Evernote without any slowdowns.

I will admit though that I am crushing on the new Macbook Pros--they are SO thin and SO light! I wonder how scrapping on those would be?
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Old 03-22-2014, 01:17 PM
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I'm watching this thread... my Dell is 4 years old and starting (well, it always had some sort of issue) to act like a diva . So, trying to figure out if upgrade the ram and hard drive of the dell for $150ish or go all Mac laptop.... I have a 17 in screen now, so going down to the 15 on the Mac doesn't seem that horrible - what is 2 inches? But when looking at them in the store, I'm like... maybe that 2 inches is a lot... haha... however, if I don't have to deal with all the annoying windows stuff... Mac is the dream - the price is not...

However, agree with the others... buy the most ram and highest processor you can afford!
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Old 03-22-2014, 10:30 PM
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I'll agree that RAM is the key. You can live with a smaller screen size when it's zippy fast!
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Old 03-22-2014, 10:39 PM
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I have a business HP because it had a screen that wasn't shiny, plus RAM and a big hard drive. It's a few years old and getting ready to be replaced too!

My DH bought a solid state hard drive for his work computer. I would definitely consider looking into something like that! Photoshop runs fine on my computer, but accessing the thumbnails of all my kits is increasingly taking longer since I have so many! I think that's probably a combination of ram and hard drive...
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Old 03-24-2014, 08:05 AM
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My advice is go big on RAM, Screen, and Speed. Good graphics would be needed too! Have fun looking! I have a 17" MacBook Pro and love the screen size. Since I mostly scrap at my house, I like being able to sit on the couch and scrap, so the size is a plus for me (versus the weight).
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Old 03-24-2014, 11:34 AM
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I had a Mac desktop but got a PC laptop just for digi-scrapping. I made sure that the specs were all good for what I needed. I still preferred scrapping on my desktop, but didn't find myself doing it very often due because I didn't like being tied to one spot.

So this year I broke down and bought a Mac laptop. I got last year's model, but the difference from my (supposedly good) PC laptop is AMAZING. Faster, better color/clarity, FASTER, and did I mention FASTER? I am simply amazed at the difference in how things look and how much faster things fly.

It replaced both my laptop and my desktop (which died 2 days after ordering the laptop!) and so I paid much more than I would've for a PC laptop, but I absolutely feel it was worth it.
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Old 03-26-2014, 10:49 AM
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I'm a firm believer in HP business models. I had an EliteBook for 6 years and it was still running fine after all that time. I have another one now and it's a dream to work with. The investment was high (and by high I mean high, probably higher than the Mac, but they were as lovely as to custom-build it for me, so there), but it was worth it. These are my specs; I've never been so happy with a laptop before.

17-inch matte (yay! because I love matte) DreamColor screen
one 128 GB SSD drive
one 750 GB/7200rpm drive
one Bluray drive
8 GB memory
intel i7 @ 2,80 GH
Nvidia Quadro K4000M graphics card
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
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Last edited by adrianka; 03-26-2014 at 10:56 AM.
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