Laptops

[ajf9597]

Ok, I'm considering buying a laptop to scrap on. What kind of laptops do you have and what are some of the things to look for that are a must for using them for digi scrapping?

[Paula]

Well, I have a Macbook Pro. But, if I was a PC user, I would suggest that it has enough RAM to run your program adequately. I would also get a nice big hard drive to store all your LOs and goodies on. =)

[Kat Stokes]

Something with at least 4 gig of RAM , preferably 8, and a 300 gig HD or more....

Honestly, I've had my Toshiba for 3 years now. I have never had a problem until recently and that's because I got a virus that is sucking the life out of my baby...

Given a choice though, I would go Mac and never look back.

[arenee]

I love my dell...I got it from dell outlet.
I knew how much I could spend. I got one with tons of memory and the fastest
processor. Then I waited for the 15% off coupon you get for signing up for their newsletters.
I love that I can plug my sd card directly.
My 15 inch monitor gives me enough room to scrap without a big laptop.
I elected to save on hard drive space because I like using external hard drives.

Good luck

[MamaBee]

I just got a new Dell this week... LOVE IT! I also love that I was able to order what I want... so more ram, bigger hard drive... and could cut back on things that I didn't need like a super dooper video card. And it's purple!!! Since I couldn't get a mac (cost was a factor), hubby let me get a colored one...

[Julie Billingsley]

really look into the difference between the anti-glare screens and the regular screens. I got the anti-glare screen on an HP laptop about 4 years ago and the colors seem duller on it because of the screen. Now, I'm sure in 4 years that they have perfected that but be sure to check into it!

Look at costco and costco.com for laptops. They often have sales (I just got my coupon book in the mail today with laptop coupons in it) and I love that they have a 90 return policy.

However, that said, my hubby needs a new laptop and I'm trying to convince him to go mac.

[ColleenSwerb]

8GB of RAM is excessive on a PC unless you're getting a 64 bit system with multiple processors. Depending on what OS you're running, the machine only "sees" a certain amount of RAM anyway, and the rest gets ignored.

For example. My HP is not quite 2 years old, and when I got it it was one of their higher end models. I only have 2GB of RAM, and a 250GB HD (I use EHD's, so that wasn't a huge concern for me) but I routinely run PSCS2, Lightroom, and Firefox at the same time (with games and stuff going on in FF) and have no problems.

Enough RAM is certainly an important feature, but I wouldn't go as high as 8GB. 4GB is plenty (and you can always add more later on if it becomes necessary). Get a really good graphics card. Get a good size HD to serve your needs. Size will depend on how much you plan on being mobile with it (I love my 17" screen, but it's kind of a PITA to travel with, and it weighs a ton).

[Sharon Kay]

I have an HP Pavilion dv7-1130us Notebook...AMD turion X2 Dual Core Mobile RM-70 2.0 GHz with 4 GB RAM ... although I am going to see if I can add more. It's a 64 bit machine and just a few things have not been able to be run with the machine ... but finding most software has been updated to run on it now.

I added a 500 GB internal drive to the existing drive ... HOWEVER ... as a note ... HP did NOT leave a mounting bracket inside the laptop so I could add an extra drive ... and since I didn't want the PUNY little drive HP was offering at a ridiculous price ... I had to pay a local computer store $50 for the tiny piece of metal to hold the drive I did buy!! Poop! **just thought that might be something you want to investigate ahead of time ... because internal laptop drives you buy off the shelf do not come with mounting brackets**

My screen is a 17" screen and I love the size (although it is quite a bit heavier than my sons' computers that have smaller screens. If you are going to go portable and scrap all the time in different places (i.e. the car, bookstore, bowling alley, etc.) ... invest in an additional laptop battery! You will be so glad you did! These big screens and CS3 eat up the battery in just over an hour (if you are scrapping, chatting, and surfing at the same time that is).

I bought an extended warranty ... bought my laptop through Office Max (it was a different one) and when they determined that the previous laptop couldn't be fixed ... Office Max issued me a Gift Certificate to use towards any laptop they had in stock. I liked that...which is why I have this one now.

Now my son just bought a laptop at Best Buy right after Christmas ... and bought their extended accident prevention warranty and they told him if something happens to bring it into the store and the geeks there will try to fix it before sending it OUT ... so it might save some time away from the laptop.

[g8rbeckie]

google "dell coupon code". there are a ton of coupons out there, I saw 15% off refurbs out right now, plus others. I would assume you can get coupons for other brands but I haven't looked.

If you're not in a rush to buy, you should check out the coupons over the course of a few weeks to see what the "best" deal is!

Also - I've purchased about 5 refurbs over the years and I've never had a problem with any of them...there's a warranty on them and everything.

good luck!! I LOVE getting a new computer!!

(oh, and I posted the full spec of the system I'd LOVE to get here !)

[Nettio]

I have a 15" MacBookPro which I love. It came with 2GB of RAM and a 250GB harddrive but it now has 4GB of RAM and a 500GB harddrive. My recommendation is to get the best specs you can within your price range because even if you think it's more than you really need, in a year or two it won't be.

[MommaTrish]

had a macbook I d but it got a hardware malfunction and am looking into getting a Dell. My mom has my old one and it still works great even though it looks like it shouldn't work at all. :lol:

[emmasmommy]

I have a Sony Vaio. It's got 6 GB RAM/500 GB HD and I could not be happier with it. I had an HP before this and DO NOT recommend an HP. We had nothing but problems with it.

[newfiemountiewife]

I have a Dell also, mine has 4 GB RAM, 500 GB hard drive, and is pink! I haven't had a problem with it at all, it's 2 years old. It is 17 inches, perfect for scrapping on the couch LOL. I also have a desktop that I use for work, but I don't use it for scrapping. I can't sit at a desk for long periods of time anymore since I hurt my shoulder/neck, which is why I bought the laptop in the first place.

[ColleenSwerb]

Originally Posted by emmasmommy

I have a Sony Vaio. It's got 6 GB RAM/500 GB HD and I could not be happier with it. I had an HP before this and DO NOT recommend an HP. We had nothing but problems with it.

Which is funny because I swear by HP's. I hate Dells and Sony's, lol.
One of those personal preference things.

[oohlala]

My Dell laptop had a problem with the power cord that messed up the motherboard. I had to buy an emergency computer to work on so we bought a Gateway laptop at BestBuy. I haven't had any problems with it, but I have an external monitor that is larger and I use it when I scrap. I have PSE on the larger monitor and my SSD files open on the laptop monitor. I love this arrangement.

Having said that I covet a MacBook Pro, but man-o-my-dreams is PC from the word go... sooo for now all things Apple are just a dream.

Good luck!
Alison

[4noisyboys]

I've been really happy with my Dell XPS 1530. It's a few years old now, and has 3G ram and a 320G hard drive. I have two EHD plugged in...one for scrapping supplies and another for photos (I back both of those up to). They didn't have the 4G out when I bought mine.

I haven't had any problems at all with mine. I would like a numbers keypad on mine though...mine just has them at the top. Other than that...I love it!

[emmasmommy]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

Which is funny because I swear by HP's. I hate Dells and Sony's, lol.
One of those personal preference things.

Totally. I loved my HP bc it was pink...but that was about it lol

[ajf9597]

Thanks ladies. I really wasn't sure where to start. I will still have my desktop, so I want a laptop that I can still store files on my desktop too. I didn't think getting a mac laptop would work for that reason.
I will start doing some research, but this will give me a great start. My problem is trying to decide which brand. I have a HP desktop that I have had for 5 years and it has never given us a problem, but wasn't sure which brand of laptop was better.

[nesser1981]

Mine has 3 gigs ram an a 250 gig harddrive.

I was just using my laptop only, for about 5 months after we moved, but I went back to using my desktop last month. I like it better and its faster. I don't like dragging out my external harddrive everytime I want to scrap.

[ajf9597]

Yeah, mine will just be used for scrapping upstairs when I can't get downstairs to scrap. I still will do all my main saving on the desktop and transfer my files from the laptop to the desktop (well that's my plan anyway)

[4noisyboys]

Something I did with my brother before he left for Kuwait was we went to Best Buy and talked with them about which ones they have in most for service. They gave us the ones they recommened and showed us some consumer reports. I thought that was very nice and helpful. He just needed something that he could work on, email, skype, etc...he won't be doing any digi scrapping, but he knew he'd be running movies and storing photos too.

[ColleenSwerb]

There really is no "better" brand, between HP, Dell, Mac, and Sony. IMHO anyway. You will always find someone who hates brand x/y/z and others who loves brand x/y/z. For me, I got another HP because I'm familiar with them and have had multiple computers from them with no problems (or the one that was a lemon, had the issues dealt with very well).

Brands in laptops are as much a personal preference as Nikon vs Canon in cameras.

[Stacey42]

If you are going to be doing a lot of scrapping, look for 'gaming' laptops. They are the ones with the best graphics cards and RAM. I have an ASUS gaming one with 6GB of RAM,1GB video RAM, 500GB HD and 17" monitor

[Jenn Barrette]

I have a Dell Studio 17, and wub it. I think 4 GB of RAM is plenty, and mine has the Duel Core processor. I can run CS3, Lightroom, iTunes, and FF easily. I love the 17 inch monitor, but it is heavy, and kills the battery quickly...so investing in a second battery is a good idea.

[mummytothree]

I don't think I've seen my brand mentioned so I'll mention it I have a Toshiba Satellite and I love it!!! I got it this past summer when Best Buy had it for $219 (regularly $399).

I use to do what you want to do, network it with a desktop and while it was nice and convenient (My lappy ran so fast because it was virtually empty) I will tell you that the further you get away from your "network hub" the slower your connection will run!! So if your desktop and router are down stairs and you want to scrap upstairs it will be slow. I use to scrap in my bedroom and my desktop was about 30 feet away and it was very painfully slow!!! Because of that I asked Santa for an external and transferred all my supplies to that and scrap from there now. I do still keep my two computers networked those because I now use my desktop as a form of back up!!!!

[ajf9597]

Do you have to network them? I don't know how much I will get on the internet, but thought it would be handy to scrap during the day and then just transfer it and upload it from my desktop. And wow $219, that is awesome!!

[mummytothree]

You don't have to network them I guess you could just transfer what you want to scrap with from the desktop to the laptop using DVD's or a flash drive. That would definitely work if you are a kit scrapper!!!

What I eventually did towards the end before I got my external was just put some of my all time faves on the laptop (like my favorite frames, stitches and all of La's LUIY products) that saved me tons of "searching time"

[ajf9597]

That's what I wanted to do was get an external and then as I download to my desktop save to the external too. I just don't want to have to be in the basement all the time if I want to scrap.

Does anyone else have a "gaming" laptop or does just the normal ones work fine? I'm guessing all I would have open is my internet and photoshop.

[mummytothree]

I run PSE, ACDSEE and the internet all the time on mine and it doens't bog down at all!!! I often also have and IM window open and a word document too!!!

I only have 2GB of RAM.